Corneille - Uniek Stuk uit 1960 - Flight of birds in the heart of summer - Sold

An early colour lithograph from the Vol d'Oiseaux portfolio dating from 1960. Signed and dated in pencil at the bottom right. The work is included in the graphic overview catalogue: Corneille: the complete graphic work 1948 -1975 of Patricia Donkersloot-van Den Berghe. Page 101 number 82.

This lithograph is included in the collection of the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven:
https://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/collection/vol-doiseaux

Description:
"Vol d'oiseaux au coeur de l'été" (Flight of birds in the heart of summer) is a unique lithograph by Corneille, created in 1960. This artwork captures a lively and colorful scene in which a flock of birds moves happily through a summer sky. With this lithograph, the artist brings to life the essence of summer, filled with movement, light and freedom.

Colors and Composition:
Corneille’s use of vibrant colours reflects the joy and energy of summer. Bright blues, radiant yellows and vibrant greens blend seamlessly to evoke the feeling of warmth and sunshine. The composition is dynamic, with birds seemingly dancing and floating on the warm summer breeze, giving the whole a sense of unfettered joy and spontaneity.

Style and Technique:
Corneille's style in this lithograph is characterized by expressive, almost abstract forms that embody the freedom and unpredictability of the natural world. His technique, which combines vibrant colors and fluid lines, creates a sense of movement that is essential to the vibrant atmosphere of the piece. This makes "Vol d'oiseaux au coeur de l'été" an example of how art can capture movement and emotion in a way that is both visually compelling and emotionally resonant.

Symbolism:
The flying birds in this lithograph symbolize freedom and the carefree days of summer. The artwork evokes images of open skies and endless possibilities, a reminder of eternal youth and the cycles of nature that surround us. It is a celebration of life itself, captured in the moment of flight, free from the gravity of the daily grind.

A Rare Masterpiece:
This lithograph comes from a portfolio from the year 1960, in which Corneille captured his thoughts and inspirations in Paris. "Vol d'oiseaux au coeur de l'été" is not just a work of art; it is an invitation to embrace the joy and complexity of life. By adding the vibrant and inspiring nature of this work to your wall, you bring a daily reminder of beauty and harmony into your space. This work of art invites reflection and admiration and is sure to be a conversation piece for all who see it.

This lithograph comes from a portfolio from May 1960, in which Corneille recorded his thoughts and inspiration in Paris. Translated from French.

In El-Golea I saw a little black child playing with a bird tied to his foot with a string. A beautiful bird, with a green tail. Tied to the boy's hand, the bird flew with difficulty. In the end, it quickly ended in a miserable existence: an ugly creature, destitute, with a few feathers.

In the desert I saw a sick bird, fat and heavy, that sounded loud and ridiculous, yet impressive like a big bell. Its tongue was too long to sing to its own taste.
His females, very small, were hopping around: one looked like an empty shell.
Suddenly the sky turned black. A huge mass of insects covered the sun that had been so beautifully announced and promised, as always in this region, warmth and brightness. Suddenly everything was drowned out by a terrifying sound that kept increasing. Millions of locusts fell on the fields. When fate brought us a wealth of crops, these were suddenly devoured by the sudden arrival of large quantities of food.
One evening the sound was unbearable, like that of a guillotine, a grave without silence.
A snake slithered across the runway, its entrails bleeding. A dozen vultures, hoarse and deaf in their flight, screamed loudly.

The scene: sinister – and “extraordinarily beautiful”.
I carried with me the memory of that day: the sight of this shocking camping scene. Above the yellow sand of the Sahara, the dazzling patterns of birds on the candelabra, the blood-colored wings, painted black with tireless birds.
I remember the different images of Africa: one sad, another softer. But what is deeply etched in my mind is the image of that African sky, clear and vibrant above the desert, when the sound, half dead, half alive, was broken by a thick and full rainbow, when I understood that these birds were an expression of freedom.
In this ideal heaven, without limitation, a tainted space without end, with an indescribable and varied multitude of birds.

In my first drawings I painted fish. Then, for many years, I replaced the fish with birds, which I painted with a certain magic. Sometimes I painted no trace of their flight, one wing spoke and another too.
I saw that this changed agreement with the famous big bird, and the fish on the beach "The sea widened. The earth choked. The sky rose from its tree, climbed a mountain, and the air mingled with it. I jumped, I was high and it is so that I came into the eye of birds.

In Amsterdam I had a house with a view of birds. From the window I looked at a garden, on the other side the Amstel. An aria, one of these light birds hid in the foliage.
Seldom, seldom in the woods, did I see a flock of birds: I did not shoot, and they looked like musical notes on a sheet.

