My studies

As a student at the National School of Fine Arts in Dijon, I learned nothing in pictorial composition, simply because ... there were no art history courses (true!). By cons by practicing painting, I was faced with the problem of any painter: where to start, how to compose and realize an idea? Again, my teachers did not show me any solid leads on the subject of composition.

 

My professional activity

was rather turned towards audio-visual: shots, editing and TV production of short films, documentaries and reports.

 

My discovery

Much later, I became interested in prints from the 17th century. Surprised by their composition, I had the curiosity to put my rule on the cane of a character to extend it by a stroke. What was not my surprise: this line pointed to the eye of another character when it was not obvious. I rested my rule on a sword and ... identical second surprise!

Without knowing it, I discovered a basis for pictorial composition: connecting elements beyond the visible.

It was in May 1993. I had just put my finger in an immense gear which, for years of obstinacy and passion, was going to plunge me into a study as poetic as scientific.

 

My research

My first years were those of subjectivity and intuition. Then came the need for scientific objectivity, supported by the methods of archaeologists with computer databases. A researcher friend and math teacher exclaimed when he saw my work " but, you do pictorial archeology! "

 

my motivations

It was in 2015 that I understood my real motivation for my research: relationships! That is to say, to highlight in a table the invisible links between the characters that the painters tirelessly linked. They linked everything, the characters to each other, the animals, the objects and even the decor, as long as it remained congruent with the theme of the painting.

I admire and envy this school of relationships that was passed from teacher to student in the intimacy of painting workshops.

 

A conviction

My works will certainly find it difficult to be recognized by the official harem of art. There are three reasons for this. Reasons from studies on the recognition of the value of a person: the simultaneity of

• enthronement by well-known personalities (a research master in faculty)

• An official place which consecrates the words of famous personalities (a faculty, a museum)

• A crowd of people who listen to the message of famous personalities in the dedicated place.

However, I do not benefit from any of these three elements of recognition.

Add to that that I am a solitary self-taught man without a diploma ...

 

For my readers

This observation does not detract from the pleasure I have in discovering the rules of composition of painters. My great satisfaction is to find certain gestures of composition of the masters of the renaissance. My great joy is to discover on wooden panels or on canvases material traces which confirm my theory of these hidden gestures of composition.

 

The feeling of being in the intimacy of the creation of a great painter is a moving experience that I want to share through this site. I wish you a joyful discovery and beautiful emotions.

 

Guy MAUCHAMP