"Tes Yeux Mouillés", Lyrical Abstraction Oil on Canvas by François Arnal

"Tes Yeux Mouillés", Lyrical Abstraction oil on canvas by François Arnal (French, 1924–2012).
Signed 'Arnal' (lower right). Signed again, dated, titled and numbered: "Arnal / été 59 / La Valette / Tes Yeux Mouillés / 315" on the back.
Original wood frame.

François Arnal (La Valette-du-Var, 1924 – Paris, 2012) was born in a family of varois winemakers. After secondary school in Toulon, he went to Aix-en-Provence faculty and studied law and letters. He started to paint in 1940.

In 1943, he enters a "maquis of Auvergne" as resistant, there he becomes acquainted with Conrad Kickert, Dutch artist refugee from Paris, friend of Le Fauconnier. who encourages him to paint.

In 1948 Arnal arrives in Paris where he lives and works since. In Paris he met painters Pierre Dmitrienko, Serge Rezvani or Quentin and writers Raymond Queneau, Hubert Juin and Alain Jouffroy.

In the early 50s, François Arnal painted allusive forms. After a trip to Mexico and the United States, he moved to Tahiti where he created colorful works in which he uses a "kind of primitive language." At this time, he belongs to the group of Michel Tapie, Un Art Autre, and participated in exhibitions at the Galerie Maeght which brought together the abstract painters of the second generation. He participates in the movement of Lyrical Abstraction (Charles Estienne) and Informal Art (Michel Tapie).

The artist returned to Paris in 1960. He creates the series Bombardements, in which he traces the shapes of objects with spray paint. He seeks to create a an for the everyday life and to integrate the artist in the material world. He then founded the Atelier A, where he works from 1968 to 1975. He commissions fellow designers to create objects and works able to blend in everyday life. In 1960, he started sculpture. He then lived in the United States six months a year, and exposes his works there until 1964, before returning to Paris permanently.

In 1975, he came back to painting and sculpture. He designs the world of Meeps, imaginary characters of a vanished civilization. According to the artist, they are part of his work since the beginning. He also began writing novels and plays.

In 2009, at the end of his life, François Arnal returned to design with a series of limited editions of lamps, chairs and tables, rare and highly collectible today.

Francois Arnal is exposed in the most prestigious collections: The Guggenheim New York, the Rio de Janeiro Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago (Les sombres fêtes de la chair / The Dark Feasts of the Flesh, 1957, oil on canvas, 150 x 200 cm, The Art Institute of Chicago).