Robert Combas
December 11, 2016 – June 5, 2017
‘‘For me, a canvas can be influenced by naïve African advertising agents, by an illustration in a primary schoolbook, by a dash of Picasso or Miró, or again by drawings like comics, plus phony Arabic script, raw painting, very Dubuffet or Cobra. Like Jules Verne, without leaving my room, I’ve been to Timbuktu.’’
Robert Combas
Robert Combas is today considered one of the most important French artists of our time and is the leader of the artistic movement baptized by Ben in the early 80’s : La Figuration Libre.
The artist Robert Combas occupies a special place in the fifty-year history of the Yvon Lambert gallery. He joined the adventure midway – in the mid-1980s – when Combas was the most symbolic paragon of a genuine revolution in the art market and in the history of painting.
Robert Combas had his first show in 1983, together with the German artist Middendorf and Jean-Charles Blais. They were soon joined by Loïc Groumellec, Louis Jammes, and Philippe Favier, to mention three very different French artists, who are all nonetheless emblematic of the revolution underway in the gallery. A study of the number of exhibitions and above all of the number of works in Yvon Lambert’s personal collection shows that an osmosis, a very intense, rare, mutual friendship arose between artist and dealer. In point of fact, the works in the donation to the state represent just the tip of the iceberg! One loses count of the number of free form canvases, of sequences of works on any and every support (pillowcases, sheets, sleeping-bag, bridge table, a horse from a child’s toy…), on paper, and in sketchbooks, in addition to the notes Yvon Lambert has preciously conserved – items that make these holdings so unusual and so unique.
After the exhibition at the Musée de Vence, the Collection Lambert is proud to present a major retrospective in Avignon with nearly two hundred works from the 80’s and 90’s belonging to Yvon Lambert’s collection and beautiful paintings owned by Laurent Strouk. The exhibition follows a chronological and thematic path: from early works to paintings evoking themes dear to the artist – the bestiary, love, woman, battles, music, religion or mythology.
Photo : Robert Combas / © Adagp, Paris