Yves Klein

Yves Klein , born with Nice the April 28th 1928, died with Paris the June 6th 1962, is an artist French (Peinture, performance). In spite of a rather short artistic career (1954 - 1962), he is regarded as one of the most important protagonists of the artistic Avant-garde of post-war period. He is in particular known for his blue (IKB for in texte= [[International Klein Blue]] ), that he applied to many works (fabrics, sculptures, sponges…).

Biography

Born parents artists, Fred Klein and Marie Raymond, it is not directed immediately towards an artistic career. Indeed, it is interested particularly in the Judo as from 1947, which at the time is regarded as a method of intellectual and moral education aiming to the self-control and not really like a sport. It meets Armand Fernandez, the Arman future at the time of its training of the Judo. In 1952, it leaves to improve with the Japan where it becomes black belt, fourth daN, rank which no French reached at that time. On its return, it opens its own school of Judo which it decorates with monochromic, it must close it the following year for financial reasons.

He discovers in 1947 the mystic of the Rosicrucian brotherhood. The teaching of the order esoteric of the Rosicrucian brotherhood, of which he will become member, as well as the reading of Bachelard will forge the bases of the thought which will nourish its work. The monochromic ones that it paints become, for him, of the objects of worship. Its first pictorial experiments the small monochromic ones on paperboard go back to 1948. Taking as a starting point the sky which it signs of its name in 1949, it wants to paint a space-color infinite: the “world of the pure color”.

Its meeting with the critic Pierre Restany during his first exposures will launch its artistic career. Indeed, as from 1955, it exposes to the Club of the recluses of Paris of monochromic of various colors (orange, green, red, yellow, blue, pink), under the title “Yves, paintings”. In order to avoid any personal key and inscription of drawings the tables are painted with the roller.

It takes part, in its apartment of 19, Rue Countryside-First in Paris, the creation of the Nouveau realism with Pierre Restany and the “Declaration constitutive of the New Realism” is signed on October 27th, 1960. This declaration is signed per number of its knowledge of which Arman, François Dufrêne, Raymond Hains, Martial Raysse, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, Jacques Villeglé. César, Mimmo Rotella, Niki de Saint Phalle and Gerard Deschamps will join the movement in 1961, Christo in 1963

Yves Klein, who married Rotraut Uecker on January 21st, dies of an heart attack on June 6th, 1962.

in text [[International Klein Blue]]

It is towards 1956 qu ' it develops its famous formula of the luminous blue overseas (or blue ultramarin) which it baptizes IKB, “in texte= [[International Klein Blue]]”. Its first monochromic IKB are exposed in 1957 and inaugurate its “blue time”. Within the framework of a contract with the theater of Gelsenkirchen, he works for the first time into 1957/58 with dyed sponges of a major blue for his murals. He will create later spongy reliefs and sponge sculptures.

In May 1957, Yves Klein celebrates the advent of “the blue time” by releasing of 1001 balloons the evening of the varnishing of a double exposure to Paris. This gesture, that Klein will qualify “aerostatic sculpture later” will be reproduced 50 years later on the piazza Center Beaubourg, at the time of the exposure closure that the National museum of Modern art will devote to him in 2006-2007.En 1958, it repaints in white the walls of the Parisian gallery Iris Clert and lights them of a bluish light within the framework of “the exposure of the vacuum”. “Anthropometries”, prints of body of nude women and coatings of blue color on white fabrics will appear in 1960. Many “Anthropometries” were filmed like true events, one can see some in certain museums (Center Pompidou inter alia).

Its blue - the IKB (in texte=International Klein Blue) - is officialized when it makes carry out its recording, on May 19th, 1960 at the National institute of industrial property (INPI) under the envelope Soleau N° 63.471. It describes a fixative medium (an original paste fluid substituted for oil, binder used traditionally in painting) which fixes blue pigment overseas N° 1311.

