Idéotraces

Idéotraces, published in the spring of 1966 by Denoël, marks an important stage in the career of Pierre Alechinsky, a central figure of the CoBrA movement, then aged 39. The book presents a visual and calligraphic manifesto, combining engravings, inks, prints, gestures and texts: “Alechinsky fully embraces this ambiguity between writing and painting, and makes of it almost a system. He must have often begun with a poem and ended up with a painting, or the reverse. Ultimately, Pierre Alechinsky has consistently mocked schools of art, and if his painting was somewhat less figurative yesterday and somewhat more so today, it is because one cannot entirely escape the suggestions of one’s era” (Conil Lacoste, Le Monde, December 9, 1966).

The book was published on the occasion of an exhibition of the artist’s work at the Galerie de France.