Markus Lüpertz
Just as gifted artists push us to look differently at life itself, they also help us see the art of others in a new light. Such is the case of Markus Lüpertz (born in 1941), a veteran of post-war German painting. After having been the subject of a retrospective at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 2015 and of a powerful show at the Palazzo Loredan in Venice during the 2022 Biennale, Lüpertz is back in the French capital for a more modest yet all the same captivating proposition.
Aristide Maillol
Markus Lupertz
As it turns out, Lüpertz harbors a passion for art history, and in particular for a sculptor who is not particularly in vogue these days: the French artist Aristide Maillol (1861-1944)(1).
Although nothing seemed to connect the two artists, Lüpertz dreamed of exhibiting his work in dialogue with the Pyrenees native. That dream has now materialized with some forty paintings and as many sculptures, curated by Lüpertz himself to hang in the collection galleries of the Maillol Museum in Paris, on view through March 23.
Markus Lupertz
Acrobatic poses
Aristide Maillol
The public will remember Maillol for his round, deliberately expressionless women, often nude and positioned in acrobatic poses, like his series of 18 sculptures in the Tuileries Garden. In 2022, the Musée d’Orsay explored Aristide’s work, highlighting his quest for simplified, harmonious volumes.
Abstract Maillol
But Lüpertz offers a bolder perspective: “To me, he is the first abstract sculptor. He lived at a time when all the rules of art were being questioned. He made deliberate mistakes in his representations—morphological details that were too large, too thin, a poorly drawn leg, too thick…There is in his work the search for a generalized harmony that does not aim for realism.
Aristide Maillol
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He’s almost ironic. In fact, he was not understood in his own time. But the artist is always alone. He must believe in what he’s doing.”
Michael Werner
The famous Michael Werner, who has been Markus Lüpertz’s dealer since 1968, recounts the painter’s moment of realization about Maillol: “One night in Paris, when we were quite tipsy, I took him to see Maillol’s sculptures in the Tuileries. Toward the end of his career, he envisioned very modern works like “Air.” This bronze is almost Surrealist: how else could you make a metal sculpture weighing a ton and call it ‘Air’.”(See here and here other interviewes of Michael Werner)
Aristide Maillol
Monuments
Aristide Maillol, Markus Lüpertz
As one can see immediately upon entering the courtyard of the Maillol Museum, both artists have created monuments. Here, two bronzes confront one other. On one side, a grotesque male figure with a polychrome head in the raw and brutalist style characteristic of Lüpertz. On the other, a life-sized woman with smooth, robust forms who averts her gaze. Maillol called her “L’Action Enchaînée” (“Chained Action”).
Markus Lupertz, Aristide Maillol
Markus Maillol
Markus Lupertz, Aristide Maillol
Upstairs is a series of paintings and drawings Lüpertz started making in the 1970s depicting Maillol’s corporal sculptures. These are playfully signed “Markus Maillol.” “It was in seeing what Maillol did that I understood that I, a painter, could also create sculpture,” the artist explains.
Markus Lupertz
Contemporary/ traditional
Markus Lupertz
The exhibition includes a selection of Lüpertz’s pictorial explorations, such as works from his 1960s “Dithyrambs” series, blending abstraction and figuration, as well as a remarkable decoupage from 1980 in which one canvas is embedded within a larger one.
Markus Lupertz
“Markus produces truly contemporary painting using traditional techniques,” concludes Michael Werner.
Through March 23. https://museemaillol.com/
Markus Lüpertz, Michael Werner
(1) Lupertz is also the subject of an exhibition at the Michael Werner Gallery in London,in dialogue with the 19th-century French painter Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, running until February 1, .
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