Musicalism (French - ''musicalisme'') was an

art movement An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defi ...

created in 1932 by

Henry Valensi Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

in collaboration with Charles Blanc-Gatti, Gustave Bourgogne and Vittorio Straquadaini. Painters in the movement used colour material for its vibrations - Valensi himself spoke of sentimental resonances. Their paintings sought to synchronise colours and forms in space like a musician arranging his sound material directly in line with the emotions he or she was trying to express. Musicalism is an artistic movement created by the painter Henry Valensi in 1932, with Charles Blanc-Gatti, Gustave Bourgogne and Vittorio Straquadaini.

History

According to Raymond Bayer "musicalism was more than a school, it was a doctrine of art. It even went beyond being the doctrine which always contained it, for it was a body of knowledge forming a system ...". It was at once an art movement and the movement of art itself. Valensi produced an animated film, ''Spring Symphony'' (''Symphonie printanière'') using his paintings and the first colour film in 1936 in a film studio above his painting studio, giving form to what he named a "cinépeinture" ("film painting"). He organised the first of twenty-three musical salons at Paris's galerie Renaissance and in 1936 six such salons occurred across Europe from Amsterdam to Budapest. With each new salon, more and more artists joined the movement, such as Louis Baudon, Jean-Marie Euzet, Georges Filiberti, Arne Hosek,

Louise Janin Louise Janin (August 29, 1893, Durham, New Hampshire - 1997, Meudon) was an American painter who settled in Paris in 1923. Her work relates to symbolism and musicalism (the attempt to interpret music in painting). Biography Louise Janin was ...

, Ernst Klausz,

František Kupka František Kupka (23 September 1871 – 24 June 1957), also known as ''Frank Kupka'' or ''François Kupka,'' was a Czech painter and graphic artist. He was a pioneer and co-founder of the early phases of the abstract art movement and Orphic ...

Marcel Lempereur-Haut Marcel Lempereur-Haut (1898, Liège – 1986, Lille) was a Belgian painter. He took drawing lessons at the Liège Academy of Fine Arts where he obtained a diploma in surveying and, after World War I he worked as a technical draughtsman. In 192 ...

Felix Del Marle Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

, Lancelot Ney,

Jean and Joël Martel Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * ...

Otto Freundlich Otto Freundlich (10 July 1878 – 9 March 1943) was a German painter and sculptor of Jewish origin. A part of the first generation of abstract painters in Western art, Freundlich was a great admirer of cubism. Life Freundlich was born in ...

Ossip Zadkine Ossip Zadkine (russian: Осип Цадкин; 28 January 1888 – 25 November 1967) was a Belarusian-born French artist. He is best known as a sculptor, but also produced paintings and lithographs. Early years and education Zadkine was born on ...

, and

Robert Mallet-Stevens Robert Mallet-Stevens (March 24, 1886 – February 8, 1945) was an influential French architect and designer. Early life Mallet-Stevens was born in Paris in a house called Maison-Laffitte (designed by François Mansart in the 17th century). ...

. The rights to Valensi's works are held by the Association Henry Valensi and since 2013 they have set up the reference website ''musicalisme.fr'' to make the movement better known and a biography of Valensi edited by Marie Talon which also traces the history of the artistic avant-garde in that period.{{in lang, fr ''Henry Valensi, l'heure est venue…'', Yvelinéditions, 2013

Retrospectives

* 1990 : galerie Drouart, Paris, exposition ''Qu'est-ce que le musicalisme ?'' (''What is musicalism?''), showing works by H. Valensi, L. Janin, C. Blanc-Gatti, J.-M. Euzet, E. Klausz, F. Del Marle, G. Bourgogne, M. Lempereur-Haut, G. Filiberti, E. Beothy, V. Stracquadaini, H. Olive-Tamari and others * October 2013 : Modernités plurielles'' (''Plural Modernities'', Paris,

musée national d'Art moderne The Musée National d'Art Moderne (; "National Museum of Modern Art") is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou in the 4th arrondissement of the city. In 2021 it ranked 10th in t ...

, showing ''Symphonie printanière'' and seven paintings

Bibliography (in French)

* Sergent Marion, « Peinture et temps : la quête du mouvement chez les musicalistes », ''L'Art, machine à voyager dans le temps'' : https://www.fabula.org/colloques/document4742.php * Sergent Marion, "De la toile à l’écran : une surface de projections psychiques pour les artistes musicalistes", ''Marges'', 2020 : https://journals.openedition.org/marges/2268 * Sergent Marion, ''Les artistes musicalistes : théories et pratiques d'une union des arts (1932-1960)'', thèse de doctorat, Sorbonne-Université, 2021.

References

Art movements category:1932 establishments in Europe