Hantaï, Hartung, Soulages, Tàpies

20 Nov 2013-18 Jan 2014

Overview

This exhibition brings together the work of four artists - Simon Hantaï, Hans Hartung, Pierre Soulages and Antoni Tàpies - who were instrumental in the evolution of post-war European abstraction, and looks at the different ways they invigorated their practice against the backdrop of an increasingly confident US cultural scene. Paris continued to be the nexus of European arts, literature and philosophy after the war, but it was clear that artists had to abandon the illusion that art could change society, and instead develop the notion of the artist as a liberated self-reliant individual. This impulse lead to painterly explorations with raw and unaesthetic materials and techniques, the use of paint as a flowing and vital medium and the use of impulsive and spontaneous lines and gestures. The exhibition explores techniques and materials used by these artists, from the intricate folded canvasses of Simon Hantaï, to the inventive dynamism of Hans Hartung, to the sensuous ‘ultrablack’ paintings of Pierre Soulages, to Antoni Tàpies’ materially complex tellurian landscapes.