Jacques Villeglé's 'OUI' – Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs (22 octobre 1958) as a Masterpiece

Key facts

• Jacques Villeglé's work 'OUI' – Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs (22 octobre 1958) is analyzed as a masterpiece.
• The work was created from posters collected after the September 28, 1958 French referendum.
• The referendum adopted a new constitution and returned Charles de Gaulle to power.
• The piece measures 68 x 100 cm and is made of lacerated posters marouflaged on canvas.
• It belongs to a private collection.
• Villeglé was a Nouveau Réaliste and part of the affichistes/décollagistes group.
• He began extracting posters with Raymond Hains in 1949; their first known piece is 'Ach Alm Manetro' at Centre Pompidou.
• The work features a central 'OUI' poster and a fragment of Gaullist propaganda with a raised black hand.
• Villeglé categorized the work as 'political'.
• The concept of 'Lacéré Anonyme' rejects personal painting and emphasizes anonymous collective expression.
• The essay describes the work as a triptych of involuntary pictorial signs with primary colors and perspective effects.
• The work is signed and dated, a concession to the market.
• The essay defines a masterpiece as a piece representing the whole of a major oeuvre.
• The text was published in artpress in 2008.
• The exhibition at Centre Pompidou ran from September 17, 2008 to January 5, 2009.
• Jean-Marc Huitorel is a critic and curator, author of 'Art et économie'.