Pierian Press Logo Skip to main navigation menu Skip to sub-navigation menu Skip to main content The Pierian Press :: art
 
 

Introduction
Arthur Secunda
Commentary
Printmaking Process

Pierian Editions
Edition Prices
Collections
Exhibitions

Complete List of
   Secunda Editions

Change Font Size:
Increase font size Decrease font size Restore default font size
 Collage and Painting in the Art of Arthur Secunda
Smoke Signals, collage by Arthur Secunda

by E J. Temple

Note: Translated from the French, this originally was prepared for an exhibition catalog of Secunda's works, which emphasized his collages. Temple is a distinguished French poet, biographer, translator and critic, who has known Secunda's work since he first reviewed it in Beaux-Arts magazine in 1950. A winner of the coveted literary prix Valery Larbaud (1990) in France, Temple has written major works on Henry Miller, Lawrence Durrell and D.H. Lawrence.

3 diamonds used to separate entries

It's now almost forty years since Arthur Secunda adopted the technique of collage. For some, the word collage brings to mind the discoveries of early cubism - Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, and Georges Braque. The development of their inventiveness in this process is well known, i.e., the introduction of foreign materials such as pieces of newspaper, cardboard and menus to counterbalance textures and colors. Contemporary artists have not hesitated to exploit these techniques, some with more, some with less success - often in ways limited by the pictorial boundaries dictated in exploring this medium.

Hello California, collage by Arthur Secunda

None of the above applies to Arthur Secunda. His dominion is essentially that of painting, and, in the personal way he makes use of torn paper, his conception of collage places him in a special niche among the painters of our time.

Essentially, these papers, prepared beforehand by Secunda, replace tubes of color. In this way, he is able to actualize a landscape, such as depicted in Hello California, in which the components are fixed with such perfection that it is difficult to distinguish the elements that brought the work together.

The medium of paper, the length and width of the torn strips and the tears themselves, all provoke certain rhythms and optical effects which, despite appearances, are far from accidental. There is a keen artisanship in the care with which Secunda reunites these papers.

Usually working in a landscape mode, the numerous and varied colors the artist brings together create a unique "object" of formal perfection, transmitting waves, vibrations and sensations to the eye in an exhaltation of light.

A Secunda collage is immediately recognizable - one does not mistake a style imbued with such mastery and radiance. Moreover, his Arles and Lugano Suites figure among the most original bodies of work in the artist's oeuvre and assure his reputation both in Europe and Japan.

Montpellier, France
February 1992

For a further discussion of Secunda's collages, please see the introductory text on Secunda collages at Saper Galleries.

Jump to top of page  Top Link to this page  Link to this page