The Myth of Nouveau Réalisme: Art and the Performative in Postwar France

Cabañas, Kaira M.

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Description: The Myth of Nouveau Réalisme: Art and the Performative in Postwar France

BOOKThe Myth of Nouveau Réalisme: Art and the Performative in Postwar France

Kaira M. Cabañas

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00279

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21986

On October 27, 1960, art critic Pierre Restany named a group of Paris-based artists the “Nouveaux Réalistes” (New Realists) in a founding declaration that stated, “The New Realists recognize their collective singularity. New Realism = new perceptual approaches of the real.” Besides Restany, this group included Arman, François Dufrêne, Raymond Hains, Yves Klein, Martial Raysse, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, and Jacques Villeglé. Their work incorporated consumer objects and new media in response to the postwar period’s painterly modes and its burgeoning consumer and industrial society. However, they did not share a common avant-garde strategy.

The Myth of Nouveau Réalisme is a critical reassessment of this important neo-avant-garde movement. Kaira M. Cabañas offers an interdisciplinary account of their work and challenges the ideas of Restany, who mandated a “direct appropriation of the real.” Cabañas posits that, for the Nouveaux Réalistes, realism engaged performative practices to produce alternative social meanings.

Author

Kaira M. Cabañas

PublisherYale University Press

Print publication date March 2013 (in print)

Print ISBN 9780300181203

EISBN 9780300266337

Illustrations 103

Print Status in print

Publisher (in print)

