Victor Vasarely

Hungarian Viktor Vásárhelyi Hungarian-born French painter of geometric abstractions who became one of the leading figures of the Op art (q.v.) movement.

Vasarely was trained as an artist in Budapest in the Bauhaus tradition. In 1930 he left Hungary and settled in Paris, where he initially supported himself as a commercial artist but continued to do his own work. During the 1930s he was influenced by Constructivism, but by the 1940s his characteristic style of painting animated surfaces of geometric forms and interacting colours had emerged. His style reached maturity in the mid-1950s and 1960s, when he began using brighter, more vibrant colours to further enhance the suggestion of movement through optical illusion. Representative works include “Sirius II” (1954), “Ondho” (1956–60, Museum of Modern Art, New York City), and “Arny-C” (1967–69).

Vasarely became a naturalized French citizen in 1959. Much of his work is housed in the Vasarely Museum, at the Château de Gourdes, in Vaucluse département, southern France. In 1970 he established the Vasarely Foundation, which in 1976 took up quarters near Aix-en-Provence in a building that he designed.

(Encyclopedia Britannica online)

Bio

Victor Vasarely Biography

1906 Born April 9 in Pécs, Hungary

1925 - 1927 Studies medicine at the University of Budapest. Although he decides to abandon his medical studies after two years, scientific methodology and objectivity should later influence his approach to art.

1927 - 1929 Studies art at the Podolini-Volkmann Academy in Budapest.

1929 Enrols at Alexander Bortnyik’s Mühely Academy, widely recognised as the centre of Bauhaus studies in Budapest.

1930 - 1934 Moves to Paris, where he works as a graphic artist for various agencies, including Havas, and for the renowned printer Draeger. Begins his Zebra studies and engages in his first optical experiments. Marries Claire Spinner in 1931. Their first child André is born the same year. A second son, Jean-Pierre, is born in 1934.

1935 - 1945 Assembles an important body of graphic works , developing the aesthetic foundations for his plastic language. In 1944, inaugurates the Galerie Denise René in Paris with a solo-exhibition, and in 1945, participates for the first time in the Salon des Surindépendants.

1946 - 1950 Moves decidedly towards Constructivist and geometric abstract art, inspired by artists such as Malevitch, Moholy-Nagy and Walter Gropius. His vacations at Gordes and Belle-Isle from 1947 onwards play an important role in inspiring this shift away from figurative representation. Publishes his first edition of prints. Exhibits at the Salon des Surindépendants (1946), the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles (1947) and Galerie Denis René in Paris (1948).

1951 - 1959 Works predominantly in black and white. Develops and defines the visual elements of Op Art, the movement with which his name has become inextricably linked. In 1955 publishes his Yellow Manifesto and receives the Critics Award in Brussels and the Gold Medal at the Milan Triennial. Completes a series of murals for the University of Caracas in Venezuela, as well as several architectural integrations such as Hommage à Malevitch. Participates in numerous exhibitions such as Le Mouvement at the Galerie Denise René (1955), 50 Ans d’Art Moderne at the Palais International des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (1958), and Inaugural Selection at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (1959). Has solo exhibitions at the Buenos Aires and Caracas museums of art (1958/59) and at Galerie Der Spiegel in Cologne (1959).

1960 - 1965 Receives the International Guggenheim Award in New York (1964), the Grand Prix de la Gravure in Ljubljana in Slovenia (1965) as well as the Grand Prize at the VIII Art Biennale of São Paolo (1965). Also awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres in Paris (1965). Participates in many group exhibitions, incuding Documenta III in Kassel, Germany (1964) and, most notably, The Responsive Eye at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1965). Also has numerous solo exhibitions, including shows at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (1963), the Pace Gallery in New York (1964), the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (1965) and the Kunsthalle in Bern in Switzerland (1965).

1966 - 1970 Completes several architectural projects, including one for the French pavilion at the World Expo in Montreal (1967). Also completes two films Les Multiples and Précinetisme. Interviews of the artist by Jean-Louis Ferrier are published. Awarded Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur (1970). Numerous group exhibitions, among them Lumière et Mouvement at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris (1967) and 10 Ans d’Art vivant, 1955-65 at the Fondation Maeght (1968) in Saint Paul-de-Vence in France, as well as solo exhibitions at the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York (1966 and 1968), Galerie Denise René in Paris (1969) and the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest (1969).

