With Cattiaux disappears one of the last medieval artists of our time. Medieval in soul, style, temperament, and feelings.
Of all the great mystical currents that have inspired Art, Cattiaux retained only the last one, rather general than specific to a given religion, the esoteric current that has undeniably asserted itself in recent years.
Cattiaux shunned bigotry, dogmatism, and fanaticism that dry up or destroy faith. He professed a sort of union of Churches, with the absolute conviction that formalities differ while belief in the Divinity is one.
Bohemian and independent, Cattiaux experienced a difficult existence during the war for wanting to remain true to himself. «During the occupation», he told me, «I lived on an apple per meal. But I spent all my time at the Library of Paris, which contains the secrets of esotericism and medieval art. I literally fed on the spirit of the believing and scrupulously artistic predecessors.» From these studies, Cattiaux produced a treatise on the pictorial science of the 14th and 15th centuries. Then, the material for a book of maxims that he revised until the eve of his sudden death. Finally, clarifications on Christian esotericism.
His notes on the art of painting solidly, definitively regarding the material—glazed, and of an incredible solidity—often confirm the writings of art criticism by my friend Drouant.
His work is inspired by religious life. Even his landscapes, sunrises or sunsets with wide-open roads leading to pastoral horizons, are a commentary on biblical texts, and often give a realistic and non-symbolic life to angels.
His interiors accept as accessories chalices, crosses, and little-known sacred signs. In a vibration full of freedom and with a joy worthy of the Primitives, he painted sorts of auras surrounding his characters. He deified the housewife in her kitchen, a parable that plastically accommodated a kind of sun that could remind one of certain canvases from Van Gogh’s last period.
But canvases, writings, and treatises were only one aspect of Cattiaux.
He was a seer. The gift of seeing in him was natural, spontaneous, and never exploited.
