Constant (painter)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Constant (1974)

Constant , actually Constant Anton Nieuwenhuys (born July 21, 1920 in Amsterdam , † August 1, 2005 in Utrecht ), was a Dutch painter and sculptor .

life and work

After studying at the School of Applied Arts and the Reich Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam , Constant lived in Paris and London from 1946 . In Paris he met Asger Jorn , with whom he founded the artist group CoBrA in 1948 . In the same year he founded the Nederlands Experimentele Groep with Karel Appel and Jan Nieuwenhuys . From 1957 to 1959 he was a member of the International Situationists . Under this influence he dealt with architecture and between 1959 and 1969 developed the utopian project New Babylon , the design of an infrastructure for a post-industrial society of neo-nomadic homines ludentes as an alternative to the “ utilitarian ” society of the present. Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas called Constant one of his greatest influences.

In 1959 Constant was a participant in documenta II and also represented at the next, documenta III (1964) in Kassel . Constant represented the Netherlands at the 1966 Venice Biennale . In Germany he exhibited at the Galerie van de Loo and the Museum Haus Lange in Krefeld, among others . In 1986 the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn showed a retrospective . With New Babylon , Constant was represented again at Documenta11 in 2002 . Works by him can be viewed in the Cobra Museum .

literature

  • Constant: play or kill. The revolt of Homo Ludens . Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1971, ISBN 3-7857-0074-1 (title of the original edition: Opstand van de Homo Ludens published by Uitgeverij Paul Brand, Hilversum, Netherlands).
  • Mark Wigley (Ed.): Constant's New Babylon - the hyper-architecture of desire. 010 Publications, Rotterdam 1998 - ISBN 90-6450-343-5
  • Documenta 11 - Platform 5: Exhibition. Catalog. Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern-Ruit 2002, ISBN 3-7757-9085-3 .
  • Constant , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 48/2005 of December 3, 2005, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible).

Web links