Frantisek Kupka: Art Works from the Pompidou Collection at Picasso Museum
František Kupka took painting to its vital elements: the plane, line and dot. During his career he developed a highly distinctive and exceptional style that still defies any attempt to classify it due to its focus on science, philosophy and mysticism. In addition, Kupka’s work suggests new approaches to interpreting the birth and evolution of modern art.
The exhibition shown at the Museo Picasso Málaga brings together around 90 works consisting of oil paintings, drawings, gouaches and prints. They span the career of this unique artist, from his earliest academic studies to his pioneering discoveries within the field of abstract painting.
František Kupka. Art Works from the Centre Pompidou Collection is curated by Brigitte Léal, Associate Director of the Musée National d’Art Moderne-Centre de Création Industrielle (MNAM-CCI), and co-produced by the Fundación Joan Miró in Barcelona.
Born in Bohemia in 1871, František Kupka first studied at the School of Fine Arts in Prague where he gained traditional, academic training. This was followed by a period in fin-de-siècle Vienna, at that date the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the vibrant setting for thinkers and artists such as Sigmund Freud and Gustav Klimt. There, Kupka’s early spiritual interests soon led him to become explore Symbolism, a style that focused on the quest for universal truth, the use of metaphor to express ideals, and a mood of introspection. The artist’s profound interest in the metaphysical and his fidelity to his origins would be evident throughout his career. The modern spirit of Paris encouraged Kupka to move there in 1896, and he remained there until his death in 1957.
An artist of his time but one difficult to categorise, in the French capital Kupka became acquainted with the artistic movements that arose during the first half of the 20th century. He established links with them but still maintained his own special direction and was consequently described by the painter and theoretician Félix Del Marle as “rebellious, insubordinate and one who pursued his own path”. Kupka was never comfortable with the limits imposed by a particular movement, and as a result his painting does not fit within the traditional account of the rise of the early avant-garde movements. Instead, it invites the viewer to adopt new perspectives on the birth and evolution of modern art.
For some time Kupka’s independent artistic nature allied itself with the Puteaux group of artists, alongside the Duchamp-Villon brothers, and with the Section d’Or, who were close to what Guillaume Apollinaire termed Orphic Cubism (a poetic, colourful variant of Cubism). These artists were also interested in the existence of a fourth dimension in the sense of mathematical proportions, movement and spiritualism. Within this context (with which Kupka was only briefly associated) his investigations led him by 1911 towards a unique type of abstraction that he would go on to develop in two principal directions, evident from that point onwards in his work.
Two directions To begin with Kupka explored the idea of the organic, in other words, the consonance of forms and harmony and of vibrations and fluid forms. Secondly, he focused on a more geometrical type of abstraction that involved a profound exploration of the relationship between planes and the idea of the centre, lines, colours and rhythms. “I took painting, my painting, towards its constituent parts, its elements, as Poussin would have said. And, as you can see, this was always about the plane, the line and the dot. These are the reasons that explain why I sought flight in complete solitude”, explained Kupka, whose creative process was always meticulous, systematic and profoundly reflective.
Kupka had already established some status by this point but it was in the 1930s that he started to become well known and to be acknowledged as a pioneer of abstract art, albeit belatedly. Nonetheless, the artist himself saw his ambitions lying elsewhere: “Even if I never achieve great success in life, I am happy to think that this will come about after my death. My whole self is not just my body, and by then I will be sailing far away, in the realm of space.”
MPM exhibition The exhibition devoted to Kupka at the MPM features 91 works including oils, drawings, gouaches and prints. They allow for a complete appreciation of the artist’s career, from his earliest Symbolist compositions to his last period. The works are loaned from the Centre Georges Pompidou’s holdings of Kupka, which were largely bequeathed in 1959 and 1963 by his widow, Eugénie Kupka.
František Kupka. Art Works from the Centre Pompidou Collection is the first retrospective exhibition to be devoted to the artist in Spain. Having been seen at the Fundación Miró in Barcelona, it arrives at the Museo Picasso Málaga with the means to offering an in-depth analysis of the work of an artist who was a key figure in the development of the art of the 20th century, during the years when Picasso created most of his oeuvre.
The exhibition is completed with a series of documents, including letters, publications with illustrations by Kupka, photographs, and books by him, all of which add to our understanding of his work. This material has been lent by the Kandinsky Library of the Centre Pompidou, by the Musée du Grenoble, France, and from the personal collection of the gallerist Pierre Brullé.
More news
 |
Discover how Cézanne transformed American art at the beginning of the 20th century. Cézanne and American Modernism, on view February 16 - May 23, 2010, brings together 16 of the French master's paintings and watercolors with more than 80 works by 33 American artists, including Marsden Hartley, Maurice Prendergast, Alfred Stieglitz, and Man Ray. Along with the Baltimore Museum of Art’s two great Cézanne paintings, Mont Sainte-Victoire Seen from the Bibémus Quarry and Bathers, the exhibition showcases outstanding works from public and private collections throughout the U.S., including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This nationally traveling exhibition is co-organized by the Montclair Art Museum and The Baltimore Museum of Art. It is a special ticketed event that includes complimentary audio tours for both adults and children.
17 February '10
|
 |
Like many of the memorable, two sided characters he has played, one of the best actors of all time, Sir Anthony Hopkins, is revealing another side to himself in his beautiful, recently completed artwork. This superb art collection will be exhibited in the UK at Gallery 27, Cork St, London 16th to 20th February, and in The Dome, Edinburgh 2nd to 6th March.
