Victor Vasarely
Prints Available from Grafos Verlags
| Grafos Verlag, Vaduz,
boasts a proud selection of graphic works by Victor Vasarely, including
some of his most important and most beautiful prints. In this summary, we
have attempted to arrange the works so that an outline of his artistic development
becomes evident and the individual prints can be seen in context and more
easily deciphered |
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 Zébre No. 1  Zébre No. 2 |
Even as a child,
Vasarely liked playing with optical illusions. As early as 1938, he was
struck by the effect of depth created through optical illusion in the India
ink drawing 'Zebra' (1938). Many years later, he was to take this up again
(cf. for ex. the silkscreen 'Zébra' Zébre
No. 4, 1984). 'Having arrived in Paris in 1930, I had a solid collection
of works to show. I was an experienced draftsman with an impeccable technique',
writes Vasarely in his monograph. Some time later (1933-38) the playful
stripes of the zebra (as well as dancers, robots and harlequins) lead him
back to optical kinetics, to the art of the 'deception of the eye', as he
called it. In Zebra
No. 2 , for example, the animal becomes part of the diagonal
lines and shading crossing the picture. A universal oscillating center is
reflected in the texture of the graphic.
|
 G-Linn |
He carried out
his 'Black and White' series in 1951-63. 'Here the artist was interested
in two-dimensionality, the diametric negative-positive positions, which
sets the retina in effective oscillation.' In the mid-50's, Vasarely was
particularly attracted to the planar composition. In his silkscreen G-Linn
(Form and Color Harmony, Monograph, Vol. 1), he was concerned with the geometry
of complementary size - the reduction of the circle. In his Homage to Malevitch
series, on the other hand, the square comes into play. Malevitch had succeeded
in radically challenging the precepts of traditional painting with his black
square. Vasarely wanted to offer him something. 'Square - Space - Movement
- Time', those were for Vasarely the four key factors.
Vasarely worked simultaneously on several different series.
He divided them into graphic and geometric analysis. Noteworthy are: 'Denfert',
'Belle-Isle', 'Cristal-Gordes', 'Hommage à Malewitch' and 'Black
and White'. These are followed by his grillwork and depth paintings. |
 Siris Kek  Santorin |
'In 1948 I drew my first 'Denfert' drawing.' The metro station Denfert-Rochereau is located near Arcueil, where Vasarely had lived for over 30 years. This was where he had discovered the structured tiles with their squiggly lines which originally inspired him. His principal concern between 1946 and 1960 was the 'geometrical analysis' of the interconnections between different structures. His early print Siris-Kek
(1953) belongs to his period of plane layering ('Cristal' series, 1948-1960
and Belle-Isle, 1947-1954. Collaged paintings like 'Uzok-lef'). Vasarely
builds upon prototypes. His repertoire of variations is hence inexhaustible.
This is evident in his early silkscreen Santorin
(1953), which brings to mind Matisse's 'Papiers découpés'
in its Mediterranean clearness. |
 Idom-3  Torony-Co  Billog |
He believed abstraction
helped him to understand humanity mathematically and open the universe to
it through geometry. 'Planetary Folklore', Vasarely called his insight resulting
from observation: The unit of form and color exists. The changing optical
play based on the third dimension was introduced. This resulted in several
series: 'Permutations' (1962-76), 'Expansion and Contraction' (1957-75)
and 'Plastic Combinations' (1962-75). Which led to 'Cube within a Cube',
with isometrically drawn cubes, and 'Theory of 11 Colors and 21 Nuances'.
His graphic technique became more and more complex, perfectly evident in
his silkscreen 'Idom-3'
(1968). Its optical illusions can be seen from a high or a low viewpoint,
depending on where the observer stands. All of them reflect his concern
with axonometry and Kepler's cube. An example of this can be seen in the
print Torony-Co
(1973). The polyphony of color tone scales is most refinedly applied. His
hexagonal silkscreen Billog
(1975), structured as a mandala shape, shows the units of parts and the
whole. He incorporates the multipliable base forms of the ancient geometrical
philosophy of harmony as well as iridescent impression. One theme which
captivates Vasarely's full attention: Centering and Expanding. A striking
example is provided by the circle on a brilliant golden ground originating
from a small square core. The theme developed in the color silkscreen Ara
(1977, in 30 printing stages) as a circle, reappears in Corona
(1979) as a square figure.