“Blue does not have dimension, it is except dimension, while the other colors they have… All the colors of them bring associations of concrete ideas… while blue at most points out the sea and the sky, which it moreover abstracted there in tangible and visible nature. ”

His report/ratio with the body

Klein maintains a very particular relationship with the body in its artistic activity. This one is located in three times.

First of all the presence of naked body (great female majority) in its workshop him its necessary for its creation of monochromic of its color blue IKB. This nudity, it uses it for says it: “to stabilize the pictorial matter” (extracted from Sunday). He often declares: “this flesh thus, present in the workshop, a long time stabilized me during the illumination caused by the execution of monochromic”. This presence settles at the time of the first transfers of zones, i.e. before the end 1959.

It does not paint according to model like the figurative ones but in their company, which according to him, makes him feel: “An atmosphere good child”, “a sensual climate”, or “a pure emotional climate”. They are trotted then naked in the apartment, sometimes in company also of the woman of Klein, Rotraut. This feeling is clarified in one of the quotations of Klein where it describes it: “my models laughed much to see me carrying out according to them splendid monochromic blue the quite plain ones! They laughed, but more and more felt attracted by blue. ”

Klein understands quickly that their simple presence in his workshop is insufficient. Even if it impregnated according to him the atmosphere which they created in the monochromic one, this impregnation would be successful even if the models painted the monochromic one to them-even.

Is thus followed from there what one describes as anthropometries, where the body this time in painting plays this same part of “stabilization” of the pictorial matter. A first public meeting (in small committee) organizes at Robert Godet the June 5th 1958. This one always remains in continuity with the monochromic ones but the second time of the evolution of the body in its Article At this meeting constitutes some, only one model female acts such “brushes living” on the fabric, the coated body of color, it crawls on the sheet of paper with very the ground under the eye of Yves Klein who him, directs it and invites it to pass on the places where painting is not applied yet. All less gestures of the model were repeated as a preliminary and Klein gives the initiative either to him is with the model following its various writings.

Klein indicates this exercise like a “collaboration”. This word very often present and is included in these texts like an obsession. He declares: “I never touched them, moreover therefore they had confidence and that they liked to collaborate, and still like to collaborate thus, of all their body to my painting”

He says to see “appearing with each meetings the “marks of the body” which disappeared besides well quickly because it was necessary that all becomes monochromic”. This quotation brings us closer with his second activity which is the judo where it could observe the marks of the body in sweats of the judokas on the dusty white carpets, at the time of the large combat or a type of Japanese drawing made starting from fish print. This decision to undertake anthropometries is also due to an event of its time which marked it which is the traces of the people left on the walls during the explosion in Hiroshima from which it will carry out besides an anthropometry in the name of the city of the event. On this fabric one can observe several traces of body moving. In this report/ratio of movement Klein declares that compared with figurative, it released the models naked female because it let them act on its work whereas they created their works starting from their motionless exposed body. Only the monochromic ones created with alive brushes did not leave perceptible the presence of the flesh. This is why Klein gradually developed the procedure prints left by a model on a support. After several tests, estimating that it had developed this technique well, it presented it to Restany. The February 23rd 1960 in front of the critic accompanied by a director of museum, a model whose bust the belly and the thighs were whitewashed of blue painting, affixes the print of its body coloured on sheets of paper placed at the ground. It is with this meeting that Restany finds the term “of anthropometries of the blue time”. Klein organizes one evening in the international gallery of contemporary art in Paris the March 9th 1960, in front of a hundred guest of which artists, critics, art lovers or collectors.

Klein out of evening dress gives a signal to the nine musicians present beside beginning the symphony monoton-silence, made up by Pierre Henry, on only one and even continuous note 20 minutes followed by 20 minutes of silence. To note that Pierre Henry composed the “chymic weddings later”, topic rosicrucian. During this time three women start to whitewash the centres, the belly and the thighs of blue color. They carry out then various anthropometries of which most known “Anthropometry of the blue time is entitled” (ANT 82), 1960. It makes before repetitions, organizes the setting in scene, invites photographers and cameramen whom it knows, control diffusion of the images. Nevertheless even if he thinks of doing everything to make pass his novel methods clearly, of the misunderstandings were created and he appears for certain macho or obscene.

