Graves International Art

Yves Klein (28 April 1928 – 6 June 1962) was a French artist considered an important figure in post-war European art. He is the leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau re´alisme founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Klein was a pioneer in the development of performance art, and is seen as an inspiration to, and as a forerunner of, Minimal art, as well as Pop art.

Klein was born in Nice, in the Alpes-Maritimes department of France. His parents, Fred Klein and Marie Raymond, were both painters. His father painted in a loose Post-Impressionist style, while his mother was a leading figure in Art informel, and held regular soire´es with other leading practitioners of this Parisian abstract movement. From 1942 to 1946, Klein studied at the E´cole Nationale de la Marine Marchande and the E´cole Nationale des Langues Orientales and began practicing judo. At this time, he became friends with Arman (Armand Fernandez) and Claude Pascal and started to paint. At the age of nineteen, Klein and his friends lay on a beach in the south of France, and divided the world between themselves; Arman chose the earth, Pascal, words, while Klein chose the ethereal space surrounding the planet, which he then proceeded to sign:

With this famous symbolic gesture of signing the sky, Klein had foreseen, as in a reverie, the thrust of his art from that time onwards—a quest to reach the far side of the infinite. Between 1947 and 1948, Klein conceived his Monotone Symphony (1949, formally Monotone Silence Symphony) that consisted of a single 20-minute sustained chord followed by a 20-minute silence – a precedent to both La Monte Young's drone music and John Cage's 4'33. During the years 1948 to 1952, he traveled to Italy, Great Britain, Spain, and Japan. In Japan, at the age of 25, he became a master at judo receiving the rank of yodan (4th dan/degree black-belt) from the Kodokan, which at that time was a remarkable achievement for a westerner. He also stayed in Japan in 1953. Klein later wrote a book on Judo called Les Fondements du judo. In 1954, Klein settled permanently in Paris and began in earnest to establish himself in the art world.

GIA Gallery Poster Disclaimer:
Not to be confused with thousands of contemporary inkjet/giclée/digital reproductions ignorantly or deliberately passed off as originals on the market today. The examples we offer here are the original period vintage (exhibition) posters, created and designed by, or under the supervision and authorization of the artist or their respective estate (posthumously), for various exhibitions and events in which they participated. If applicable, this poster is also fully documented within its respective artists' official catalogue raisonné of authentic graphic works, prints, and or posters.