1930-2019
Amercian nationality
Artistic movement : minimalism
Number of works in the collection : 11

LISTEN TO THE CULTURAL MEDIATOR’S COMMENTARY

Mathilde accompanies you during your visit:

QUOTES FROM THE ARTIST

“I believe that painting is moving too slowly, but of course, it is in the nature of painting to evolve slowly. I feel that the possibilities of paintings are so great and that we have just scratched the surface.”

“It was never an intention of mine to make white paintings. And it still isn’t. I don’t even consider myself to be making white paintings. The white is just a means of exposing other elements. White enables other things to become visible.”

IN THE EYES OF YVON LAMBERT

“In New York, I went to Robert Ryman’s studio at a time when the American orientation of my gallery was asserting itself through a series of decisive exhibitions. The works impressed me by their radicalism while at the same time being part of the very old tradition of painting. […] The paintings, so discreet that visitors could hardly see them, were made right on the wall on thin square plastic films, held in place by strips of tape he had glued on to fix this invisible support. After coating the entire surface, overflowing onto the white wall, he removed the adhesive tapes because the drying paint miraculously held the surface stuck to the gallery wall.”

ADDITIONNAL RESOURCES TO READ AND WATCH

Youtube, Art21 – Robert Ryman: Possibilities | Art21 “Extended Play” (2009)
Art21 – Robert Ryman in “Paradox” (2007)
Artspace – Under the Influence: Robert Ryman and His Obsession with Mark Rothko’s Painting (2017)
Youtube, Art21 – Robert Ryman: Possibilities | Art21 “Extended Play” (2009)
Art21 – Interview, Color, Surface, and Seeing (2007)
Smithsonian – Oral history interview with Robert Ryman (1972)
The Art Newspaper – Interview with Robert Ryman: Painting is for pleasure (2003)