I’ll venture a bold statement: Auguste Herbin is the greatest forgotten abstract painter of the twentieth century. For the life of me, I don’t understand why his name isn’t included along with such giants as Mondrian or Kandinsky.
Born into a family of weavers living in a small village along the Belgian coast, August Herbin (1882-1960) began his career as a painter of realistic landscapes. In his early 20s, after attending an art academy, Herbin settled in Paris where he first joined the Impressionists and later the Fauves. Herbin’s Paris studio was next to Braque's and Picasso's, where he made a close study of Cubism, resulting in his first Cubist paintings in 1913. In 1917 he shifted to an abstract, geometric style. Then, years later, in 1946, he developed the "alphabet plastique" (plastic alphabet), a system of color, shape and sound for each letter of the alphabet.
In 1953 Herbin’s right hand became paralyzed, forcing the artist to paint with his left hand. Herbin became known in the international art work through his clear geometric style and bold colors developed as part of his unique system. It’s this unique system, his plastic alphabet I find so fascinating since I detect close parallels with the Pythagoreans, Neoplatonic theurgy, Yantra (mystical diagrams from India), esoteric Kabbalah and even the combination of light, sound and color in Alexander Scriabin’s Poem of Fire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3B7u...
More specifically, by his plastic alphabet, Auguste Herbin believed he discovered a formula, that is, the basic building blocks for understanding the underlying truth of the universe. As Denise Rene, the author of this book writes: “Auguste Herbin’s painting is an absolute and, like all pure things, is endowed with a powerful mysterious incantation.” And here it is, the system of his painting, word for word, as outlined in this book:
The Plastic Alphabet
(Table of relationships between the complete alphabet, color, form and summarily notes of music, placing pink at the highest point, relating to the letter A.)
A: Pink. Resulting from the action of four eternal forces, pink is accompanied by a form resulting from the combination of spherical triangular, hemispherical, and quadrangular forms. Musical correlation: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si.
B: Crimson Red; combination of spherical and quadrangular forms; sonority of do, si.
C: Dark Red; combination of spherical and quadrangular forms, sonority of do, sol.
D: Light Red; spherical form; sonority of do, re.
E: Red; spherical form; sonority of do.
F: Red Orange; combination of spherical and triangular forms; sonority of re, do.
G: Deep Orange; spherical and triangular forms combined sonority of re, do, sol.
H: Yellow Orange; combination of spherical and triangular forms; sonority of re, mi.
I: Orange: combination of spherical and triangular forms; sonority of re
J: Deep Yellow; combinations of triangular and spherical forms; sonority of mi, re, do
K: Medium Yellow; combination of triangular and spherical forms; sonority of mi, re.
L: Lemon yellow: triangular form; sonority of mi
M: Barium Yellow; triangular form; sonority of mi
N: White; accompanied by all the forms; sonority of do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si
O: Green; combination of triangular and hemispherical forms; sonority of fa.
P: Light Green; combination of triangular and hemispherical forms; sonority of fa, mi.
Q: Deep Blue-Green; combination of triangular and hemispherical forms; sonority of fa, sol.
R: Light Blue; combination of hemispherical and triangular forms; sonority of sol, fa, mi.
S: Deep Green-blue; combination of hemispherical and triangular forms; sonority of la, sol, fa.
T: Deep Blue-violet; combination of hemispherical and quadrangular forms; sonority of la, sol, si.
U: Blue; hemispherical forms; sonority of sol, la.
V: Black; accompanied by all forms; sonority of do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si.
W: Blue Violet; combination of quadrangular and hemispherical forms; sonority of si, la.
X: Red Violet; combination of quadrangular and spherical forms, sonority of si, do.
Y: Violet; quadrangular form; sonority of si.
Z: Deep Violet; combination of quadrangular, spherical and hemispherical forms, sonority of si, do, la.
Here is a chart of the plastic alphabet with colors and shapes:
And link below where you can see dozens and dozens of his work. You can then pick out the paintings where the colors and shapes correspond the the letters of your name. Thus, you will be able to see yourself rendered in Auguste Herbin art:
https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/s...
Or, if you are feeling creative, you could use his plastic alphabet to create your own artwork from the letters of your name.
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