WorldCat

Google Books

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List of illustrations

Signing of the Nouveau Réalisme Manifesto at Yves Klein's apartment, 14 rue Campagne-Première, Paris
Déclaration constitutive du Nouveau Réalisme
Boulevard Raspail
Jacques Villeglé tearing down posters
Daniel Spoerri working on a Tableau-piège
Eaten by Marcel Duchamp
Homage to New York
Jean Tinguely in his studio
Madison Avenue
Network (Performance)
untitled blue monochrome (IKB 98)
Yves Klein at work on the exhibition Monochrome und Feuer
Cover, exhibition brochure A 40° au-dessus de Dada
Cover of Planète, no. 1
Diagram in Claude E
Notre actuelle avant-garde, Planète, no. 1
Les fausses cartes transparentes de “Planète”; ou, L’erotisme des laborantins qui chantent
Frame enlargements from L’avant-garde: opening credits (left) and Pierre Restany (right)
Cover, Paris-J
Cover of Paris Match
Cover, Yves Peintures
Preface pages, Yves Peintures
Plate pages, Yves Peintures
Yves Peintures
Yves Klein: Proposte Monochrome, Epocha Blu
Frame enlargements from Yves Klein, propositions monochromes
Frame enlargement from Yves Klein, propositions monochromes
Frame enlargements from Yves Klein, propositions monochromes
Michel Tapié, Mathieu Paints a Picture, Art News
Frame enlargement from Yves Klein, propositions monochromes
Untitled
Iris Clert, Guy Debord, and Asger Jorn at the exhibition Yves Klein: Propositions monochromes
Specialization of Sensibility in the Raw Material State into Stabilized Pictorial Sensibility, otherwise known as Le vide
Specialization of Sensibility in the Raw Material State into Stabilized Pictorial Sensibility, otherwise known as Le vide
Obelisk illuminated with blue light
Caverne de l’antimatière, Galerie René Drouin, Paris
Le plein, Galerie Iris Clert, Paris
Note from Albert Camus to Yves Klein
Insoumission
Résistance
Ach Alma Manétro
Raymond Hains’s apartment with a selection of photos hypnogogic photographs (hypnagogiques) on display, Paris
Le codex hypnagogique
Cover of Hépérile éclaté
Hépérile éclaté
L’humour jaune—boulevard Pasteur
Salle des Informels at the Première Biennale Internationale des Jeunes Artistes
Press clipping, Claude Rivière, Du monde pictural à la palissade, Combat
La France déchirée, Galerie J, Paris
Cet homme est dangereux
C’est ça le renouveau?
Paix en Algérie
Comité pour la paix en Algérie
Et quand vous dites Soviétique Patrie est notre plus juste histoire de lard
Citizen of the World Garry Davis holding identification card
Robert Sarrazac, André Breton, and Garry Davis at the Salle Pleyel, Paris
Garry Davis escorted by security out of the UN meeting
Poster for the September 28, 1958, referendum
De Gaulle compte sur vous, aidez-le
French Communist Party poster for the January 8, 1961, referendum
Cover and opening page of Captive Words (Preface to a Situationist Dictionary), Internationale situationniste, no. 10
Poster for the January 8, 1961, referendum, by the National Association in Support of de Gaulle
Daniel Sporetti, performance view
Pourquoi pas un Tàpies?
Kichka's Breakfast I
Daniel Spoerri looking at a Tableau-piège
Cover, with band, of Daniel Spoerri, Topographie anécdotée du hasard
Fold-out map in Daniel Spoerri’s Topographie anécdotée du hasard
Description of Object 36, with drawing by Roland Topor
Description of Object 9, with drawing by Roland Topor
View of Daniel Spoerri’s installation in Dylaby Dynamisch Labyrinth, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Cover of Daniel Spoerri, An Anecdoted Topography of Chance (Re-Anecdoted Version)
Cover designed by Diter Rot for Daniel Spoerri, Anekdoten zu einer Topographie des Zufalls, 4th ed.
Cover of Daniel Spoerri, Anekdoten zu einer Topographie des Zufalls
Interior spread with annotations in Spoerri, Anecdoted Topography of Chance
Prison menu served in the context of Daniel Spoerri’s exhibition 723 ustensiles de cuisine, Galerie J
Frame enlargements from Les Jeunes est les autres, Journal Gaumont: Opening credits (top) and Gallery with works by Jean Tinguely and César on display (bottom)
Frame enlargements from Les Jeunes est les autres, Journal Gaumon: Mimmo Rotella (top) and Niki de Saint Phalle (bottom)
Frame enlargements from Les Jeunes est les autres, Journal Gaumont: Georges Mathieu (top) and Stéphane Lupasco (bottom)
Charles Estienne performing cris bleus, Paris
Frame enlargement from L’art et le feu, segment of Images de la semaine, Journal Gaumont
Frame enlargement from Scènes de Judo
Frame enlargement from Anthropométrie de l’époque bleue
Frame enlargements from Traité de bave et d’éternité
Frame enlargement from “Images de la semaine,” Journal Gaumont
Study for an End of the World, No. 1
Sandwich men announcing the exhibition Jean Tinguely, Méta-matics at the Galerie Iris Clert, Paris
Iris Clert, Jean Tinguely, and Marcel Duchamp with a Méta-matic on view in the exhibition Jean Tinguely, Méta-Matics, Galerie Iris Clert, Paris
Frame enlargement from Study for an End of the World, No. 2
Lee Merlin, the most famous Miss Atomic Bomb
Frame enlargement from Study for an End of the World, No. 2
Frame enlargement from Study for an End of the World, No. 2
David Brinkley discussing Jean Tinguely’s Study for an End of the World, No. 2
Vitesse pure et stabilité monochrome
Sketch of Study for an End of the World, No. 2
Méta-Malevich
Review by Herta Wescher of Jean Tinguely’s exhibition in Cimaise
Images of television screen showing 0 × 0=Kunst: Zero Fest and Zero girls (left) and close-up of a work by Otto Piene (right)
Study for an End of the World, No. 2
Dimanche (le journal d’un seul jour)
Frame enlargement from Dimanche
Le Saut dans le vide
Page from exhibition catalog

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Contents

Kaira M. Cabañas

The Myth of Nouveau Réalisme: Art and the Performative in Postwar France

Contents

Author

Kaira M. Cabañas

PublisherYale University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21987

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Acknowledgments

Kaira M. Cabañas

The Myth of Nouveau Réalisme: Art and the Performative in Postwar France

~This book is in many ways the result of my first encounter with the work of Raymond Hains on the occasion of his retrospective at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) in 2001. At that time I had never seen, read, or been taught about décollage, even though prominent critics in the United States such as Benjamin Buchloh had already...

