PARIS.- On 19 June, at Hôtel Drouot, the French auction house of Pescheteau-Badin, together with experts Agnès Sevestre-Barbé and Amaury de Louvencourt, will be presenting a wooden bar by the Romanian artist André Cadere (1934-1978). Rarely seen at auction, this large-scale work, emblematic of conceptual art, is estimated at C100,000 – C150,000.

Sans titre, noir, jaune, blanc, rouge, B 13204000

During his brief career, Cadere created 200 “barres de bois rond” (round wooden bars), works made up of painted cylindrical pieces whose individual length was equivalent to the diameter of the bar. According to Artprice, fewer than thirty such pieces have ever been offered at auction. The present work measures 182 centimetres, an exceptional and rare size that only adds to its value. The work is made up of 52 wooden segments in different colours: black, yellow, white and red.

Oeuvres that lie between Conceptual Art and Op Art

André Cadere’s painted bars follow a precise mathematical system: a round wooden bar alternating with rings of different colours, whose regular rhythm is interrupted by an anomaly, or “error” placed deliberately by the artist. In the artist’s catalogue raisonné, Bernard Marcelis describes the four variables that make each bar unique: colour, permutation, size and the error.

Cadere used two types of permutation known as ‘A’ and ‘B’. The present bar is type ‘B’ and corresponds to his second variant, with four colours and fifty-two segments.

How is one to observe a round wooden bar?

The four variables that render each bar different from the others:

The colour:

Cadere used 8 colours. They always appear in the same sequential order: each bar has a minimum of 3 colours and a maximum of 7. The bar is identified by a simple numerical code running from 1 to 8, derived from the sequential order of the colours. The number 0 identifies unused colours.

The permutation:

The colours are organised according to a system of permutations. Cadere used two types of permutations, A and B. Our bar is type B and has 2 variants, this is the second with 4 colours and 52 segments.

The size:

The size depends on the diameter and length of each section, which in theory are always the same. What determined the maximum size of a wooden bar was the ability of a person to carry it.

The anomaly:

Each bar contains an anomaly, an “error” that sets it apart. It is caused by the inversion of two segments, the only restriction being that two segments of the same colour cannot be juxtaposed.

André Cadere, a major figure of 1970’s avant-garde

“When he wandered around, bearing his multi-coloured round wooden bar, a totem of in situ art, a pilgrim’s staff, André Cadere taught us that the work implies the journey, the progression, in other words: the artist’s approach.” --Bertrand Delanoë, in the preface to the catalogue raisonné of the artist

This subordination of creation to a logical system attests to a subversive and provocative philosophy of art. Like Marcel Duchamp before him, the artist is questioning the notions of originality and ‘artistic genius’, which have become the alpha and omega of a work of art. With no front or back, the bar, for example, does not favour any particular direction as to how it should be observed, thus distinguishing itself from traditional pictorial works.

Because they respond to parameters defined in advance (colours, dimensions and anomalies), it is mathematically possible to draw up a precise list of all the possible combinations: in this way, Cadere’s work is scientifically predetermined. The artist drew up a ledger of the works he produced in which he recorded the pieces purchased and their destination. This ledger also enabled him to avoid reproducing an existing work.

Furthermore, signing his work raised an ideological question for Cadere. As a consequence, his works are not signed. Like other artists of his generation, particularly those associated with the conceptual and minimalist art of the 1970s, he adopted a strategy of retreat, distancing himself from the market. He would instead give buyers certificates of authenticity for his bars, including information such as the bar’s numerical code, the diameter of the segments and the location of the error, which he also kept in his personal records. By the time of his death in 1978, he had catalogued approximately 200 works. The certificate for this work dated 23 October 1973 will be given to the buyer.

“André Cadere’s painted bars transcend their simple physicality to become icons of creative freedom and artistic daring.” Agnès Sevestre-Barbe, expert

André Cadere was a free and unconventional figure. Many photographs of the time show him with one of his round wooden bars, which he took everywhere with him, even to exhibition openings. In these images, the sculpture resembles a pilgrim’s staff, blurring the boundaries between an everyday object and a work of art.