Georges Noël, Paris-New York

In commemoration of the centenary of the birth of Georges Noël, the Marc Domènech Gallery hosts an exhibition that brings together more than thirty works from a key period in his artistic career. This set of works invites us to immerse ourselves in his evolution between 1965 and 1975, with special attention to the years 1969-1975, a stage of profound transformation marked by his move from Paris to New York. This geographical change not only altered the way he worked, but also completely redefined his artistic language, which was oriented towards geometry and simplicity.

This exhibition, open until December 5, aims to make visible the work of an artist who, despite his relevance in the international arena, is still very little known in our country. The last time you could enjoy an exhibition dedicated to Georges Noël in Spain was 30 years ago, in 1994, at the Jorge Mara Gallery in Madrid. Now, the Marc Domènech Gallery offers the opportunity to rediscover his work.

In this period reflected in the exhibition, Georges Noël underwent a significant transformation. The artist, who had lived in Paris for more than ten years since 1956, left behind a city overflowing with artistic effervescence, marked by gestural abstraction and informalism. This environment saw him grow as a creator, influenced by the works of Jean Dubuffet and other material artists who explored the potential of textures. His paintings of that time, filled with calligraphic signs and incisions that connected with the primitive and magical world, expressed a passion for spontaneous gesture and the manipulation of matter. These works, which he himself called palimpsests, reflected his philosophy of the superimposition of strokes and textures as a metaphor for a constant creative transformation.

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1968 marks the turning point, when Noël begins a process of radical change that anticipates his time in New York. His visual language evolves, and the spontaneous and gestural calligraphies give way to a more controlled use of templates (stencils), which he gradually introduces into his work and which were a key element during this stage allowing him to create figures formal and well defined. Although he maintains an interest in superimposition and collage, he begins to integrate random arrangements of letters and numbers, anticipating his well-known scores, geometric compositions that define this new phase of his career.

When he moves to New York in 1969, Noël is drawn to minimalist art, especially Hard Edge and Color Field Painting. In this new stage, he decides to refine his work, eliminating gestural elements and focusing on basic orthogonal structures. From 1971, his pictorial language is further simplified: his compositions are reduced to right angles and the use of color is drastically limited, especially with the appearance of a new white period in his work. This period is characterized by an exploration of all shades of white, using minimal materials and even almost raw fabric, in order to achieve greater visual purity through a meticulous use of whites.

Sans titre, 1968

The scores are a clear representation of this turn towards a minimalist aesthetic, leaving behind gestural exuberance and focusing on the creation of much more ordered works, where orthogonal structures and right angles predominated.

Despite this turn to geometry, Noël never completely abandoned his fascination with the subject. But now, his work was oriented towards formal precision and a more controlled visual writing. This exhibition highlights precisely this process of transition, showing how Noël moved away from gestural informalism to embrace a new form of creation, more calculated and structured.

In the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, Noël continued to explore new techniques and materials, maintaining his curiosity for the mystery of shapes, symbols and textures. His search for a distinctive visual language, centered on matter, gesture and symbol, makes him a key figure in contemporary European art.

'Score jaune', 1976