Hélène Valentin's 'Letter to the Winds and Shadows' at Galerie Jean Fournier

The Galerie Jean Fournier in Paris is presenting the exhibition 'New York 73-78', featuring Hélène Valentin's monumental painting 'Letter to the Winds and Shadows' (1974). Measuring 226 x 472 cm, it is the largest work in the show and the only one with a radial structure that immerses the viewer in an infinite discovery of wind, shadows, and acrylic fluidity. Valentin painted flat, using transparent acrylic mixed with pure pigments in broad brushstrokes, creating a watercolor-like translucency. The painting shifts between blue and rose, with orange touches and moiré effects. Valentin (1927–2012) was born in Nancy, studied at Beaux-Arts in Nancy, Bourges, and Paris, lived in Morocco from 1949 to 1959, and moved to New York in 1963. In 1973, Max Hutchinson gave her a solo show at his SoHo gallery, which was a critical and commercial success; she had eight solo exhibitions there until 1984. She also created Nomadics—paintings on free canvas for travel—and was interested in dance, music, and performance. She returned to France in 1988, living between Paris and the Drôme, and died in Paris in 2012. The exhibition runs until March 7, 2020.