Simon Hantaï Centenary exhibition at the Louis Vuitton Foundation

Simon Hantaï: Pliage

Simon Hantaï found his signature artistic style by using the 'Pliage' method (folding). It consists of scrunching up a piece of canvas, painting it and then unfolding it to discover the shapes produced, partly by chance. The revealed white spaces might take on a major role:

Hantaï:  Whites 1973-5

This automatic process relates to Surrealist practice and to Freud. An anecdote tells us that in 1952 Simon Hantaï deposited a small work in front of André Breton's doorway. Its title was "Regarde" (Look). Breton welcomed Hantaï into the fold and he exhibited at the Surrealist Gallery 'L'Etoile Scellée'. A few years later Hantaï quit the movement. 

 

A big artistic influence on Hantaï's art was Matisse. There are several late Matisses on show here:

Henri Matisse: White seaweed on a red and green background, Vence 1947

Henri Matisse: Blue nude IV  Nice 1952 (Musée d'Orsay)

Matisse, by the end of his life, had devised a way of painting paper with gouache and cutting shapes out of it, which he then arranged in dynamic compositions on his canvas. The shapes created by Hantaï echo those of Matisse.

HantaÏ: Meun  1968  oil on canvas (private collection)

HantaÏ used the traditional method of oil painting on canvas in the above work, in preparation for his folded creations. He named the series after the village of Meun in the Seine et Marne département, where he settled in 1965. 

Jackson Pollock Number 26A, Black and White, 1948

Another big influence on Simon Hantaï was the 'all over' painting of Jackson Pollock. The Pompidou centre has lent a great work by Pollock, in which the rhythm is powerful. One can almost feel the painter moving about his canvas. Pollock worked on the floor, as did Hantaï. It is interesting to see their works side by side:

The Hantaï, on the right, is very similar to Pollock, but with a feeling of texture rather than movement, as a close-up may illustrate:

In the 1960s Hantaï produced a series he called the 'Mariales', or 'Virgin's Mantles' in homage to the virgin Mary, who, in Italian Renaissance paintings, spreads her mantle to protect monastic communities. (Hantaï was especially influenced by Giotto's 'Ognissanti Madonna' which he saw in the Uffizzi gallery in Florence.)

Hantaï: Mariale ( Marian )1960-62

Sometimes the artist used multiple foldings, but he always wanted the canvas to be as tightly stretched and flat as possible in the finished work. The only 'relief' was the optical effect created. An item from his archives captures the essence of Hantaï's method, in a simple piece of painted material: 

Hantaï  Painting. Acrylic on canvas  1982-85

2022 is the centenary of Simon Hantaï's birth, in Bia, Hungary, a small town near Budapest. His family name Handl, of German, Catholic origin, was made more Hungarian sounding by his parents. He studied at the Budapest Fine Arts School, but in 1944 after taking an anti-Nazi stance, he was jailed, then escaped. Later, with a fellow student Zsuzsa, whom he had married, he fled the country, just before the iron curtain came down. After a stay in Rome, he and his wife lived from 1949 onwards in the Cité des Fleurs, in the 17th district of Paris.

The exhibition concentrates on his work from the 60s onwards, unlike the Pompidou retrospective of 2013 which focused on the Surrealist element.  As a prologue, a few smaller pieces show the artist's first pictorial researches:

A fascinating 'Big Book of small paintings' contains 64 of his artistic experiments. The book became a Christmas gift to a good friend in 1968. It features in the Louis Vuitton exhibition. A filmed version shows the visitor all the pages:

The Big Book of Small Paintings

Just one of Hantaï's small paintings

2 others

Later pictorial experiment led to the series Hantaï called 'Panses' (Paunches) which make reference to matrixes, cells and wombs. They are mainly blue/grey/sand colour:

Hantaï: Panses  ( Paunches)  1964-67

one of Hantaï's 'Paunches'

The Paunches series were inspired by Belgian-French poet Henri Michaux (1899-1984), who wrote lines referring to the basic cell of life or the 'cosmic sausage' which can save the world. 

There is a strong organic feeling in these works.

In later years, Hantaï developed a systematic method. His art became monumental:

Hantaï: Tabula

Hantaï's 'Tabulas' (latin for tables) were produced from 1972 to 82. The appearance is of tiles. A tighter way of tying his canvas gave a regular geometric finish.

There is a work on display which has not been unfolded, giving an insight into Hantaï's method:

Hantaï: Unfolded Tabula 1976 (acrylic on folded canvas)

One feels that the unfolding, as well as being exciting for his family who often watched, is a revelatory experience. The unseen becomes visible. There is a mystic current present in much of Hantaï's painting. One of his most well-known early works has been lent by the Pompidou Centre:

Hantaï: Ecriture rose (Pink Writing) 1958-9

Over a whole year, Hantaï built up this work on white canvas punctuated with patches of gold leaf and religious symbols. He wrote Biblical texts, philosophical and liturgical phrases in different coloured inks (black, purple, red and green) to give an overall impression of pink, formed by the vibrations of the colours. The whole is some kind of mystical statement, or summary of the history of religion and philosophy. Its companion piece has been lent by the Musée d'art moderne in Paris:

Hantaï: A Galla Placidia  1958-9  Artist's gift to Musée d'art moderne

This was Hantai's evening work, whereas Ecriture rose took place in the morning. Rather than writings, he made small 'chip' marks over the same period of a year, in incantory mode. The cross is prominent.

close-up of marks

Galla Placidia refers to the 5thC Ravenna Mausoleum of that name.

A section is devoted to large black and white paintings, left over from a project of the 80s which never came to fruition. The plan was to design 130 black and white stained glass windows for the cathedral in Nevers. He enlisted his old friend American artist Sam Francis to help. However, the black and white windows were never created...only these wonderful cartoons remain:

 In 1982, after representing France at the Venice Biennial, where apparently he was rather disgusted with the commercial approach to art, Hantaï stated that he had given up exhibiting and retreated to his studio. In later years, as a reaction, he even buried works of art for a period of time in the earth!

Simon Hantaï

The latter part of the Vuitton exhibition in largely unedited; it includes works from this renunciation period, when Hantaï continued his experiments with pieces of canvas and a varied array of pigments.

Evocation of Hantaï's studio

 Works by artists of the next generation add depth to the exhibition. Daniel Buren, friend and admirer of Hantaï has contributed some of his repetitive stripes:

Daniel Buren's Stripes

An interesting experiment on the vistor's retina concludes the exhibition. An ineffable lilac colour is produced by observing different whites. Hantaï's experiments once again form a link with Matisse and the purple colour of his chapel in Vence.

Hantaï:  White on White 1982

In tribute to their father, Hantaï's 3 musician sons gave a moving and elegant concert in the Louis Vuitton auditorium. The accoustics are good and the view outside of rippling water is soothing.

The Simon Hantaï centenary exhibition is on until 29th August 2022 at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, 

8 avenue Mahatma-Gandhi, Paris 16e.  Metro: Les Sablons

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