Simon Hantaï (1922–2008) is one of the most important representatives of international post-war painting. In 1948, the Hungarian artist emigrated to Paris, where he soon became part of the city's vibrant avant-garde community. After an early Surrealist phase, he turned to Informel painting in the 1950s and at the same time intensively dealt with the work of Jackson Pollock. The year 1960 marked a turning point in Hantaï’s work, as he now focused his radically experimental works on the so-called "pliage comme méthode" – compositions, in which he covered the folded canvas with oil or acrylic in order to produce brightly colored chance patterns. In 1980, Hantaï was awarded the Grand Prix National des Arts Plastiques, and two years later he represented France at the Biennale in Venice. With around 40 often monumental masterpieces from four decades of pictorial experimentation, the exhibition in Baden-Baden provides a multifaceted overview over Hantaï’s visionary artistic output, presenting his outstanding contribution to the development of international post-war abstraction as a deeply moving feast of color.
The numerous lenders to the exhibition include the Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, the Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, Genève, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the Musée d’art moderne de Paris, as well as the Musée d’art moderne et contemporain de Saint-Étienne.
An exhibition of the Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden. With the generous support of the Archives Simon Hantaï, Paris.
While the term »Pop Art« is primarily associated with American painting, numerous European artists were addressing the same issues at around the same time. They, too, explored the relationship between art and consumerism, drew on the glamorous imagery of fashion, advertising, and entertainment, or questioned changing images of femininitybetween pin-up and emancipation. The exhibition at the Museum Frieder Burda focusses on European painters who worked in or responded to innovations of Pop Art, exploring theirmultifacetted approaches to both representing and subverting the imagery of modern consumer society. To provide insights into the transatlantic exchange fuelling their vision, their works are set in dialogue with a carefully selected group of paintings and sculptures by their American peers. Overall, the show features over 70 works by more than 20 artists.
Represented Artists: Arman, Balder, Werner Berges, Rafael Canogar,
César, John Chamberlain, William Copley, Christa Dichgans, Erró, Gérard
Fromanger, Claude Gilli, Eulàlia Grau, Raymond Hains, Maurice Henry,
Allen Jones, Alex Katz, Kiki Kogelnik, Umberto Mariani, Ivan Messac,
Jacques Monory, Edgar Naccache, Sigmar Polke, Bernard Rancillac, Antonio
Recalcati, Gerhard Richter, Chryssa Romanos, Mimmo Rotella, Niki de
Saint-Phalle, Daniel Spoerri, Peter Stämpfli, Walter Strack, Hervé
Télémaque, Fernand Teyssier, and Andy Warhol.
An exhibition of the Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden. With the generous support of the Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, Genève, Switzerland.