Andrée Honoré (1945-1992), Untitled, 1980, Gouache On Paper

Andrée HONORÉ (1945-1992)
Untitled, 1980
Gouache on paper
Signed and dated “1980” at the bottom center
43 x 31.5 cm

Born in 1945 in Tourcoing, Andrée Honoré is one of the female sculptors who have chosen wood as their main medium . For a time she occupied a workshop located in Passage Ricaut in the 13th arrondissement of Paris where she worked alongside artists Jacques Hérold (1901-1987), Edgard Pillet (1912-1996) and Leonardo Delfino (1928-2022).

Drawing plays an important role in the artist's creative process. She first draws free shapes in pencil on graph paper before tracing them on templates once they have been enlarged. These shapes are then cut out and assembled. The use of beech plywood in varied shades in successive layers on the surface of sculptures allows him to accentuate their volumes. For around ten years, Andrée Honoré focused on rhythms through the repetition of one or more geometric shapes before moving towards the curve, celebrating the fullness of bodily curves and the tangle of organic tissues. From 1987, she abandoned allusive figuration and began a return to the geometry of her beginnings. The wood is no longer visible but covered with dark colored resin.

The artist created several monumental works, notably for the teacher training school of Charleville-Mézières (1971) and for the communal cemetery of Blanc-Mesnil (1992). His work was the subject of a notable monographic exhibition held in 1989 at the Michèle Broutta gallery in Paris.

The original gouache drawing that we present is fully in line with the stylistic concerns that occupied the artist in the early 1980s.

Bibliography
Dominique Dalemont, 50 sculptors choose wood, Paris, Somogy, 1998, pp. 130-133.
Claude Chouteau, Jean-Luc Epivent, Le Blanc-Mesnil Exhibition, 1992 - Andrée Honoré, cat. exhibition, Paris, 1992.