PIERRE SOULAGES

The last surviving member of the New School of Paris, Pierre Jean Louis Germain Soulages was lauded in 2014 by President François Hollande as “the world’s greatest living artist”. On account of his insatiable interest in the color – or non-color – of black, he is referred to by some as “the painter of black”, but Soulages steadfastly rejects such notion, arguing that his instrument is not black, but the light reflected therefrom, which he views as a material. Using such objects as rakes, spoons, and rubber to cut, dig, etch, and scrape thick layers of paint in vertical and horizontal lines, he creates uneven surfaces and textures that disrupt the uniformity of black in various angles and forms. His famed Outrenoir (Beyond Black) series is not so much monochromatic as infinite, for black is the total absence of light, whereas white is the gathering all lights.