"Running Figure" Black & White Lithograph signed Jean Nantais

The lithograph "Running Figure" is an abstract work created by Canadian artist Jean Nantais, signed and numbered 189/250 in pencil in its lower margin. The print features textured forms, curves, and pencil lines as if the surface had been scratched, suggesting human characteristics within the abstraction. As found in old photography, the colour palette is mainly brown and sepia tones. It's a typical abstract figure that questions matter and subjectivity. This piece takes on its full dimension when it becomes one with the title it has been given. The form meets the information and, from there, a direction. Abstraction requires an effort from the artist to detach himself from the perceptible; oppositely, it is up to the viewer to give thickness meaning by starting from the abstract. The title becomes an indicator, a guide that allows us to move around, lose ourselves, and find ourselves repeatedly in the art piece.
Wouldn't abstraction be an attempt to go beyond appearance to give form to a thought, to substitute the visible appearance of the outside world with the invisible reality of being? In this race, the idea of this figure in movement - Running Figure - would it try to escape from something? From somebody? Or from oneself? Don't we say to make abstraction is to escape concrete reality?

***Jean Nantais is a Canadian visual artist and sculptor of the XXth century. He has exhibited in North American and European galleries, including the National Gallery of Canada. His work often focuses on identity, personal development, spiritual connection, and our relationship with nature.

REFERENCE NUMBER: LU65439936322
PERIOD: Mid 20th Century
CONDITION: Excellent
MEASUREMENTS: Height: 28.25" Width: 21.25" Depth: 0.75"
COUNT: 1
MATERIAL: Etching