Magritte Gallery 1898-1967)
- Having a great influence on pop culture, minimalist and conceptual art, Renй Franзois Magritte was born to humble beginnings, the eldest son of a tailor father and milliner mother. When he was just 14 years old, his mother committed suicide by throwing herself into the River Sambre near their Belgium home. Magritte witnessed rescuers pulling his mother from the river, the fabric of her dress covering her face. It is said that the vision haunted him, and was the inspiration behind a series of works he painted in the late 1920’s, including his famous Les Amants.
Magritte’s first surreal painting, The Lost Jockey, was painted in 1926 and featured at his first exhibition in Brussels in 1927. The exhibition was a critical failure, and the depressed Magritte moved with his wife Georgette Berger to Paris. It was there that he met Andrй Breton and began his association with the surrealist community.
Magritte eventually returned to Brussels, and having been a poster and advertisement designer in the early 1920’s, he formed an advertising agency with his brother. He remained in Brussels during the German occupation of Belgium during World War II, and this caused a falling out with Breton and some of the other surrealists, although Magritte continued to paint.
Magritte is best known for his juxtaposition of ordinary objects in unusual context and for giving familiar objects new translations. He also enjoyed painting objects, only to point out that the objects he painted were not actually the object. For example, both in his painting The Treachery of Images, a painting of a pipe; and another painting depicting an apple, Magritte indicates that the paintings are not the object he has painted. He wanted the observer of his work to realize that no matter how closely he captured the image of an apple, a pipe, or any other object, the painting could not actually BE that object.
Magritte’s popularity grew, especially in the pop culture arena throughout the 1960’s. His work was shown multiple times in New York City, including a large retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1965.
Renй Magritte died from pancreatic cancer on August 15, 1967. He is buried Schaarbeek Cemetery in his home of Brussels, Belgium.
Yves Tanguy
(1900-1955)
- Born in Paris, France on January 5, 1900, Raymond Georges Yves Tanguy was the son of a retired Navy captain. At the age of eight, his father died, forcing his mother to return to her home in Locronan, Finistиre, where Tanguy was raised by various relatives.
After a stint in the merchant marine and service in the Army, Tanguy returned to Paris. It was there that he first saw a painting by Giorgio de Chirico, an Italian-Greek surreal artist. The painting inspired him to make his own attempt at painting, despite his lack of formal training in the art.
In 1924, through friend Jacques Prйvert, Tanguy was introduced to Andre Brйton and the circle of surrealist artists, and he held his first solo exhibition in Paris in 1927. He quickly adopted the lifestyle of the starving Bohemian artist, and this eventually led to the break-up of his first marriage. It was during this period, however, that he saw the work of artist Kay Sage, and he quickly fell in love with the art and the artist, leading to his second marriage.
During World War II, Sage returned to her native New York, and because he had been deemed unfit for military service, Tanguy was able to join her. In 1948, Tanguy became a naturalized American citizen, and he and his wife converted an old Connecticut farmhouse into an artists’ studio.
On January 15, 1955, Tanguy suffered a stroke that claimed his life at his home in Woodbury, Connecticut. Not wishing to be parted from his wife and soul mate even in death, Tanguy’s cremated remains were preserved until Sage’s passing in 1963. It was upon her death that the artist Pierre Matisse scattered the ashes of the devoted couple on a beach in Brittany.
Tanguy’s work has a unique, nonrepresentational style of surrealism. He was known for his vast landscapes, limited color palette, and abstract shapes.