This exhibition brings together paintings, gouaches and drawings from 1948 to 1955 and reflects Caziel's artistic developments from Figuration to Abstraction and his love for Catherine Sinclair.
In April 1952 Caziel met the young Scottish painter Catherine Sinclair, daughter of Sir Archibald Sinclair, Secretary of State for Air during the Second World War, during her show at the Galerie Jeanne Castel, Paris. It was love at first sight. At the time of their meeting, Caziel had already undergone his radical departure from the influence of his friend Picasso and proven his commitment to a more lyrical and organic form of Abstraction.
Catherine's love revitalized Caziel's creativity. As if hit by lightning, Caziel's commitment to Abstraction was momentarily halted by his need for a more immediate figurative style to express his passion for Catherine, witnessed in a series of large black ink and wash drawings. These drawings appeal to our collective consciousness of what it is to be passionately in love.
During 1953, Caziel reconnected with Abstraction. In 1955 Catherine's announcement of her love for Caziel was received by her parents, to her own surprise, with delight. Catherine and Caziel married in Paris during June 1957. Twelve years later the family moved to Somerset, England, where Caziel and Catherine remained until their respective deaths in 1988 and 2007.
Our exhibition focuses on the one side on the figurative works inspired by his passionate love for Catherine and on the other on the abstract paintings created just before and during the few years after their meeting. With these abstract works Caziel believed that, as Picasso and Braque did when they invented Cubism, he was reaching for a higher order of reality, a new perspective, which hinted at the spiritual in a search for the fourth dimension. These works exude energy and vitality - the colours dazzle, making the shapes cheerful.
Whitford Fine Art has been handling Caziel's Estate since 1994, and has exhibited and sold Caziels' works in London and internationally.
