Pierre Louis Maurice Courtin

Son of peasants, Pierre Courtin (1921-2012) devoted his life to engraving, "a kind of exploit because modern times [have] reduced it [...] to the rank of secondary art, or rather second, complement of activity for painters or sculptors "(Emmanuel Pernoud," Sumer-sur-Seine ", Pierre Courtin, la gravure tactile, exhib. cat. Paris, BNF, 1998, p. 3). He found, within the narrow limits of the plate, an uncommon freedom, a clean language, giving the chisel - physical and demanding technique - the first place.
Animated by a "true rage of plastic purity" (Pierre Courtin, "Longue complainte", ibid., p.32), the artist freed himself from figuration before gradually letting the figure re-emerge.
Courtin is also the author of beautiful texts dedicated to "the darkness of engraving" (ibid., p. 32), in which he exposed his conception of the artist-artisan and the hard-working artist.

Submitted by Galerie OSP