1970-95 The other side of Gilot

In 1969, June Wayne, who studied at Mourlot, invites Gilot to create lithographs at the Tamarind Institute Los Angeles, and then in New Mexico. Together they invent new techniques to push the limits of this medium.

Publishes Le Regard et Son Masque (Interface: The Painter and the Mask) at Calman-Levy. In it, she analyses how different visual elements caught her attention in her early childhood. Paloma publishes a limited edition of, Paloma Sphinx, a children tale Gilot had written and illustrated for her when she was a child. 1976, she publishes The Fugitive Eye her poems in English illustrated with older drawings at the Aeolian Press.

In 1978, Gilot becomes director of the fine arts department at the Idyllwild Art campus in California. She is awarded the rank of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres.

The same year, Gilot makes “monotypes”. with Judith Solodkin, director of the Solo Press and the first woman master printer at the Tamarind Institute. Printed on the same press as lithographs, the monotypes however are not multiples. The artist paints directly on a Plexiglas, each layer is printed once, and then erased. Sometimes very thin papers, often Japanese or Chinese are added and are pressed into the composition. The artist has to work fast in a very free improvised style. They will be exhibited at the Galerie Berggruen Paris, Monotypes who publishes, Françoise Gilot Monotypes.

The same year, she publishes Matisse and Picasso, a Friendship in Art at Doubleday, New York. President François Mitterrand, awards Gilot the rank of “Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Légion d’honneur”.

In 1987, Gilot designs costumes and masks for the ballet Shi-me by choreographer Yen Lu Wong, performed at the Japan American Theatre in San Pedro California, and other places.