Artist profile
Georges Vantongerloo
Georges Vantongerloo is one of the lesser known and yet most important members of the De Stijl movement founded in Holland in 1917 by Piet Mondrian. He worked closely with Mondrian and van Doesburg and was a major contributor to the development of abstract art in the early 20th century. Vantongerloo was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1886 and was exiled to Holland during the war. The comparative lack of recognition of his work is in part accounted for by his refugee status. Dutch Art Historians were prone to give precedence to their fellow Dutch artists thus overlooking Vantongerloo’s interest and importance as an artist.
His paintings and preparatory studies are often based on mathematical formula: they are geometric, considered and linear. Like Mondrian, Vantongerloo used a limited and carefully chosen selection of colours but the basis of his aesthetic philosophy was quite different. Unlike many of his immediate contemporaries Vantongerloo was also an innovative designer, architect and philosopher.
Biography
- 1886
- Born in Antwerp, Belgium
- 1905 – 1909
- Studied at Fine Art Academies in Antwerp and Brussels
- 1914
- Conscripted as soldier in World War I - wounded and discharged soon after
- 1914 – 1919
- Escaped to Holland, where he met Van Doesburg
- 1917 – 1922
- Co-signatory of the first manifesto of De Stijl art group and contributor to journal 'De Stijl'
- 1917
- First abstract work
- 1919 – 1927
- Moves to Menton, France
- 1927
- Moves to Paris, France
- 1931
- Founding member of Galerie Abstraction-Creation, Paris
- 1936
- Adherent to the basic artistic doctrines advocated by the De Stijl group - the horizontal-vertical composition
- 1937
- Use of the circular line
- 1949
- Exhibited together with Max Bill and Antoine Pevsner in the Kunsthaus Zürich where Vantongerloo was represented with 60 works
- 1965
- Died in Paris, France
Selected exhibitions
- 2012–2013
- Museum of Modern Art, New York
- 2009
- Museo Nacional Centro de Arte, Reina Sofia, Madrid
- 2006
- Annely Juda Fine Art, London
- 2005
- Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels
- 2002
- Centraal Museum Utrecht
- 2001
- Haus Bill, Zumikon/Kanton Zurich
- 2001
- Annely Juda Fine Art, London
- 1999–2000
- Museum of Modern Art, New York
- 1996
- Gemeentearchief, Amsterdam
- 1996
- Annely Juda Fine Art, London
- 1995–1996
- Musee Rath, Geneva
- 1994
- Annely Juda Fine Art, London
- 1989
- Palazzo Volpi, Como
- 1988
- Museum Fridericianum, Kassel
- 1986
- Akademie der Künste, Berlin
- 1981
- Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels
- 1980
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LA
- 1979
- Annely Juda Fine Art, London
- 1978
- The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
- 1977
- Musée de l’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
- 1977
- Neue Nationalgalerie, Akademie der Künste, Große Orangerie am Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin
- 1976
- Wilhelm Hack Collection, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne
- 1974
- Annely Juda Fine Art, London
- 1961
- Musée Rodin, Paris
- 1961
- Biennale for Sculpture in Paris
- 1951
- Kunstverein Freiburg
- 1949
- Kunsthaus Zurich
- 1947
- Palazzo Exreale, Milan
- 1938
- Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
- 1937
- Kunsthalle Basel
- 1936
- Museum of Modern Art, New York
- 1934
- Galerie Abstraction-Création, Paris
- 1930
- International Exhibition, Stockholm
- 1929
- Graphisches Kabinett, Munich