17 February '10
|
 |
Nevermore, which is on display at The Courtauld Gallery London, was chosen by artist and broadcaster Matthew Collings, and was selected from a list of five works chosen by well known public figures.
17 February '10
|
 |
16 February '10
|
 |
An envelope seen in a Van Gogh painting provides a clue that could help to explain why the artist cut his ear. The envelope, in Still Life: Drawing Board with Onions, 1889, is addressed to Vincent from his brother Theo. Up to now, no one has ever asked the question whether the artist was illustrating a specific letter.
16 February '10
|
 |
After the success of Sotheby’s inaugural auction of Turkish Contemporary Art in March 2009, which realised a total of £1.3 million and attracted bidders and buyers from across the globe, Sotheby’s London announced that it will stage its second sale in this collecting category, on Thursday, 15 April, 2010. This auction will present new and existing collectors with the opportunity to acquire important pieces from this exciting and expanding area of the art market by both modern masters and contemporary artists of Turkish origin.
16 February '10
|
 |
Zurich's Kunsthaus museum will offer the first public glimpse of a Swiss art collection that has been under lock and key since thieves stole its most-prized painting in a $160 million heist two years ago.
16 February '10
|
 |
Banksy, the secretive British artist whose work has appeared on city streets around the world, said on Sunday he hoped his documentary film "Exit Through The Gift Shop" will raise the standing of urban art
16 February '10
|
 |
Between 1618 and 1621, two supposedly identical works entitled St Jerome with an Angel were produced in Van Dyck’s Antwerp studio; one painting now belongs to the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and the other is on long-term loan to the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Now after almost 40 years of debate, new research has finally answered the question as to which came first.
16 February '10
|
 |
After Paris, where it earned both public and critical acclaim, the exhibition "Tiffany Glass: A Passion for Colour" will be shown in Montreal from February 12 to May 2, 2010. It is the first exhibition of such quality on one of the most famous American designers, Louis C. Tiffany (1848-1933), to be presented in Canada. Developed and produced by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, it will highlight Tiffany’s outstanding contribution to the design and technology of glass, gave him an international reputation. In an exhibition space twice as large as the one in Paris, some 180 works have been brought together, including a series of magnificent large-scale ecclesiastical stained glass windows and secular stained glass, magnificent blown-glass vases and lamps with shapes and decoration inspired by nature, some examples of paintings and mosaics, as well as original designs from the Tiffany Studios and period photographs. The many prestigious institutions that have lent important works include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Chrysler Museum of Art, the State Hermitage Museum, the Musée des arts décoratifs de Paris and the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
16 February '10
|
 |
A new book and an exhibition at Windsor Castle in Berkshire, England, will celebrate the work of Marcus Adams, who devoted 50 years to photographing children, particularly royal children. The son of the photographer Walton Adams, Marcus Adams created an exceptional record of two generations of the royal children between 1926 and 1956. He presented a new, relaxed image of royalty, overturning the long tradition of formal royal portraiture. Vintage prints from almost all the royal sittings are among the more than 150 photographs included in the book and the 56 shown in the exhibition, many from the personal collection of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Of his long relationship with the Royal Family, Marcus Adams said, ‘I have had more joy from that family than from any. They are full of fun.’
16 February '10
|
 |
The Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (KMSKA), with financial support from the Getty Foundation, is carrying out in depth scientific research into its Rubens collection. Every year, selected interim findings are shown to the public as part of a series entitled 'Rubens Revealed'. The most recent research and publication offer an unprecedented insight into Rubens’s expert painting technique.
16 February '10
|
 |
The National Cowgirl Museum, Forth Worth, Texas, presents the never before seen Georgia O’Keeffe and the Faraway: Nature and Image exhibition. This will be shown in Fort Worth, Texas, from February 12th through to September 6th. The exhibition, a partnership between the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe will look at the relationship that artist and Crowned Cowgirl Hall of Fame Honoree, O’Keeffe, had with nature through her camping experiences and artifacts.
16 February '10
|
 |
Performance art is known for sometimes dealing with intimate acts. It is widely known that artist Andrea Fraser, for example, famously had sex with a collector who paid $20,000 to participate in a 60–minute, videotaped act. The newest idea recently however, is marriage as performance art. Brian Feldman, a performance art artist, says he plans to use one of humanity’s most personal, sacred bonds — marriage — as a vehicle for his latest piece.
16 February '10
|
 |
Turner prize nominees Jeremy Deller and Antony Gormley are just two of the artists and designers who have donated works to the first-ever art auction in aid of the Geoff Thomas Foundation, with the aim of raising funds to make life-changing drug therapies available to sufferers of blood cancers.
16 February '10
|
 |
It seems Actress Jennifer Aniston has had a great month. One can imagine she might have enjoyed hearing the numerous rumours currently in circulation about the collapse of former husband Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie relationship. And even better, she now gets to grace the cover of Architectural Digest, showing off her art collection.
16 February '10
|
 |
An Italian judge has demanded seizure of an ancient Greek statue from the J. Paul Getty Museum. This is the most recent news from a lengthy legal dispute over artworks which Italy says were looted from its territory.
16 February '10
|
 |
Mary, Queen of Scots, Lord Nelson, King Charles II, artist L.S. Lowry and new England captain Rio Ferdinand have been chosen as the faces of the National Portrait Gallery's most recent marketing campaign, launched on posters, ads and bus shelters from today, which highlights the hidden stories behind its portraits of well known Britons.
16 February '10
|