|
 Andromeda  Heisenberg  Sirius |
Vasarely's 'Permutations'
were created in the period from 1962-76. They include graphics, collages
and paintings. Distortions as from a fisheye lens provide a new perception
of form. In the print Andromeda
as well (1978, a monochrome game from the Heisenberg series) the cubes appear
either concave or convex to the observer's eye. Also similar is the 18-color
silkscreen Heisenberg
(1979), an octagonal graphic figure based on squares. It develops along
a spiraling chromatic tonality from dark to light. Concerns about physics
become visible in the symmetrical structure of a blossom or in a meditative
elementary form. The artist remained a zealous reader of the physicist Heisenberg's
writings. Heisenberg had analyzed the new formalism through physics and
philosophy, and had then turned his research to atomic structure, and in
particular on the multiplication rules for square schemes. Sirius
(1982) is likewise an homage to the octagon. Polar color pairs like light
green and violet, change geometric tones in their light. Spiral forms and
the principles of radiation represent the essential forms of all life. Sancton
(1979) is a 10-color interpretation of a central theme of Vasarely's 'geometrical
research': 'Cube and Hexagon', an expressive print of enduring mastery.
The silkscreen Metagalaxie
(1979) in 18 colors follows Vasarely's plastic intentions along axonometric
lines. The cube can be turned in any direction at will. The permutations
reveal astonishing perspectives and testify to the reversibility of all
experience.
|
 Parmenide  Anole  Abra  Barcel |
Vasarely has a refined method of suggesting space: dominos, checkerboards, stripe effects, his play with squares and rhomboids, elliptical elementary forms, diamond shapes and trapezoids. It is based on the idea that form and color cannot be observed as a separate phenomenon, but as a unit, a 'unité plastique'. Above all, though, Vasarely achieves a playful functionality with his isographic cubes. From this is born his decorative Constructivism. Beginning in 1947, he develops a spacious, nearly Baroque geometrical progression through additive and multiplicative processes which has become a part of 20th century graphic history. He produces sophisticated, multicolored silkscreens such as Parmenide (1979). His search for a universal law is based in his concern with the elements of the sphere existing within the cube. These graphics were developed from the prototype 'PPP X/29'. The reference to the philosophy of Parmenides (540-480 BC) is significant. His philosophy differentiated thought and perception and negated, as opposed to Heraclitus, the movement of objects and their plurality. 'There is only the one, unitary existence, rounded like a sphere, material, eternal and unchanging...' Seen in a different light, some of his graphics, in their
colorism and tectonics, recall the skyline of a great metropolis in the
evening light with its high-technology architecture, a functional image
of the world, which emphasizes Vasarely's receptiveness to technological
advance. A more planar compositional intention can be seen in the series
Anole,
Abra, Barcel and Euklides
and Celona-5, 5 color etchings (printed in 1984, Cat.
p. 138-142, part of the Barcelona series). Aseptically reduced in color
and form, there are triangles, circles and squares. In addition, he used
embossing as well as empty printing. The method of working with prefabricated
printer parts could be suspected. Vasarely presents his 'plastic units'
here. After 1980 he creates Marsan, since gone out of print, a
work of colorful basic elements on flat planes, published for an exhibit
at the Louvre.
|
| In 1951, Victor
Vasarely transfers small format works through photographic projection onto
wall-size formats. He calls these 'photographisms'. After 1960, he produces
his 'Plastic Units'. This new optical functionality can be traced back to
Vasarely's student period, and is thus a sub-product of Bauhaus concepts,
also present in Budapest. It is not surprising that Vasarely was eager to
have his art transferred into everyday life, into design. The artist was
able to transform optical stimuli into architectural art, lending his graphics
a sensation of reality. This is true of his image of the colorful city,
which he produced in facets for the Fondation Vasarely building in Aix-en-Provence.
Vasarely's constructions lean more and more towards illusion painting. He
developed his prototypes on graph paper, like a draftsman, and sometimes
by computer. |
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 Quasare |
This process is reflected in his graphics.
Fascinated by the technical possibilities, he turned to the phenomena
of the theory of relativity, wave mechanics, cybernetics, astrophysics.
His motto was: 'matter as a deformation of space'. The graphic Quasare
(E.A. 1981) addresses this. Vasarely attempted to embody universal laws
in his fusion of forms.
|
 Centaurus |
Centaurus
(1987, Étoiles Célestes series) is a lithograph in 20 colors.
In it, a burning circle expanding into an oval which is cooling off on
the outside. A wakeful eye of the heavens. We should also mention YKA,
Phoenix and Oslop,
and last of all Conjunction,
from 1987. References to historical art movements such as Orphism, Divisionism, the simultaneous contrast theory from Duchamp's 'Flickering Hearts' were left far behind. Also left behind were Op Art and Pop Art. In the trend for design, however, is computer graphics, with which these silkscreens, with their long history, are related. (ek) |
 YKA |
 Phönix |
 Oslop |
 Konjunktion |
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