A rebours 1947

Editor: "A Rebours," painted by Jean Helion in 1947. This piece is jarring, visually. The two figures, particularly the upside-down nude, feel deliberately…unsettling. What do you make of this peculiar pairing? Curator: Unsettling is a good word. It has this strange mix of the domestic, with the artist figure and easel, alongside… well, chaos, perhaps? What’s drawing my eye, though, is the geometry. See how the window frame echoes the easel? The way those shapes collide makes me think about how Helion is playing with perspective. Maybe asking us to see things from a different angle. What about you? Editor: It's funny you mention geometry. I hadn't thought about it, but now that you point it out, the composition does feel carefully constructed despite the figures seeming so…out there. Does it remind you of Picasso at all? Curator: Absolutely! Helion was certainly influenced by Cubism and Surrealism; but he then throws in his own twist. There is this push and pull, that you feel when you look at it closely, the artist in the studio contemplating a scene, whilst creating his own. Maybe he’s suggesting the limitations of representation? Editor: Limitations, yes! It makes me wonder if that slightly awkward rendering is less about a lack of skill and more of a deliberate artistic choice. Thank you so much, I hadn't considered the dialogue between representation and reality in it before! Curator: Absolutely! The conversation that art holds to truth and imitation is exciting isn't it. Perhaps if we think of representation and reality of life and death, and of creation - a nude being held, safe within hands like it's creator, upside down as in, rebours!