Background
Francois Morellet was born on April 30, 1926 in Cholet, France.
François Morellet
Francois Morellet was born on April 30, 1926 in Cholet, France.
Morellet initially made figurative paintings before turning to abstraction in 1950. He painted a series of crisscrossing lines that formed squares, triangles, and other geometries. He then began to work in sculpture with neon tubes, and to research new modes of artistic expression. From the 1960s on, Morellet worked in various materials (fabric, tape, neon, walls) and investigated the use of the exhibition space in terms similar to artists of installation art and environmental art.
Besides, he was also commissioned to create work for public and private collections in Switzerland, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and the United States.
Morellet died on May 10, 2016, 10 days after his 90th birthday, in Cholet, France.
Morellet played a prominent role in the development of geometrical abstract art. He gained an international reputation, especially in Germany and France.
He was notably included in the major 2011 exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, “Themes & Variations. Script and Space”. One of his works is part of the permanent collection of the Center for International Light Art (CILA) in Unna, Germany.
Francois Morellet is also represented by Galerie Nikolaus Ruzicska, Annely Juda Fine Art, The Mayor Gallery, Gallery Hyundai, Jean Brolly, Galerie Hervé Bize and Galerie Kamel Mennour in Paris.
Supersition et transparence, Carré derrière 0-90 degrees, carré devant 20 – 110 degrees
Lamentable (Despicable)
Every 15 cms, every 16 cms (dash of one cm long)
Répartition régulière de carrés
Two Warps and Wefts of Short Lines 0° 90°
Stall No. 5
10 lignes au hasard
Untitled (Verticals and Horizontals)
32 Rectangles
Untitled (Diagonals)
Sphere - Matter
Random Distribution of 40,000 Squares Using the Odd and Even Numbers of a Telephone Directory (detail)
Reflections in water deformed by the spectator
3 grillages superposés 0°, +15°, -15°
Néon dans l’espace
2 trames de carrés/1 trame de tirets
4 rythmes interférents en formant un carré
From Yellow to Violet
Avalanche
Tous les 5 cm, tous les 6 cm, No. 74075
La plate-bande
Lunatique compact n° 3
3 sheets from "9 x 5 konkret"
Tirets Neon 0°-90° avec 4 rythmes interferents
4 trames de tirets pivotées sur un côté
Steel-Life N°43
Sérigraphie unique au monde
Répartition aléatoire du rouge au jaune suivant progression...
Bleu-Vert-Jaune-Orange
Trames 0°-90°---40 mm au trait et pleines
4 trames 22°5, 45°, 67°5, 90°
4 Self-distorting Grids
No End Neon
For Morellet, a work of art referred only to itself. His titles are generally sophisticated, show some word play, and describe the "constraints" or "rules" that he used to create them. Morellet used rules and constraints established in advance to guide the creation of his works, and also allowed chance to play a role in some of his compositions.
Quotations: “By the early Sixties, my friends in the Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel and I had become convinced that the age of painting, of canvases and sculptures had come to an end, over forever. We were passionate about modern materials that hadn’t yet been ‘polluted’ by traditional art. We particularly liked anything that could produce movement or light.”
In 1961 Morellet was one of the founders of the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV), an experimental group that made installations using non-traditional art materials, with fellow artists Francisco Sobrino, Julio Le Parc, Jean-Pierre Yvaral, Vera Molnár and François Molnár.
