Jean Legros (1917-1981) - Geometric Abstraction

Jean Legros (1917-1981)
Representation of an “H” colored in green.
Stencil on paper signed lower right and numbered 5/25.

Dimensions:
Height: 86 cm.
Width: 75 cm.

After studying philosophy and psychology, Jean Legros approached painting in 1946, and opted for abstraction from 1951. In his work, the French painter explores every potentialities of color and form, resulting in his series of “Toiles à bandes” (Canvases with strips) in which color brings structure to the composition of horizontal strips.

Inside his artworks lies the origin of a “pictorial grammar” dear to Legros, aiming at studying colors’ perception in often abstract and geometrical compositions. Henri Raynal, French writer, poet and art critic said this concerning Jean Legros’ work: “The color, Legros squeezes it, channels it in the exact geometry of perfect layers of which only the thickness changes: that is to constrain it to access a power that will only hold from it.”

Jean Legros’ painting finds somehow its origin in the landscapes that the painter likes to photograph: for instance, the plowed fields of Beauce region or even the construction site of parisian Centre Georges-Pompidou. Besides, the French painter defined himself as “an earthling that first took a foothold on earth and then elevates himself towards divine”.