1971 - 1975 Inauguration of the Vasarely Museum in Gordes in France (1971). Publishes the four volumes of Plasti-cité and receives the International Art Book Award for two of the volumes in 1971 and 1975. Solo exhibitions at the Galerie Denise René (1972) and Sidney Jannis Gallery (1972). Designs the set for the Racine Opera Bérenice, performed in Hungary.

1976 - 1982 Inauguration of the Vasarely Foundation in Aix-en-Provence (1976) and the Vasarely Museum in his hometown of Pécs (1978). Solo exhibitions at the Caracas Museum of Contemporary Art (1977) and the Phoenix Art Museum (1979). Creates 154 prints that are transported into space aboard the Soyuz 7 by a French-Soviet team of cosmonauts .

1983 - 1990 Named Honorary Citizen of the City of New York and delivers a series of lectures in the United States. In France, Vasarely is named Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1985) and promoted to the rank of Grand Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite in France (1990). Inauguration of the Vasarely Museum at the Zichy Palace in Budapest (1987).

1997 Dies March 15 in Paris.

Selected Exhibitions

2006 The Expanded Eye, Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland

2005 The Kinetic Eye: Optical and Kinetic Art, 1950-1975, 13 May – 25 September, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Strasbourg, France

2005 Victor Vasarely in black and white, Robert Sandelson, London

2004 Victor Vasarely: Black and White paintings from 1950s, 16 October – 13 November 2004, Robert Miller Gallery, New York

2004 Victor Vasarely: Founder of Op Art, Naples Museum of Art, Naples, Florida

2004 Victor Vasarely – Parcours 1930-1980, La Fondation Demeures du Nord, Lille

2003 Victor Vasarely, Robert Sandelson, London

2001 Vasarely Inconnu, Palais Bénédictine, Fécamp

2000 Vasarely, Fundacion Juan March, Madrid, Spain

1998 Vasarely – Geometrie, Abstraktion, Rhythmus. Die Fünfziger Jahre, Ulmer Museum, Ulm

1997 - 1998 Vasarely – Erfinder der Op-Art, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, Kunstverein Wolfsburg and Joseph Albers Museum, Bottrop

1996 - 1997 Vasarely: Hommages, Musée Communal des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi and Fondation Vasarely, Aix-en-Provence

1995 Victor Vasarely – 50 Years of Creation, Musée Olympique, Lausanne

1992 Le Mouvement, Fondation Maeght, St-Paul-de-Vence

1992 Retrospective, Kunstforum Vienna, Austria

1987 Vasarely, Esterhazy Castle, Eisenstadt

1987 Victor Vasarely, Okresné Museum, Prague

1986 Vasarely, National Museum of Fine Arts, Algiers

1986 Galerie der Stadt Esslingen am Neckar, Germany

1980 The Art Of Victor Vasarely, Midland Center of Arts, Midland, Michigan

1979 The Optic Art of Vasarely, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona

1977 Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas

1975 Cultural Centre, Modena, Italy

1972 Exposition de sérigraphies et de multiples, Philadelphia Art Museum

1972 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York

1972 Galerie Denise René, Paris

1970 From Renoir to Vasarely, Salon d’Automne, Grand-Palais, Paris

1969 Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary

1969 Folklore Planétaire, Galerie Denis René, Paris

1968 Vasarely, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York

1968 10 Ans d’Art Vivant, 1955-65, Fondation Maeght, St Paul-de-Vence, France

1967 Lumière et Mouvement, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville, Paris

1967 Multiples, Galerie Denise René, Paris

1966 Sidney Janis Gallery, New York

1965 The Responsive Eye, Museum of Modern Art, New York

1965 Kunsthalle, Berne, Switzerland

1964 Documenta III, Kassel, Germany

1964 Vasarely et l’Art Social, Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris

1964 Pace Gallery, New York

1963 L'Unite Plastique, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris

1963 Taft Museum, Cincinatti

1959 Galerie Der Spiegel, Cologne

1959 Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas

1959 Inaugural Selection, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

1958 50 Ans d’Art Moderne, Palais International des Beaux-Arts,Brussels

1958 Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires

1955 Le Mouvement, Galerie Denise René, Paris

1955 Galerie Der Spiegel, Cologne

1955 Palais de Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles; APIAW, Liege

1950 Galerie Arne Bruun Rasmussen, Copenhague

1948 Tendences de l’Art Abstrait, Galerie Denise René, Paris

1944 Galerie Denise René, Paris

1930 Galerie Kovacs Akos, Budapest

(Artnet)