.Ubac

If Raoul Ubac (1910 - 1985) comes directly from surrealism (he collaborated on Minotaure ), abandoned photography the day he discovered a material to his hand, slate. Incised stone will be everywhere present in his work dominated by this deep gray. He engraves it, this slate, more and more deeply, until it becomes a real relief. Organizations of signs and furrows are born which he also enjoys tracing, on the sand of a beach, during a film produced by Aimé. At the Maeght Gallery, from 1950 and until his death, he exhibited his abstract canvases, his cut and engraved slates and illustrated numerous works; Written Stone by Yves Bonnefoy, Ancient Eternity by Christian Dotremont, Old Country by André Frénaud. He also knew how to express a deep spirituality in the Stations of the Cross in the Foundation chapel.

Raoul Ubac, Three torsos, slate, 60 x100 cm.

During vacation, Ubac and his wife Aguy welcome Florence and Yoyo to their house in Dieudonne. The sculptor explains to them the foundations of his work and the role of the Furrows in the middle of the fields of Picardy. For the Maeghts, always surrounded by the most unexpected animals, Ubac cuts the slate “tombstone” of their bird of prey, a little owl baptized Philo by Jacques Prévert. Then, always curious to experiment with new techniques, he reconnected with his Photographs from the 1930s in a portfolio printed in collotype.

Raoul Ubac drawing on the sand in 1972 in Hardelot-Plage, Pas-de-Calais. Excerpt from the film Ubac, a portrait of Clovis Prévost.

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