The current energy crisis is bringing coal- and wood-burning stoves back into the spotlight.
Many of the works fig. 1fig. 2 by the artist Antoine Mortier are inspired by the coal stove (SURDIAC) fig. 3 that heats his private apartment on Rue du Marteau in Brussels.
Its shape is easily recognizable in their reinterpretations or the creative transformations born of their fiery spirit. This utilitarian object, a “pretext for painting,” came to the fore particularly in the early 1960s, when Mortier rented a studio at No. 35 on the same street.
We are reminded of the variations on the object in the artist’s works titled Feu qui rouille (1961) fig. 4, Fervidus (1961) fig. 5, De Kachel (1961) fig. 6, and Meditatio (1961) fig. 7, (Feu) Demi mort (1964) fig. 8, Feu mort, 1964 fig. 9, sometimes preceded by a series of Indian ink drawings titled Variation sur un objet I, II, IIIfig. 10fig. 11fig. 12 and followed by several abstractions of the object, retaining only its essence fig. 13fig. 14.
The dimensions of the oil paintings are identical, mostly 162 x 114 cm—a No. 100 according to the French sizing system, which was widely used at the time.
