Georges Carrey (1902-1953) Young Woman In A Turban Hat

Made in a beautiful material and sober but harmonious colors for this beautiful portrait of an elegant woman by an artist who was still figurative but who would convert to abstraction in the company of his great friend Nicolas DeStael, Georges Carrey. The work in good condition is presented in a simple black and silver nail-cover type frame which measures 88 cm by 64 cm and 84.5 by 61 cm for the canvas. Signed upper left, it represents a pretty, elegantly dressed woman wearing a turban hat. A quality work from an artist who is currently unjustly forgotten but who will be talked about again. French painter, gouachist and designer, born in Paris in 1902 and died in 1953 in Belgium. Died young, he approached abstraction in 1946. A friend of the French painter Nicolas De Staël, he worked with a knife on regularly arranged geometric compositions. He moved to Belgium in 1922. He married in 1941. Initially an advertising designer and illustrator, he created caricatures, posters and theater sets. He began painting in 1922, mainly portraits, but also landscapes and still lifes until 1945. After much research and experimentation, he converted to abstract painting in 1946. In 1947, he returned to Paris: in short transfer to the School of Decorative Arts. A precursor of gestural abstraction, he took classes with André Lhote in 1948 and met Nicolas de Staël there. In 1951, the mosaics of Ravenna pushed him to arrange his geometric compositions in a regular manner. “Georges Carrey works in sensitive and colorful touches, juxtaposed with each other, rich in material and often rectangular. The technique is reminiscent of that of Nicolas de Staël. The year of his death, Carrey remarked: “When we no longer seek to recognize in a painting, an apple, a pear or a naked woman, we will also be able to do without the word: abstract... All that will remain is the paint. » Philippe Roberts-Jones, Abstract painting in Belgium 1920-1970 In 1952, he was a member of the Art Abstract group, founded by Jo Delahaut and Jean Milo, with Georges Collignon, Pol Bury, Léopold Plomteux, Jan Saverys and Jan Burssens. The same year he participated in the Salon d'Octobre founded by the critic Ch. Estienne. He died of a heart attack on August 26, 1953 in Knokke, at the F. Labisse mill, at the age of 51, while preparing an exhibition of his work at the Ariel Gallery in Paris. Quote “The day I took a blank canvas and began to paint without a starting point (probably remembering my previous knowledge) I found myself freed from many contingencies. There is every advantage in being alone in front of the canvas, free, with the errors that this situation can cause. When we no longer seek to recognize an apple, a pear or a naked woman in a painting, we will also be able to do without the word: abstract. All misunderstandings will then be put aside and we will finally get out of the confusion. All that will remain is the paint. » (in First assessment of current art. Ed Le Soleil Noir, Revue Positions nｰ3-4, 1953, p. 285) Museums Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium - Museum of Modern Art - Brussels Museum of Abstract Art - Museum of Abstract Art - Jette