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Albert Flocon (1909-1994)

Schermafbeelding 2019-02-16 om 15.08.16

If i must compare Flocon with dutch artist it must be Maurits Cornelis Escher. Where Escher has its roots in geometry and math, Flocon is inspired by architecture and science He even studied at the Bauhaus under Josef Albers. Still Flocon has never become a household name in art.

In March 1965 they finally met.

Escher met the French artist and professor Albert Flocon, lecturer at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Flocon mainly created copper engravings and, like Escher, he was fascinated by the mystery of the perspective. Especially the curvilinear perspective, a form that Escher has also used several times (think of Hand with reflecting sphereBalconyThree Spheres IIDrop (Dewdrop) and Self Portrait in Spherical Mirror). Together with his colleague André Barre, in 1967 he published a book about this special perspective: La Perspective curviligne de l’espace visuel à l’image construite. In 1987 it was published in the US under the title Curvilinear Perspective: From Visual Space to the Constructed Image.The meeting proved to be of great importance to Escher; Flocon ensured that his prints became known in Paris. The professor personally mediated on the sale of prints and an organized Escher exhibition in Paris. In October 1965 Flocon published a ten-page article about Escher in the important monthly Jardin des ArtsA la frontiere de l’art graphique et desiques: Maurits-Cornelis Escher. In it he combined biographical information with analyzes of the prints and quotations from a conversation with Escher. The article gives a good description of Escher’s place in the art world. Previous Dutch art critics never came much further than pointing out that Escher’s work was (too) cerebral. Flocon gave a positive turn to this.

there are not many publications on Flocon, but ftn-books.com has one together with may Escher publications.

flocon

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