Figure de femme
aux mains jointes 1945, oil painting on canvas, 100 x 77 cm Bertrand’s work became increasingly austere after 1945, which marked the beginning of the Young Belgian Painting adventure. Gaston Bertrand temporarily used a very neutral palette, exclusively dominated by black, grey and white colours. The artist justified his radical position by the need to focus his researches on the shape, as shown in the two masterful effigies produced in 1945: on the one hand, Portrait de ma mère offers a striking expression, close to caricature and yet so pathetic; and on the other hand, Figure de femme aux mains jointes represents a woman contrasting with the abstract monochrome background and the brush strokes’ movements. The latter is a well-known painting that still amazes by the daring expression of the schematized face and arms, even more striking given that the portrayed woman is the artist’s mother. |