Long-time London resident and avid museum and theatre-goer. I started this blog in 2014, and got serious about it in 2020 when I realised how much I missed arts and culture during lockdowns. I go to a lot more events than anyone would think is sensible, and love sharing my thoughts in the forms of reviews, the occasional thought piece, and travel recommendations when I leave my London HQ.
Kupka: pionnier de l’abstraction/pioneer of abstraction – Grand Palais, Paris
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I recently went to see the Grand Palais’ Kupka retrospective. I’m not going to lie – Kupka is an artist who I previously knew very little about. And despite my recent complaints about narrow chronological hangs doing little for the subject matter, in this case it did work.
František Kupka was a Czech (actually Austro-Hungarian) artist, born in Opočno in 1871 and studying art in Prague and Vienna. His early influences were very much symbolist, as seen here.
Another symbolist work. Or at least I hope so, because otherwise I have no idea what’s going on.
After settling in Paris in the 1890s, Kupka worked as a graphic artist, and the exhibition makes no bones about the fact that this was to pay the bills. His graphic works show more of an art nouveau influence than his paintings of the same period, and a number of works for magazines and periodicals are on display at the Grand Palais.
A brief aside in the exhibition which I found fascinating was Kupka’s development of a classical style of his own. Not purely academic, Kupka illustrated a number of editions and translations of ancient works by taking elements from the classical art of different cultures and eras but applying a dream-like quality which perhaps owed more to symbolism. As an interlude before his signature style became truly developed, it was a pleasure.
And here we start to see the artist’s mature style emerge. No longer content with representation, Kupka began to use colours and forms in less and less figurative ways. While this work only has touches of the abstract, geometric shapes start to emerge in the background which echo his later works.
In this work two different concepts merge from the foreground to the background: a piano keyboard gives way to a boating scene. The delicate way in which the keys dislodge and float up to mirror the composition of the top part of the work is interesting, but in the context of the exhibition as a whole this work feels very much like a bridge from one style to another.
Verging on expressionism or fauvism, these works from 1912 are edging every closer to Kupka’s geometric and abstract later works.
I loved the luminescence of this work and the balance of the triangles in the woman’s form.
And here we are. Through symbolism to abstraction via a dalliance with fauvism and a brief interlude of classical influence. The second half of the exhibition is full of big canvases mostly grouped, as Kupka grouped his works, by the type of shape they represent.
These ones take a point on the canvas as their starting place.
While other works are more linear and therefore appear much more architectural.
The white space galleries and chronological/thematic groupings of the paintings works well to give a sense of Kupka as an artist: his exploration of form and structure, his pursuit of an idea to its pure essentials. The accompanying gallery guide gives useful insights into other artists in his circle at a given time or comments that he made about his work.
A series of graphic works.
Later works by Kupka are also well-represented, as here with a work from his return to partially figurative works representing syncopated jazz music. Still very geometric and abstract, the style is recognisable even if the pure abstraction is gone. The exhibition makes a strong case for Kupka as a ‘pioneer of abstraction’: the thorough academic grounding by the curators and comprehensive selection of works from public and private collections give a real insight into his artistic vision and pursuit of form and structure to its purest abstract version. I felt that I came away from the Grand Palais with respect for an artist I previously knew very little about, and couldn’t have suggested much to add to the work done by the curators. Definitely one to see if you’re on the Champs Elysées and looking for something cultural to do.
