sem á áratuginn leið sást æ betur hve mikið af þeirri list sem framleidd var í París stóðst illa tímans tönn. Er styrjöldin braust út misstu Frakkar álitlegan hóp sinna fremstu listamanna vestur um haf. Þar breiddu þeir út kenningar sínar og stuðluðu að breytingum sem áttu eftir að umbylta list eftirstríðsáranna. Þessar breytingar snerust ekki einasta um stílbrögð, heldur innhald, umgjörð og aðferðir. Ýmis málverk eftir Matisse höfðu þegar sýnt bandarískum listamönnum hvernig eyða mætti hefðbundnum rýmishugmyndum. Vatnaliljur Monets höfðu kennt þeim að meta málverk þar sem form og flötur runnu saman í samfellt flæði lita og stærðir voru allt aðrar en menn áttu að venjast í klassísku trönumálverki. Nú bættust við Fernand Léger, með kalda og skorinorða formhugsun sína og síðast en ekki síst André Masson, sem hafði tileinkað sér sjálfsprottna tjáningu með hjálp ósjálfráðrar pensil- skriftar. Af þessu spratt harðsoðin og hrá list eftirstríðsáranna, sem var bæði einföld og voldug í senn. Frammi fyrir köldu afdráttarleysi hennar varð fylgjendum Parísar- skólans svarafátt. Að vísu mátti við Signubakka kenna enduróm skyldra viðhorfa, en hljómurinn var ekki eins sannfærandi. Þrátt fyrir nýtt inntak var frönsk mynd- hugsun of hefðbundin og formföst. Hún byggðist á yfirvegun í tjáningu og snoturri fágun þegar verst lét. Til voru þeir sem skáru upp herör gegn oki hefðarinnar með því að benda á nýjar og ferskari leiðir. En þeir áttu sér of fáa fylgismenn. Fremstur í flokki var Jean Dubuffet, sem af flestum er talinn merkasti núlifandi listamaður Frakka. Annað og síðbúnara afsprengi þessa andófs var Spánverjinn Antoni Tapiés, verðugur arftaki landa sinna, þeirra Mirós og Picassos. Jafn næmur listamaður og Valtýr Pétursson gat vart farið varhluta af hnignun Parísarskólans. Svo fræði- lega var hann handgenginn ýmsum kenningum hans, að slíkar lyktir hlutu að kippa stoðum undan trú hans á increasingly obvious that the art produced in Paris could not withstand the test of time. When the Second World War broke out a group of France’s most promising artists left for America where their theories of art soon spread and provided the groundwork for the radical changes in art in the post- war years. These changes were not simply limited to style but also content, technique, and support. Several works by Matisse had already shown American artists how traditional conceptions of space could be dis- pensed with, and Monet’s water lilies had also taught them to appreciate art in which shapes and surfaces could flow into one continuous flood of colours and in which perspectives were totally different from the traditional classic easel paintings. Fernand Léger made his contribution, too, with his cold and pithy forms, and last but not least there was André Masson, who had specialised in a very spontaneous form of expression through automatic pencil drawings. From this a raw and vigorous art was born in the post- war years which was simple yet powerful. The Paris school had few answers to its cold and forthright declarations. Echoes of this art could be heard on the banks of the Seine, of course, but the sound was not as convincing. In spite of new blood, the French visual imagination was fixed and traditional, based on deliberate forms of expression and, at worst, a polished veneer. There were those who raised a war- cry against the yoke of tradition by pointing out newer and more envigorating ways, but they had too few followers. One of the leaders of this group was Jean Dubuffet, considered by many to be France’s greatest living artist, and another and later offspring was the Spaniard Antoni Tapiés, a worthy successor to his compatriots Miró and Picasso. An artist as sensitive as Valtýr Pétursson could hardly be unscathed by the decline of the Paris School. He was so intellectually involved with certain of the School’s tenets, that these developments hacked at 21

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(54) Color Palette