Hélène Csech. D’ombre et de lumière

In 2004, the artist Hélène Csech (Paris, 1921 - Paris, 2013) donated to the Museums of Belfort a collection of 217 works: etchings, drypoints, aquatints and multiple combinations of these techniques, often printed in editions of less than 30 to preserve all the subtlety of the drawing. This donation was completed by one of his sons at the end of 2022: 53 works, including monotypes and drawings, joined the Belfort collections. These two complementary donations make it possible to preserve the complete works of an artist and to follow their development, making the Museums of Belfort a benchmark for the artist, since no other institution possesses so many of his works. Despite being trained by Johnny Friedlander (Pless, 1912 - Paris, 1992), one of the masters of contemporary engraving, Hélène Csech, like most women artists specialising in engraving, remains largely unknown. A drawing teacher in Paris from 1946 to 1953, she printed her work at the Visat studio until 1979, then at René Taze after that date. She won first prize for engraving at Bayeux in 1992. Her first floating landscapes, heavily influenced by Friedlander, gradually disappeared, giving way to a more personal body of work characterised by the appearance of recurring themes: useless architecture, phantasmagorical monsters, disturbing characters... The line is powerful and intense, sometimes impertinent. The black, masterful and extreme, arouses a real fascination that is enhanced by a rare light.