Hermann Nitsch

Description

the painting actions 1960-2000

in 1959 i came into contact with art informel (pollock, franz kline, de kooning, sam francis). i understood immediately that these painters were searching for the same thing i was through my theatre. nothing else but sensory-stimulating processes were being directly intuited and shown. nothing was being represented, depicted. the painting act itself, the process of painting taking place in time, became essential. an act that takes place in time was actually a dramatic act. i discovered the connection to theatre, to my theatre. art informel allowed the sensory-sensual events in my theatre to occur on a pictorial plane. but i had already left behind the pictorial plane with my move towards action theatre. there was no longer a stage, i stood face to face with reality. it was all about staging real events, and yet the path back attracted me. i could demonstrate the simpliest action of my theatre, namely the pouring and splashing of fluids on vertical and horizontal surfaces. pouring on surfaces (above all vertical ones) became a foundational ritual of my actions. i wanted to show how pouring, spraying and smearing and splashing of red fluid can evoke intensive sensory agitation, prompt a sensory intensive feeling. the painting process, the event was more decisive than the result. through my painting i attempted to give an example of how it is possible to immerse oneself in the most sensitive of perceptual intensity. for the plays of the theatre of orgies and mysteries i planned to have the giant surfaces poured and splashed by the participants with paint in the sense of a ceremonious ritual, a liturgical performance. there was a clear connection to be drawn between those elementary sensory excitation triggered by my painting and those agitated excesses provoked by the action performance involving flesh, blood and intenstines. an intensification was given, the escalation into dismembering and shredding the lamb. painting was already the attempt to act out repressed regions, to abreact. action painting was my way of ushering in the practical realization of my o.m. theatre. i exhibited, showing my action paintings and so promoted my project. at the same time, i held painting actions amongst close friends and acquaintances (painting demonstrations). here attention was fully focused on the event, on what was happening, which we attempted to document in photographs and films. these painting actions were the preliminary stages for my actual actions. because i had already gained the breakthrough to the action theatre in my scores, it was for me only a small step to move from the still stylized painting action to working with reality. paint became blood, the pictorial surface turned into the reality of the wall, where a slaughtered sheep was hung and dismembered in an act of crucifixion. the painting performances overlap with the actions. the painting performances as well as the actual actions are numbered separately. i peform painting actions down to the present day, many of them public, i think of them as large theatrical ritual events. in 1984 a painting action took place in turin. in 1987 i was able to luckily perform a 14-day painting action in the vienna secession. for the 1988 biennale in sydney i was able to realize a painting action. in 1997 karlheinz essl invited me to realize a painting action in schömer haus. in the same year i performed my hitherto largest painting action in the museum of the twentieth century. the museum was filled with white canvases which were poured and splashed with blood and black paint. a painting action was also performed during the 6-day play of 1998 in prinzendorf.

hermann nitsch

Biography

Hermann Nitsch

1938 born in Vienna

lives and works in Mistelbach (Austria) and Asolo (Italy)

1953-1958 Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt, Vienna (A)

Exhibitions, actions (2000-2011)

2011

das sein, Galerie Zimmermann Kratochwill, Graz (AUT)

Blood lines, MCA Denver (USA)

Hermann Nitsch in München, Galerie Thomas Modern, München (D)

60. Malaktion, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York (USA)

131. Lehraktion, Leo Koenig inc., New York (USA)

2010

Hermann Nitsch's masterpieces of the Duerkcheim Collection, Museumszentrum Mistelbach (A)

Hermann Nitsch, Musée d'Art Moderne de Saint-Étienne (F)

2009

56. Painting Performance, Museumszentrum Mistelbach (A)

Viennese Actionism, Staatsgalerie Stuttgard (D)

Hermann Nitsch, Gallery Dirimart, Istanbul (TR)

45 years Hermann Nitsch, Nitsch Foundation in den Kavernen 1595, Salzburg (A)

2008

Opening, Museo Archivio Laboratorio Hermann Nitsch, Naples (I)

Hermann Nitsch: 20th painting action. Secession Vienna 1987, Museumszentrum Mistelbach (A)

Hermann Nitsch, Galerie Lelong, Zurich (CH)

Stations of the cross, Yamamoto Gendai, Tokio (J)

2007

Selected Works, 1960 – Present, Hermann Nitsch Museum, Museumszentrum Mistelbach, Mistelbach (A)

Szenen aus Goethes Faust (Robert Schumann), set- and costume-design, Opera Zurich (CH)

