Gilbert Wolfisberg sits down with Mailah Le Guennec.

What is it Culture Peinture (Painting Culture) ?

A series of theoretical and practical videos to learn the art of painting.

I created Culture Peinture in 2019 to offer a cohesive curriculum in successive stages.

Both theoretical and practical, the content of the videos aims to gradually integrate the knowledge developed by the great masters and artists over centuries, and to understand how that knowledge evolved. It is about highlighting and explaining the principles that govern what we call the language of painting. The videos is for anyone who wants to learn or discover the "secrets of painting, and / or improve their painting technique.

What do you mean by the language of painting?

The Language of painting is the set of very precise codes and rules that govern painting, they resulted from great artists’ reflections, who never stopped looking for ways to achieve harmony, coherence, and beauty. This has always been true, at least until the second half of the twentieth century!

To learn a language is to bring understanding, to put words on what can often appear confusing, vague, impenetrable. Let’s take Picasso as example: despite being universally famous, this great artist’s work can hardly be appreciated in all its richness, if one does not have the aesthetic keys to understand it.

We could take as an example, the work of Picasso: despite his universal fame, the painting of this great artist can hardly be appreciated in all its richness, if one does not have the aesthetic keys to penetrate his paintings! 

Understanding a painting’s internal plays beyond any representation requires a minimum of knowledge. We see his work as vague and subjective when it is in fact very objective. This objectivity comes from knowing the tools available to create a coherent world, based above all on aesthetic logic.

What makes this language ?

You could say that the image’s internal architecture (composition) is what needs to be studied. There are numerous and diverse principles underlying this system. Some are based on symmetry, others on the golden ratio or on principles of mechanical repetition, with, in addition, systems of organization of movement by circular rhythms, ovoid or spiral rhythms (Rubens, Turner , Picasso etc). Same thing for the understanding of shapes, space, color and everything at play between these different elements.

Is painting a place of pure creativity and freedom ?

The idea we have of painting and the act of painting is often wrong and romantic. We often think that a painter is a gifted, sensitive being who only lets himself be guided by his emotions, when it is in fact quite different! Imagine if I place you in front of a piano keyboard, only guided by your emotions and your feelings, it is very unlikely that you will be able to create a symphony! We accept the idea that in order to compose music you have to know scales, rules of music theory, and master musical harmony, as well as the sense of rhythm. The same is true for the act of painting, progressive learning is necessary in order to be able to go beyond pure emotion. Further on, once this knowledge becomes implicit, it will facilitate the creation of a more accomplished, mastered work. At that point, emotions become a precious ally.

Connect to the creative child within.

"Painting is easy, just place the right amount of the right color in the right place!" joked Paul Klee. And Degas added: "Painting is very easy when you don't know it ...". The false belief would be to think painting is indeed easy! We are almost all painters when we are children but little by little, with the development of cognitive thought, we lose this strength, this spontaneity and even the sense of natural harmony. In a way, you have to find them again, but can only do so after integrating the rules that produce harmony.

One cannot ignore, in the name of freedom of expression, the precious heritage that has marked the entire history of painting, from the ancient masters to present day. This heritage is based on a science, an aesthetic logic. Each step requires an initiation and an in-depth study; for example the golden ratio and its derivatives. The mastery of forms is also the subject of an in-depth reflection, because they are the painter’s raw material. Behind each subject, there are one or more forms following harmonic codes we can play with. The use of color requires knowing significant parameters such as value, temperature, dynamics, brightness, distribution of quantities, tone and atonality.

The evolution of painting.

Contrary to what we might think, painters like Rembrandt, Manet and Braque who brought new ways of painting and seeing, had perfectly integrated the many rules of composition, forms and color. What they wanted to overcome was an aspect of that language that ended up becoming too well mastered and limiting, a dead end in a way.

With his famous painting "Olympia" Manet has helped to explode the concept of modeling, a faithful representation of volume, in favor of a new treatment, the flat variation, which eventually freed color. He shook up academicism and its rules. But the mastery with which he treated composition, forms and space remains exemplary. Painting like any language continuously evolves to exist.

