L'oeuvre de Charles Maurin : un symbolisme du réel

The charles maurin's work: a symbolism of the real

• Auteur / Autrice : Maurice Fréchuret
• Direction : Pierre Vaisse
• Type : Thèse de doctorat
• Discipline(s) : Histoire de l'art
• Date : Soutenance en 1986
• Etablissement(s) : Lyon 2

Résumé

Refractaire aux classifications trop rigides, l'oeuvre de charles maurin (1856-1914) evolue entre les donnees du realisme et celle du symbolisme. L'artiste a tente, souvent avec succes, la synthese entre deux manieres d'apprehender l'art que les definitions, habituelles donnent, en principe, comme inconciliables. Il en resulte une oeuvre tres personnelle ou s'expriment avec force les preoccupations philosophico-sociales (guidees par la pensee libertaire), son gout pour la pedagogie, son amour de la science, toutes choses sur lesquelles charles maurin mise et qui l'autorisent a depasser le simple reel (auquel son oeuvre ne cessera cependant de se referer) pour atteindre un art plus ''eleve''. Les themes (la femme, les fillettes, certaines allegories) lui permettent cette approche; d'autres, plus classiquement traites (scenes de rue, paysages) lui donnent la possibilite d'assouvir sa soif de realisme. Son oeuvre est surtout riche de dessins, pastels et gravures au detriment des huiles, peu nombreuses. Elle offre un large panorama des techniques employees et permet d'apprecier les remarquables talents de chercheur de l'artiste: en effet, on lui doit la technique dite de la peinture vaporisee, certaines inventions (gravure au sucre, technique du crachis, etc. . . ) ou remises en valeur de techniques anciennes (gravure sur ''bois de fil'') auxquelles il a initie ses amis ou eleves (toulouse-lautrec, felix vallotton, etc. . . ).

Charles maurin's works are not to be quite classified as strictly and ridgely. His works can be found between the ideas of realism and symbolism. The artist has tryed often successfully, the synthese between two ways of bringging together art, that the definitions normally given can not be, and do not go together on the same level. He so finds and developes a very personnal way of working with a very strong preoccupation for social philosophy (guided by free thoughts),his taste teaching, his love for sciences, on all these things charles maurin is based, and who goes beyond the simple reality, to reach out for a higher art above all. The themes (the woman, the young girls, allow him this approach, other themes treated more classicaly (street scenes, countrysides) give him the possibility to quench this thirst for realism. His works are rich on drawings, pastels and echtings, instead of very few oil paintings. They offer a large panorama on the technics used, and enable us to appreciate the remarkable talent of the artist. In fact we owe him what we say is the vaporized painting (sprayed paint). Several inventions (sugar echting, ''crachis''), or to renew older technics (wood gravings, thread echtings) with which he taught his friends and his pupils (toulouse-lautrec, felix vallotton, etc. . . ).