The Orgies Mysteries Theater, Galleria de' Foscherari, Bologna (I)

Hermann Nitsch: The Orgies Mysteries Theater, Gallery beaumontpublic + königbloc, Luxembourg (L)

Hermann Nitsch: The Orgies Mysteries Theater, Galerie Fortlaan 17, Ghent (B)

2006

Hermann Nitsch, Martin-Gropius Bau (National Museum), Berlin (D)

Hermann Nitsch, Galerie Curtze, Vienna (A)

New paintings and video, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York (USA)

Hermann Nitsch, Galerie Yamamoto Genday, Tokio (J)

Hermann Nitsch, Galerie Fred Jahn, Munich (D)

2005

Hermann Nitsch: The Orgies Mysteries Theater , Station - Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, TX (USA)

Hermann Nitsch: The Actions - 1962-2003, Slought Foundation, Philadelphia (USA)

122th Action, performance, Burgtheater Vienna (A)

2004

About corporeality, Galerie Lelong, Zurich (CH)

Hermann Nitsch, Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg (A)

Graphic Collection, Städel Museum, Frankfurt (D)

Hermann Nitsch: Utopia on paper, Städel Museum, Frankfurt (D)

Hermann Nitsch: New paintings and video, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York (USA)

2003

Nitsch. A retrospektive. Works of the Essl Collection. 1960-2000, Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg (A)

2002

110th teaching action (performance), Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (UK)

2001

Hermann Nitsch. Drawings, Galerie Lelong, Zurich (CH)

Hermann Nitsch, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere (Austrian National Museum), Vienna (A)

Group exhibitions (2000-2010, selection)

2010

From memory. About knowing and forgetting, Museum Dr. Guislain, Gent (NL)

Painting: Process and expansion.1950 - present, MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art, Vienna (A)

2009

An Open Window on the World of Art, Galleria Civica D’Arts Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin (I)

Viennese Actionism. From painting to action works from the MUMOK Collection, Sofia Art Gallery (TR)

The Catholic factor in contemporary art, BBK, Regensburg (D)

Stations of the Cross, De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art, Tilburg (NL)

Performer, Zacheta National Gallery, Warsaw (PL)

After 1970. Austrian art of the Albertina Collection, Albertina, Vienna (A)

Now jump, Nam June Paik Art Center, Yongin-Si (KO)

2008

Yokohama Triennale 2008, Time crevasse, Yokohama (J)

Traces du sacré, Centre Pompidou, Paris (F)

Constellations III, Städel, Frankfurt (D)

I can only see things when I move, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden (D)

Form as Strategy, Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture, Columbia University, New York (USA)

2007

Evidence of movement, Getty Museum, Los Angeles (USA)

Salon de la Kakanie, Central House of Artists, Moscow (RUS)

Speed #1, IVAM - Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia (ES)

Reverence, HVCCA - Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill (USA)

The art of collecting, Museum Kunst Palast, Duesseldorf (D)

Into me/Out of me, MACRO - Museo d´Arte Contemporanea Roma, Rome (I)

2006

Into me/Out of me, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center - MoMA, New York (USA)

Vinyl. Records and covers by artists, Museu d´Art Contemporani de Barcelona (ES)

Viennese Actionism, MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art, Vienna (A)

The triumph of painting, Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds (UK)

Seeing God, Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven (D)

Hermann Nitsch / Yango Shaobin, Alexanger Ochs – White Space, Beijing (CN)

2005

The shape of time, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (USA)

Il dono dell'artista, PAN - Palazzo delle Arti, Naples (I)

Europe in art, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest (RO)

The triumph of painting 1, Saatchy Gallery, London (UK)

Arte contemporaneo austriaco y pintura de la posguerra, Mexico City (MEX)

2004

Art and revolt. Viennese Actionism Archiv, MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art, Vienna (A)

2003

Focus 1, MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art, Vienna (A)

2001

Art in Central Europe, National Gallery Prague (CZ)

The Rombold Collection, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Wörlen, Passau (D)

2000

Re-Play, Generali Foundation, Vienna (A)

Aspect - Positions, Museum Ludwig, Cologne (D)

Art in Central Europe, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (ES), John Hansard Gallery, Southampton (USA), Ludwig Museum Budapest (HU), MUMOK, Vienna (A)

Faith: The Impact of Judeo Christian Religion on Art at the Millinium, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield/CT (USA)