Modern & Contemporary Artists Codexery

Yves Klein

French artist and leading member of Nouveau réalisme, pioneer of performance art.

Last updated

Yves Klein was born in Nice, France in 1928 and developed an interest in spirituality and judo before turning to art in the late 1940s.[1] He became known for monochromatic works featuring a particular ultramarine he called International Klein Blue.[1] Klein was one of the founders of Nouveau Réalisme and his impact on modern art grew significantly after his death in 1962.[1]

Life and work

In early 1948, Klein was exposed to Max Heindel's 1909 text The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception and pursued a membership with an American society dedicated to Rosicrucianism.[2] Klein later deposited a Soleau envelope for the recipe of International Klein Blue to maintain the "authenticity of the pure idea"[3] In 1953, Klein journeyed to Japan, where at age 25 he attained the yondan rank (4th dan black-belt) from the Kodokan, making him the first European to reach that level of mastery in judo.[4] Klein's Monotone Symphony, conceived between 1947 and 1948, was structured as a single D major chord held for 20 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of silence.[5]

The symphony's debut performance occurred in 1960 at a Paris art gallery, featuring only ten musicians.[6] On 27 October 1960, art critic Pierre Restany, together with Klein, established the Nouveau Réalisme group inside Klein's own studio/apartment.[7] While viewing the film Mondo Cane at the Cannes Film Festival on 11 May 1962, Klein experienced a heart attack.[8] He subsequently suffered two additional heart attacks, with the second one proving fatal on 6 June 1962.[8]

What the cited sources add

The Yves Klein Archives record that in 1947, while registering at the judo club at the police headquarters, Yves Klein met Claude Pascal and Armand Fernandez.[9] The same source notes that in late 1949, Claude Pascal and Yves Klein temporarily moved to London where they pursued their judo activities.[9] The Archives also state that in September, Yves Klein opened a judo school at 104 boulevard de Clichy, in Paris.[9] The decisive meeting with Pierre Restany at the Club des Solitaires was to be a crucial element in both Yves Klein's and Pierre Restany's careers.[9]

In 1956, Yves Klein met Iris Clert, who ran a small, twenty-square-meter gallery at 3, rue des Beaux-Arts, in Paris.[9] The Archives record that in Nice during the summer, Yves met Rotraut Uecker, a young German artist who would become his assistant, and subsequently his wife.[9]

References

  1. "Yves Klein", Biography. facts only, no text reused. web.archive.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Yves Klein" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Thomas McEvilley. "Yves Klein: Conquistador of the Void". Yves Klein: A Retrospective. (Houston: Institute for the Arts, Rice University, 1982), p 25. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Yves Klein" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tom Learner, "Modern Paint Uncovered", Getty Conservation Institute, 2008; Quoted in Hannah Weitemeier, Yves Klein, 1928–1962: International Klein Blue, Original-Ausgabe (Cologne: Taschen, 1994), 19. . (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Yves Klein" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Yves Klein (1928–1962) – Judo en familia", fgjudo.com; Yves Klein (1954) Les Fondements du judo, Grasset, Paris (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Yves Klein" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Yves Klein (1928–1962)", Yves Klein Archives; Gilbert Perlein & Bruno Corà (eds) & al., Yves Klein: Long Live the Immaterial! ("An anthological retrospective", catalog of an exhibition held in 2000), New Yo; See also at YvesKleinArchives.org a 1998 sound excerpt of Monotone Silence Symphony (Flash plugin required), and Klein's "Chelsea Hotel Manifesto" (including a (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Yves Klein" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kennedy, "A Sound, Then Silence (Try Not to Breathe)", New York Times, 17 September 2013 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Yves Klein" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Karen Moller,Technicolor Dreams, Olympia Press, p. 88 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Yves Klein" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cornelius Tittel, ""Komm mit mir in die Leere…"", Die Welt, 2010-11-27 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. "Yves Klein (1928–1962)", Yves Klein Archives. facts only, no text reused. web.archive.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Yves Klein (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

MinimalismPop artPost-ImpressionismMinimal musicLa Monte Young4′33″Artist's bookLapis lazuli

More in Modern & Contemporary Artists

Christo and Jeanne-ClaudeCindy ShermanClaes OldenburgCy TwomblyDamien HirstDonald JuddEva HesseFaith RinggoldFélix González-TorresHannah HöchHelen FrankenthalerHilma af Klint

Test yourself

Three questions drawn from this entry’s sources. Pick an answer to check it.

1. In what year was Yves Klein born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1928.

From the source: “Yves Klein (; 28 April 1928 – 6 June 1962) was a French artist and an important figure in postwar European art. He was a leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme, founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Klein”

2. In what year did Yves Klein die?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1962.

From the source: “Yves Klein (; 28 April 1928 – 6 June 1962) was a French artist and an important figure in postwar European art. He was a leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme, founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Klein”

3. In which place was Yves Klein born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Nice, France.

Answers checked against the source article

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →