Accession Code: wu0185 Title: Chateau Feu Date completed: 1959 Medium: Prints Material: Six-colour lithograph Height (mm): 991 Width (mm): 767 Depth (mm): n/a Inscription: Signed, dated and numbered 33/140 Location Name: Picture Store Location Description: Location Floor: 0

© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2017
 
Born in Belgium, Gustave Singier moved to Paris in 1919. He designed stage sets, tapestries, stained glass and murals. He drew his inspiration from French landscape and in this image has reduced a scene to its essential colours and forms.

Singier was influenced by Klee and Kandinsky who proposed that folk art, children's drawings and non-western art were spiritually superior to the Western realistic tradition. These ideas led Singier to simplify his compositions to rhythmically bold shapes on a brightly coloured ground. His works appear to be abstract but they are based on recollections and motifs he had seen, usually an impression of a landscape. Singier saw his works as poetic metaphors in their use of rich and sensuous colour.