Cy Twombly (1928 - 2011) was one of the foremost representatives of the international avant-garde since the rise of Abstract Expressionism in New York.
In 1951, he began his training at the Art Students' League in New York, where he came into contact with Robert Rauschenberg, who accompanied him during his studies at Black Mountain College, North Carolina. In 1952 and 1953 he travelled to North Africa and Europe for the first time, spending time in Italy, where he would eventually emigrate. Here Cy Twombly broadened his artistic horizons and laid the foundation for his distinctive artistic language, which he then developed into an unmistakable style. His journeys to the major Italian art centres with their overwhelming cultural past spurred him to an intense exploration of mythological and historical subjects that he treated in his subtle idiomatic approach, combining several techniques.
In his large-format works on canvas as well as his works on paper, Twombly typically made use of a variety of media: pencil, oil crayons, oil, and wall paint form an aesthetic and often tactile bond with the paper support. Especially in his works on paper, the frequently described graphical character of his work has a particularly spontaneous, calligraphic and yet incredibly concentrated effect. Circles, loops and scribbles executed in patient repetition of a gesture placed next to impasto traces of paint and scraped streaks in delicate hues suddenly reveal letters and words, but without divulging their meaning. Sign and signifier are not clearly assigned in Twombly’s work. Only an in-depth examination of his oeuvre reveals an as-yet undeciphered system of signs or repertoire that repeatedly evokes Mediterranean culture, myths, literature, and history through spontaneous gestures and minimalistic notations. Twombly approaches his subjects with great respect, seeking them out and encircling them, and his ability to link poetry and painting perhaps surpasses that of any other visual artist. Cy Twombly died 2011 in Rome.
Publications
Exhibitions
Bastian Gallery, London, UK
Château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade, France
Sursock Museum, Beirut, Liban
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, Greece
Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany
Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel, Switzerland
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan & Hara Museum ARC, Gunma-ken, Japan
Ca’Pesaro - Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna, Venice, Italy
American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, USA
Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico
Museo Diocesano di Gaeta, Gaeta, Italy
Galerie Bastian, Berlin, Germany
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA
FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY, USA
Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA, USA, Hong Kong, China, London, UK, New York (Madison Avenue), USA
Gagosian Gallery, London, UK, New York, NY, USA
BOZAR / Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany; travelled to: Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen, Germany; BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium
MoMA - The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
Craig F. Starr Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Collection Lambert, Avignon, France; Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
Musée du Louvre, Paris, France (permanent installation since March 23, 2010)
Somerset House, London, UK
Gagosian Gallery, Paris, France
Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany
Musée du Louvre-Lens, Lens, France
Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
The British Museum, London, UK
Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
Waddington Custot, London, UK
Brandhorst Museum, Munich, Germany
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK
Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Sakura City, Japan
Alexander Berggruen, New York, NY, USA
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
Margate, Kent, UK
Sélestat, Fonds régional d'art contemporain (Frac) Alsace, France
Venus Over Manhattan, New York, NY, USA
Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan; traveled to: Toyoashi City Museum of Art & History, Toyoashi, Japan
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Picasso Museum, Münster, Germany
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Museum für kykladische Kunst (MCA) Athens, Greece
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland
The University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ, USA
Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini Collezione Burri, Perugia, Italy
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock, Germany
Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
Weserburg – Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, Germany
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Gagosian Gallery, Paris, France
Gagosian Gallery, Hong Kong, China
Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK
Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
Gagosian Gallery, Rome, Italy
Musée Auguste Rodin, Paris, France
La Kunsthalle Mulhouse, Mulhouse, France
Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, Germany
Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany
Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany
Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen, Germany
Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen, Germany