'In many of the early drawings, we discovered an underlying layer of pastel that had never been identified before,” says Marie-Noëlle. “Spilliaert went over it with ink, making the effect appear uniform. It was this technology that actually enabled us to demonstrate the presence of that pastel layer. We also found traces of colour, which are barely visible because everything is now darker.'
Marie-Noëlle Grison is a French art historian and museum curator, specialising in works on paper. She studied at Sorbonne University and worked at the Fondation Custodia in Paris and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
She’s currently working on her PhD at KU Leuven, as part of the larger FRIABLE project, which focuses on the study of works on paper consisting of powdery materials (chalk, pastel and charcoal) in Belgian art around 1900. Her research encompasses three major Spilliaert collections, in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the Royal Library of Belgium and Mu.ZEE. Her research combines traditional art historical methods with modern technological approaches to gain new insights into historical drawing materials and techniques.