Author

Kaira M. Cabañas

PublisherYale University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21988

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Introduction

Kaira M. Cabañas

The Myth of Nouveau Réalisme: Art and the Performative in Postwar France

On October 27, 1960, in Yves Klein’s apartment on the rue Campagne-Première, Pierre Restany officially named a group of artists then working in Paris the Nouveaux Réalistes...

Author

Kaira M. Cabañas

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.1-13

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00279.001

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21989

Chapter subject tags:Nouveaux réalistes (Group of artists)Art manifestosKlein, Yves, 1928-1962Performance artDadaismRestany, Pierre

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1. The Direct Appropriation of the Real

Kaira M. Cabañas

The Myth of Nouveau Réalisme: Art and the Performative in Postwar France

Without a doubt, the artists associated with Nouveau...

Author

Kaira M. Cabañas

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.14-29

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00279.002

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21990

Chapter subject tags:New wave filmsRestany, PierreNouveaux réalistes (Group of artists)Magic realism (Art)Art publishingArt--France--Paris--Exhibitions

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2. Let This Be Said and Done

Kaira M. Cabañas

The Myth of Nouveau Réalisme: Art and the Performative in Postwar France

~~In 1954, after sojourns to learn and teach judo in Tokyo and Madrid respectively, Yves Klein initiated his public career as a painter with the production of a small catalog titled Yves Peintures. Measuring approximately 9 5/8 by 7 1/2 inches (24.4 ×...

Author

Kaira M. Cabañas

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.30-61

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00279.003

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21991

Chapter subject tags:Monochrome paintingKlein, Yves, 1928-1962Performance artNouveaux réalistes (Group of artists)Art--France--Paris--ExhibitionsNationalism

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3. Archeological Abductions

Kaira M. Cabañas

The Myth of Nouveau Réalisme: Art and the Performative in Postwar France

~~I would like to begin with two photographs. The first shows Raymond Hains standing rather awkwardly on a ledge. His right arm is bent back as he holds on to the bottom of the protruding wall, which allows him to pose in front of the graffiti that reads...

Author

Kaira M. Cabañas

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.62-95

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00279.004

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21992

Chapter subject tags:Haines, Raymond Michael, 1941-Villeglé, 1926-Nouveaux réalistes (Group of artists)Biennale de Paris

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4. How Real Is Realism in Actuality?

Kaira M. Cabañas

The Myth of Nouveau Réalisme: Art and the Performative in Postwar France

~~In 1960, at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, Daniel Spoerri presented a performance that comprised three individuals reading simultaneously. Photographs of the event show two men and one woman reading from texts on...

Author

Kaira M. Cabañas

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.96-125

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00279.005

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21993

Chapter subject tags:Nouveaux réalistes (Group of artists)Art and literature--France--History--20th centuryPerformance artSpoerri, Daniel, 1930-Barthes, RolandArt--France--Paris--Exhibitions

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5. Screen Performances

Kaira M. Cabañas

The Myth of Nouveau Réalisme: Art and the Performative in Postwar France

~~Imagine a cinema in Paris....

Author

Kaira M. Cabañas

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.126-155

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00279.006

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21994

Chapter subject tags:Klein, Yves, 1928-1962Tinguely, Jean, 1925-1991Kinetic artNouveaux réalistes (Group of artists)

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Afterword

Kaira M. Cabañas

The Myth of Nouveau Réalisme: Art and the Performative in Postwar France

~~In the 1960s, regarding his work with food and what eventually came to be known as Eat Art, Daniel Spoerri put forth the following: “Does a tomato cease to be a tomato...

Author

Kaira M. Cabañas

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.157-163

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21995

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