Thereafter, it diversifies its methods and differentiates static anthropometries from the dynamic ones. During the creation of the " statiques" the body of the woman is simply posed a such plug on the support and there leaves its print. These static prints women and sometimes of men, were often grouped so as to form, if not a composition, at least a unit. The anthropometries carried out on fabrics return to an object of worship which is Turin Shroud.

In the negative images, like “Hiroshima”, painting is projected and the body of the model acts as stencil key set. Dynamic anthropometry consists in making crawl a model on the support, leaving behind him a dynamic trace. It also invited several models to simulate a battle where the bodies so much any more are not distinguished. The process itself is conceived like a ritual. It is about a ritual of passage of the white fabric to the flesh: “it was the flesh itself which applied the color to the support under my direction” then of the flesh to the invisible one. By re-using blue IKB, it takes again the color, re-uses the space conquered by the immaterial one and avoids the resemblance with the pink. Klein also chooses not to represent the hands for the following reasons: “it was not necessary that the hands were printed, that would have given a humanism shocking to the compositions which I sought”, “Of course, all the body consists of flesh, but the mass is essential, it is the trunk and the thighs. It is where the real universe hidden by the universe of perception is. ” (this vision approaches Japanese concepts which is Katas and Hara).

Blue is not the single color present in anthropometries but those can be like one of these first: anthropometry, ANT121 dated towards 1960 which is gilded on black bottom. Many shrouds comprise the pink color. Some are even the meeting of the three colors, pink gold, it, blue IKB. Other anthropometries were carried out with fire. In this case, the models applied their wet body to the fabric. Thus the prints of the bodies of the women appeared under the action of fire. It mixes there also sometimes painting.

Anthropometries are used then as passage with double direction of visible with invisible, the material to spiritual and carnal with the divine one. They do it in the spectacular absence of the artist. Yves Klein is, from his work and his posture, one of the great figures of the French modern art. He was in advance over his century, and conscious of the radicality of his position. He opened art on the immaterial one. For him, pink gold it and blue are only one and even color and form a “trilogy chromatic” complete.

Works

… (list to be supplemented)…

Monochromic green (M77) , 1957
Anthropometry of the blue time (ANT 82) , 1960
Great blue Anthropometry (ANT 105) , Ca 1960
Anthropometry without title (ANT 148) , 1960
Anthropometry without title (ANT 63) , 1960
Anthropometry shroud without title (ANT KNOWN 4) , 1960
Anthropometry without title (ANT 8) , Ca 1960
Anthropometry without title (ANT 101) , 1960
Monochromic blue (IKB 3) , 1960
Monique (ANT 57) , Ca 1960
Ci-to lie space (RP 3) , 1960
Monotonous Symphony , 1960
People begin to fly , 1960, anthropometry, dry blue pigment and synthetic resin on paper strengthened on fabric, 155 X 280 cm, Paris, national museum of Modern art, deposit with the museum of Modern art of Nice
Painting fire without title (F 74) , 1961
“the Tree”, large blue sponge , 1962
Sale session of a zone of immaterial pictorial sensitivity , 1962
IKB 191 , 1962

Works of Yves Klein

Yves Klein: " Yves Peintures" , 1954, rééd. 2006, Dilecta Editions, Paris (with a postface of Denys Riout).
Yves Klein: " Bases of Judo" , 1954, rééd. 2006, Dilecta Editions, Paris (Red foreword of Jean-Luc, introduction of Daniel Moquay and Pierre Cornet of Saint-Cyr military school).
Yves Klein: " Towards the immatériel" , 2006, Dilecta Editions, Paris (introduction of Denys Riout). " contains; The Going beyond of the problems of the art" , " The Conference in Sorbonne" (bilingual text) and a disc CD of the conference given by Yves Klein in 1959.

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