MuseoMag: MuseoMag 2021_01

MuseoMag 2021_01

Metadata

Monograph

Structure type:: Monograph

Title:: Pierres sculptées et inscriptions de l'époque romaine

Subtitle:: catalogue

Author:: Wilhelm, Eugénie; Thill, Gérard

Publication year:: 1974

Publisher:: Musée d'histoire et d'art

Place of publication:: Luxembourg

Measurements:: 160 p.

Description:: Archéologie

Chapter

Title:: [Illustrations]

Figure

Title:: 179 [Quelques fragments de la face antérieure de l'édicule...]

5 01 ‘ 2021 museomag NEW HANGING of the frame on the canvas.» It is clear that members of the loosely-knit collective aimed at deconstructing the fundamental objecthood of painting, at a time when an attack on the autonomy of art was being mounted all over the world. French culture was undergoing many swift and profound changes in the 1960’s. Anti-colonial uprisings in Vietnam and Algeria created waves of anger among the population. Several members of Supports/Surfaces were soldiers involved in these conflicts and saw the effects of these wars firsthand. Students and workers in France began social protests and strikes in May of 1968 and the French government responded by entering the universities and facto- ries, forcibly trying to quell the uprising. Artists in the group were active participants in these protests as well. Several art works by Viallat and Saytour in the MNHA presentation reflect these tensions and make subtle gestures against consumerism and imperialism that seemed to be the norm at the time. It is notable that Supports/Surfaces is invested in exploring weaving, knot tying and dying: artisanal skills that were begin- ning to be lost. ART IN PUBLIC SPHERE These artists were attracted to ideas outside French culture: Abstract Expressionism, Native American art and craft, Chinese ink painting, minimalism, and leftist political theory of many stripes including Maoism. They started a journal called Peinture. Cahiers Théoriques (in English: theoretical painting notebooks) to discuss and debate their ideas publicly. They also made exhibitions outside art galleries and museums, taking their art into the public sphere holding impromptu exhibitions in cafes, on beaches and other public spaces. The artists sought to take active control of the production and display of their artworks, and by extension imbue the works social and even political content. Given the exci- ting search of the artists involved and the quality of the paintings produced by the movement, it comes as no surprise that their work found its way to museums and art galleries all over the world. The MHNA exhibition shows that Viallat and Saytour explored how their work was impacted by a rejection of traditional painting, without throwing everything over- board. They managed to hold onto parts of the form while simultaneously scrapping components of pain- ting. This philosophical rejection and partial preserva- tion of painting allowed them to find new vitality in the form’s endless flexibility, which will hopefully delight many visitors to the MNHA’s extraordinary collection of works by both artists in the coming months. Ruud Priem

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