Philippe Artias - Figure

We are before a small painting by Philippe Artias depicting a single standing figure. Throughout his artistic career, Artias has often focused on the study of the human being, often in relation to nature, but before creating canvases, he approaches preparatory sketches that help him better capture the details of movement. In this case, the figure appears to be taking a step, one leg disappearing behind the other, the figure appears to have low shoulders but walks with head held high, hands at the sides.

A distinctive feature of Artias's watercolors is that he often uses almost pure, highly pigmented color. While many use the properties of watercolor to create depictions with diluted washes, he instead creates dense colors, using almost pure watercolor with little water to give strength to the color and blend vibrant hues. Here too, we see how he creates a figuration without a line, without margins, giving free rein to the brush to create the outline of his desired figure with a few expert strokes. There's no need to delve into detail; instead, he allows the viewer's imagination to fill in the missing details.

Philippe Artias approached art as a self-taught artist. He recounts how, from a young age, he wanted to become an artist, despite receiving terrible grades in drawing, because his drawings were always full of emotion, but had difficulty faithfully capturing reality. He began to delve into painting in the 1930s after seeing Matisse and Picasso. A period of detachment followed due to the war, during which he participated in the French Resistance. After these difficult years, he briefly turned to German Expressionism, which sparked the need to start from a figurative pretext to look at a reality to convey in emotional, spontaneous terms, and this is what distanced him from lyrical or geometric abstraction. He also rejected the lessons of the great contemporary American artists in favor of Picasso's teachings, and he states that "Seeing Picasso live was the greatest painting lesson I've ever received." The two met in Vallauris, and a relationship was born that would last for five years, during which Artias frequented the master's studio. At this time, he also began working in a ceramics factory on Picasso's advice, who told him that if he didn't sell his drawings on paper, he would sell his ceramic ones. The years in Vallauris became a launching pad for the artist, and he began exhibiting his creations. He created large series, such as the one on Goya's Royal Family, which was accompanied by a series of preparatory watercolors. In fact, he often used this type of study to then create the final work on canvas. The artist passed away in Numana in 2002.

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