Henri Michaux’s Personal Calligraphy Practices
**Henri Michaux and the Mescaline Drawings: A Journey Through Consciousness**
Henri Michaux, the renowned 20th-century Belgian poet and painter, is known for his avant-garde approach to art and poetry. Living in a quiet hotel particulier on the Left Bank of Paris, Michaux was an enigmatic figure, often seeking a life of subdued normality. Despite this outward appearance, his artwork tells a different story, one of intense exploration and experimentation with consciousness.
A new exhibition at the Courtauld Institute in London showcases twenty-one drawings Michaux created under the influence of mescaline, a psychedelic substance known for its mind-altering effects. This collection offers a window into Michaux’s attempts to access and document the depths of his own consciousness through art.
The Drawings Gallery of the Courtauld Institute provides the perfect intimate setting for these works, with its low ceilings and muted grey walls creating a sense of seclusion that echoes Michaux’s personal aesthetic. The environment complements Michaux’s drawings, which are marked by detachment and restraint, both in color and form.
Unlike painters of his time, Michaux eschewed the theatrics of painting, favoring the immediacy and spontaneity of drawing. His works in this exhibition oscillate between sparse, monochromatic lines and furious, interwoven patterns. This juxtaposition captures the turbulent journey Michaux experienced during his mescaline sessions, as he sought to transcribe the flux of his consciousness onto paper.
Throughout his career, Michaux published several books of poetry inspired by his experiences with mescaline, each exploring themes of existential inquiry and introspection. These poetic endeavors parallel his artistic expressions, both converging to reflect his lifelong quest to understand the human mind and its complexities.
The mescaline drawings, created between 1944 and 1969, reveal Michaux’s evolving relationship with his art and his consciousness. Some drawings feature hints of human figures, with tiny heads and multiple eyes, suggesting a fragmented yet interconnected perception of the self. Others evoke the sensation of movement, as lines vibrate and blur across the paper, providing a visual narrative of Michaux’s psychedelic explorations.
Michaux’s work captures the essence of what it means to grapple with the self, laying bare the struggle to define one’s own experiences and internal worlds. The Courtauld’s exhibition offers a rare opportunity to witness the intersection of art, poetry, and consciousness, as expressed by one of the most intriguing artists of the 20th century.
*Henri Michaux: The Mescaline Drawings* is on display at the Courtauld Gallery in London until June 4. Curated by Ketty Gottardo, the exhibition invites visitors to delve into Michaux’s introspective journey and experience the compelling interplay between art and the mind.