The original French text:

A El-Golea, you are a little boy with your little one with a oiseau attaché par les pattes. An oiseau magnifique, a queue verte. Rattaché par une ficelle à la main du garçon, l'oiseau full péniblement. Puis, entre les doigts du gosse, il termina bientôt son existence misérable: une pauvre boule, dérisoire, de plumes.

Dans le desert, je vis un oiseau mâle, fort gros et gras, qui était bien ridicul et cependant surprenant par une trop longue queue de légèreté and visibility l'empêchait de rendre les airs à son gré. Since they are young, they are happy, they are joyful and agitated, they are very happy and they are happy to drive many cabrioles.

Soudain, le ciel fut noir. A large number of compact insects are exposed to the magnificence of the light and how they reveal their appearance, and the light remains bright and clear. Soudain: une nuit absolue dont l'angoisse s'accroissait par un bruit continu et assourdisant, un cliquetis monstrueux. Des millions de sauterelles s'étaient abattues vers le sol. All in all, it is a noir, but one that is full of prompts and romps of the grand oiseaux of the soudaines nourritures. At the same time, in the light, subite and violently with the guillotine, tomba. Jamais le silence ne chira de telle façon mes oreilles. I still have the trace d'oiseau, and so on the sol agonisaient à peine quelques insectes.

You will spend a long time on the slopes, your journeys will take a number of steps. Une dizaine de vautours, en un vol rasant et sourd, s'affairaient autour de lazy. A la fois: sinistre, – et singulare beau! J'emportais avec moi, ce jour-là, la vision de ce révoltant carnage. Surrounded by the sable, the natural design of the animals, the color of the sable, the black éventail of the feathers of the oiseaux!

J'ai retenu ces images diverses de l'Afrique: l'une triste, l'autre cocasse, l'autre encore cruelle. This is the first impression of the soul, the image of the country in Africa, the image of the country, the blanc and tremblant of the desert, the son, nullement of the body, sourd, muet, all the way through, a long journey and the end of it t plus, – et soudain les oiseaux surgissent, qui rayent le ciel d'une arabesque magistrale. Et à chaque fois j'aurais juré que vraiment la première fois que mon œil enregistrait un VOL D'OISEAUX...

Dans ce ciel, étendue idéale et sans limite, insi que sur une belle feuille de papier vierge et sans cesse recommencée, les oiseaux dessinaient en incertitude leur vol une multitude de lignes infiniment variées.

Dans mes premières toiles, il m'arrivalit de mettre des poissons. Depuis de nombreuses années les oiseaux les remplacents, des oiseaux imaginaires, jamais poses au sol, traçant d'inombrables signes. It is easy to clean the water while it is full, and the rest is...

Et ce changement s'apparente fort bien à la fameuse métamorphose que conte cette jolie légende. "You spend your time in the open air. The land is a tremblé. The water is open, the air is good. The water is open, the air is covered, and the mountain, and the water is open îchi au sable. Alors il sauta, mais il sauta si haut-être que ses nageoires ont grandi, et c'est qu'il y eut des oiseaux."

A Amsterdam is still a work in progress. The fenêtre d'une maison amie le regard plongeait dans un jardin, de l'autre côté de la rivière Amstel. An arbre était là, majestueux, et il ne plissait d'oiseaux. On the other hand, it is important to note that the quality of the work is done. Your presence is an attestation for the preparations and preparations, which is a good organic matter. My friends are with you when you meet the young people during their rendezvous and end.

Your crois que chaque ville, que chaque village possède son arbre à oiseaux, mais on ne découvre pas toujours.
Les Africains visit the villages of their villages and palaces. Ceci, j'imagine, pour suppléer à l'absence d'arbre à oiseaux! car je ne découvris nulle part en Afrique ce surprenant phénomène. Les oiseaux y sont-ils donc plus qu'en Europe farouchement individualistes?

Rarement, because of the arbres dénudés, the arbres desséchés dans des savanes arides, you still see the details of the abattres and the easy semblables of the notes éparses on the paper of the musique.

A cette époque déjà je peins, j'ignorais le nom de ces oiseaux. It is my return that you have acquired a high degree of appreciation, and that you have a good end result: l'Oiseau à huppe, la Grue couronnée, le Flamant rose, l'Ombrette, la Pie-grièche rose, le Touraco violet, le Cotingas, la Tamatia à collier, le Combassou, le Cap-Moor le Worabée, et the most extraordinary variety of souvenirs in Ethiopia: the Veuve à colliers d'or, the Veuve dominicaine, the Veuve à épaulettes et la Veuve en feu.

Corneille, Paris, May 1960

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