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Georges Mathieu, champion of lyrical abstraction, dies in Paris

The French artist Georges Mathieu, who from the 1940s pioneered the movement known as lyrical abstraction, has died aged-91 in a hospital in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt. 

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Georges Victor Mathieu d'Escaudoeuvres, who in the 1950s and 1960s was one of France's best known artists on the international scene, was born in 1921 in the northern city of Boulogne-sur-Mer,

He was the man who introduced France to the American artist Jackson Pollock and in 1947 organised a series of demonstrations which promoted a form of art which was free from all classical theory which he called lyrical abstraction.

The art form concentrated on movement and emotion.

During his lengthy career he also turned his hand to graphic design and architecture, designing a 10-franc coin, postage stamps, Air France posters and jewellery.

The man who French writer Andre Malraux described as a ‘western calligrapher’, became a member of the Acadamy of Fine Art in 1975. His works are on show in some of the most famous museums in the world.
 

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