The mermaids' song.

The art market’s current rules have blurred the lines. Discerning a work of quality among other less elaborate works, becomes difficult for many people, in search of valid and lasting artistic works. Some paintings may seem easy to make and sloppy, while they are actually underpinned by a deep reflection and masterful craft. It is useful to sharpen your eye to better distinguish what is a painting of quality, from what is sometimes just a painting artefact!

What do we need to learn?

Painting has always been considered a major art and requires real initiation. It is essentially about learning the rules of forms, composition, and color, which are the three main axes nourishing creation. Through video examples, I teach you how to gradually work with the tools that have been in use throughout the history of painting.

These aesthetic principles open both both an intellectual and artistic reasoning. "Art is first and foremost a mental thing," said Leonardo da Vinci. The painting is the result of a thoughtful act, driven by a deep aspiration so that it can move us and our soul, and perhaps touch upon the universal.

Painting is still relevant today.

The political and paradigm shifts of the seventies, mainly in the United States, enriched the art world with new modes of expression. Some said that painting had exhausted its potential. The interest and knowledge of painting’s language have gradually faded, even in many official art schools, to the point where the fundamental rules have been disregarded. Without detracting from the expressive force or the originality of new artistic trends, we must see its limits. The current excitement in art should not obscure the great rules established by the ‘ancient masters’, based on a sort of wisdom, transcendence, and in alignment with Nature, which hold the rules of harmony in all its aspects.

The contemporary world has again moved to new artistic expressions. The period we live in offers a fantastic opportunity for painting. The unfulfilled desire of men to break away from what is past, known, and to explore the inaccessible will always be present. The search for harmony and beauty remains a basic and essential motivation of human soul seeking balance. The search for personal alignment, and with the environment, drives our deep aspiration to go beyond oneself. I am convinced that it is necessary to reconnect with this "natural" harmony and that it is possible to express it in the many contemporary forms of painting.

Can we do figurative and bstract art ?

Strictly speaking, there is no cleavage between figurative and non-figurative painting; they shouldn’t be opposed. The non-figurative can seem incomprehensible or even abstruse if one does not have the keys to read it. However, as soon as we manage to decipher the internal language of such works, they reveal themselves in all their richness and depth. Thus they open endless perspectives for creation.

Abstract art is a liberation in representation as the painting is no longer subject to reality. Its language is self-sufficient. Art has always been a reinterpretation of reality, the art of illusion, but it is also a vector of meaning. It regenerates by producing beauty, consistency and aesthetics. Abstract painting produces the same.

A legacy to pass on.

My intention is to pass on what I have learned in the atelier of Lucio Loubet, in Paris, from 1992 to 1994. I had an almost spiritual and highly revealing experience there. I was often going to the Louvre or the Center Pompidou where I could gradually make the connection between what I was learning in the atelier and the paintings I was seeing.

This allowed me to enter the mysteries of the works themselves, and experience aesthetic pleasures I had no concept of before. This feeling created a sort of filiation with the inspirations that probably animated the great artists. I felt I belonged to their legacy. It is this joy of discovery and concrete achievement that I wish to pass on.

In summary.

Knowledge of the history of painting sheds light on the different artistic movements that have evolved over the centuries, and how they influenced each other. But this approach should not burden us. On the contrary, it is there to broaden our vision and inspire us. But painting requires learning the basic rules and observing how the artists played with them and introduced contradictions. There are subtle ways to develop pictorial language! Everything becomes brighter when you know the codes. How can we see, for example, that there is coherence between the works of Paul Cézanne and those of Pierre Soulages (21st century) without knowing the keys to reading them?

So I invite you on a journey to places you wouldn’t necessarily explore spontaneously. Through pictorial expression and its mastery, the ultimate goal will be to find the creative power of the soul stretched towards beauty, wonder, and joy.