Art history talk with ADRIANA ALVAREZ-NICHOL: Le Mouvement 1955 – Movement 2018, THE LEGACY OF OP AND KINETIC ART

 

Adriana Alvarez-Nichol presents historical context to Op and Kinetic Art as part of the programme for Puerta Roja’s current show Movement, a joint exhibition with Galerie Denise René. The talk will provide insight into the founding figures of the movement and their groundbreaking artwork. It will also discuss the personal relationships that brought together like-minded artists to form an internationally recognised movement, with particular focus on the iconic gallerist, Denise René.

Denise René opened her Parisian gallery in 1944 with Victor Vasarely’s first solo show and the vision to spearhead exhibitions focused on abstraction and. She asserted her place in modern art history books with the ground-breaking exhibition Le Mouvement in 1955. It was at Le Mouvement that Carlos Cruz-Diez was introduced to the gallery and other artists by his fellow Venezuelan Jesús Rafael Soto. Ten years later both artists would participate in the historical MoMA exhibition The Responsive Eye, where the term ‘Op and Kinetic Art’ was first formally recognised. The eye-catching, imaginative and vertigo-inducing works swept the art world and enamoured viewers. Works appeared on the walls of major museums and galleries around the world and heavily influenced architecture, design and fashion.