Techno- Report #120 - Henri Michaux the pioneer in psychedelic art
Henri Michaux the pioneer in psychedelic art
Today we continue with another of the greatest exponents of abstract expressionism or rather the tachismo pictorial genre related to informalism art characterized by the freedom to use diverse materials, Today we will be discovering Henri Michaux great painter and writer. Accompany me to know more about this incredible artist.
Henri Michaux was born in Brussels, from a very young age he was linked to science rather than art, in fact by 1915 he began to study medicine but in 1919 he left the career to enter the merchant navy of France, and 3 years later he returned to France settling in the city of Paris where he began to be attracted by the artistic movements of the time at that time was impacted by the force of surrealism.
As well as he feels attracted by the plastic arts already he was an excellent poet and writer for the year of 1937 he begins to paint of sustained form, although his place of residence was France always was traveling to different places between them of his preference Latin America where he consumes mescaline with artistic aims thanks to this powerful hallucinogenic substance he manages to paint many of his pictures. Also consumer of cannabis, it could be said that he is a painter ahead of the era of psychedelic art, managing to have interior trips where he begins to explore his thoughts and dreams unconsciously.
At first he painted with oil but then he would abandon almost completely dedicating time to explore the benefits of ink and watercolor, before Jackson Pollock created the action painting and Michaux was using a very similar style.
One of the most notorious characteristics of his painting is the search for memories and the origin of dreams, often his works speak even of hallucinogenic drugs, a bit confusing for a somewhat conservative period, yet the painter manages to concentrate on his personal development and as a plastic artist.
The problem is that the society in which this artist lived was very moralistic to the point of confining the artist as a drug addict without taking into account the form of composition and talent of it.
Many tried to link him to the surrealist movement for his research in the field of dreams, although he developed more theory through writing, in his novels he discovered a good pretext for spilling his creativity through the use of hallucinogenic drugs.
After consolidating his style and over the years he was accepted and recognized as one of the fathers of psychedelic art, it should be noted that the use of hallucinogenic substances was not done lightly, was supervised by his great friend the neurologist Julian de Ajuriaguerra, who guided him in his exploratory path in the different psychic and sensory mutations he was about to experience.
Despite his research and dedication to art, he had many emotional problems that accumulated for a long time which in turn led to a series of depretions that would lead him to suicide. His legacy and research are invaluable as very few artists at the time were motivated to explore other fields of painting and literature.
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Good post i love reading about artists lives, and the things that inspired there work.