News / Simon Hantaï / Announcements

Gagosian is pleased to announce the representation of the Estate of Simon Hantaï. Born in Bia, Hungary, in 1922, Hantaï is best known for originating the technique of pliage (folding), in which a canvas is crumpled and knotted, uniformly painted over, and then spread out to reveal a matrix of abstract alternations between pigment and ground. Hantaï moved to Paris in 1948 and began creating pliage paintings in 1960, conceiving of the process as a marriage between Surrealist automatism and the allover gestures of Abstract Expressionism. The technique dominated the work he made during the rest of his career, re-emerging in diverse forms. To inaugurate Hantaï’s representation, LES NOIRS DU BLANC, LES BLANCS DU NOIR, an exhibition of black-and-white paintings and prints dating between 1969 and 1997, will be presented at Gagosian, Le Bourget.