Untitled, from 'Code'
Victor Vasarely (Pécs, Hungary 1906/8 – Paris 1997 )
Category
Art / Prints
Date
1967
Materials
Screenprint with embossing on paper
Measurements
15.25 in (H)19.25 in (W)
Place of origin
Paris
Order this imageCollection
2 Willow Road, London
NT 112434
Summary
Screenprint with embossing on wove paper, Untitled, from 'Code' by Victor Vasarely Pécs 1906 - Paris 1997), 1967. A composition of black and blind embossed nearly circular forms, of two different sizes and facing different directions, each 'circle' with one cut side save for a single blue circle that has been left whole. The group of four black circular forms above the central block are embossed below it in mirror image. From an original portfolio of eight screenprints produced to accompany the book 'Code' (1967) by the French poet, essayist and art critic Jean-Clarence Lambert. Published in an edition of 150 by the Parisian publishing house, Le Soleil Noir, this impression numbered 84/150 in pencil at bottom left and signed in pencil by the artist at bottom centre right. Within a cream mount, in a brushed steel frame, glazed.
Full description
In this composition Vasarely explores the interplay of black circular forms set in slightly misaligned configurations against a white background. Each circle has a cut edge, except for a single blue one - the only shape that remains intact and structurally whole. As the eye takes in these differences and asymmetries, the surface activates. Vásárely Gyözö known as Victor Vasarely (1906–1997) was a Hungarian-born French artist and a leading figure of the Op Art movement. Op or Optical Art is characterised by the use of geometric patterns, contrasting colours and visual illusions that engage and challenge the viewer's perception. These works often create the illusion of movement, from the subtle to the totally disorientating. Vasarely's experiments in geometric abstraction were informed by research into optical theory, quantum mechanics and astrophysics. When Time Magazine published its 1964 article 'Op Art: Pictures that Attack the Eye', it described Vasarely as an artist who dons the 'lab coat instead of the [artist's] smock and refers to his work as visual research'. Vasarely worked as a bookkeeper for pharmaceutical, chemical and ball bearing companies and took on occasional advertising work for them before training at the 'Mühely' ('Workshop') in Budapest, a school of applied arts inspired by Bauhaus and Constructivist philosophies founded by Sándor Bortnyik. He left Hungary for Paris in 1930 and took work as a graphic designer. In the early 1940s he encouraged Denise René to transform the premises of her fashion studio, a three-room apartment at 124 rue La Boétie, into an art gallery. The Galerie Denise René would become a driving force in the conceptual, formal and institutional legitimation of geometric abstraction and kineticism. Vasarely exhibited there frequently and with René co-curated the landmark exhibition Le Mouvement (1955), which presented works from Vasarely's 'Black and White' period alongside kinetic and op art by Marcel Duchamp, Alexander Calder, Jesus Rafael Soto and Jean Tinguely. Vasarely organised his artistic development into a series of periods, each defined by a distinct visual approach and set of investigations. The 1950s and 60s saw the artist experiment with chromatic contrast, optical distortion and visual movement (his 'Black and White' and 'Planetary Folklore' periods). He developed and patented a 'plastic alphabet', a visual system composed of basic shapes in contrasting colours ('units') that could be endlessly interchangeable if programmed by algorithm. Vasarely believed this system could function as a universal visual language, transcending borders. The art and ideas of the Russian avant-garde painter Kazimir Malevich were a deep influence. Malevich's radical 'Black Square' (1915) - a simple black square painted on a white ground - and related works such as White on White (1918) and Black Circle (1924) treated basic geometric forms as vehicles for pure, non-mimetic expression. 'Black Square' was considered revolutionary because it broke away from the idea that art had to depict something of the real world. 'Hommage à Malevich' (1952-8) set in motion a series of works that used the placement, repetition and contrast of basic shapes to activate perceptual effects. This synthesis of geometric reduction and visual activation became a marker of Vasarely's Op Art. Vasarely became an international sensation when six of his paintings were included in the 1965 'Responsive Eye' exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. This seminal exhibition introduced Op and Kinetic Art to a wider American audience and included work by other artists who were also collected by the Goldfingers, e.g. Hugo Demarco (NT 112664), Yaakov Agam (NT 112737) and Bridget Riley (NT 112725). The exhibition's curator noted that 'unlike most previous abstract painting, these works exist less as objects to be examined than as generators of perceptual responses'. Committed to the Constructivist and Bauhaus ideals of socially-engaged accessible art, Vasarely reproduced his works in multiples (objects, serigraphs or screenprints and lithographs), and extended his visual language into everyday life through commercial design (advertising, product packaging and branding), architectural collaborations, public art and even DIY 'create your own Vasarely' kits. The present print, for example, originated out of a publishing collaboration with the poet and art critic Jean-Clarence Lambert.
Provenance
Owned by Ernö Goldfinger and Ursula Ruth Blackwell, also known as Mrs Ernö Goldfinger. Purchased by the National Trust in 1994.
Marks and inscriptions
Bottom left: 84/150 Bottom centre right: Vasarely
Makers and roles
Victor Vasarely (Pécs, Hungary 1906/8 – Paris 1997 ), artist