This publication is the first of four volumes in the catalogue raisonné of Francis Picabia (1879–1953), one of the most significant, challenging artists of the 20th century. The works in Volume I range from Picabia’s early pieces as an Impressionist in the 1890s to his Cubist and abstract paintings of 1912–14, which constitute landmarks in the history of modern art. This volume allows for new critical and scientific readings of his work and piques interest in his lesser-known pieces. Along with illustrations of each featured work, the book includes an introduction, chronology, bibliography, list of exhibitions, and indices.




Distributed for Mercatorfonds

Album Picabia

by Beverley Calte

Published 15 September 2016
Album Picabia is an inspiring, artistic chronicle of Francis Picabia’s life (1879–1953) as seen through the eyes of his last wife and creative protégée, Olga Mohler Picabia. Begun in 1936, four years before their marriage, and left unfinished in 1951, two years before Picabia’s death, the album is a collection of souvenirs,  sketches, newspaper clippings, photographs, and annotations that document the artist’s public and private lives with acute affection and appreciation. This rich visual account grants us entry into one of the greatest, yet one of the least known, creative and romantic partnerships of the 20th century. 

Distributed for Mercatorfonds

Hungarian-born French artist Nicolas Schöffer (1912–1992), though relatively unknown today, was during his lifetime a significant presence in the art world. His 1956 piece CYSP 1 is considered the first cybernetic sculpture, making use of motors, microphones, and photo-electric cells to create a work based on feedback loops and responsiveness to its environment. For Schöffer, cybernetics enabled a crucial artistic exploration of the boundary between the living and the technological. This important reevaluation of Schöffer’s work features sculptures, paintings, and drawings, including unpublished pieces from the artist’s studio and archive, as well as documentation of his interdisciplinary and experimental collaborations with architects, musicians, choreographers, scientists, and industrialists. Particular attention is paid to the innovative work he created between 1945 and 1975, which takes on particular resonance in our current, digitally saturated world.
 

Distributed for Mercatorfonds


Exhibition Schedule:

Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art
(02/23/18–05/20/18)