Yves Klein

Denys Riout is an art historian specialized in Yves Klein’s work. His book reunites two complementary texts : “Overcoming the problem of art” and “Conference at the Sorbonne”, both essential to understand the artist’s process and shows his desire to work on the notion of the immaterial.

With the book comes a CD of an extremely rare document : the restored recording of the conference held by Yves Klein in 1959 at the Sorbonne. It is a unique opportunity to hear his distinctive voice and tone. 

Extracts of “Conference at the Sorbonne” :“I shall therefore began quite coolly by grasping this Ariadne’s thread that for me is this impalpable sensibility, new matter, new dimension, before I enter the labyrinth of overheated emotion, promising firmly to myself to never let it go until I come back out. This, then, is what happened.

At Antwerp first of all, barely two months ago. Invited to exhibit with a group of artists comprising Bury, Tinguely, Roth, Breer, Mack, Munari, Spoerri, Piene, and Soto, I traveled to Antwerp and on the occasion of the opening, instead of installing a painting or whatever tangible and visible object in the space that had been reserved for me in the Hessenhuis exhibition hall, I loudly pronounced to the public these words borrowed from Gaston Bachelard: “First there is nothing, then there is a deep nothing, then there is a blue depth.”

The Belgian organizer of this exhibition then asked me where my work might be. I replied, “There, there where I am speaking at this moment.” “And what is the price of this work?” “A kilo of gold, a kilo ingot of pure gold will suffise me.” Why these fanciful conditions instead of a normal price simply represented by a sum of money? Because, for pictorial sensibility in raw material state, in a space that I had specialized and stabilized by pronouncing these few words upon my arrival, which made the blood of this spatial sensibility flow, one cannot ask for money. “The blood of sensibility is blue,” says Shelley and that is exactly what I think."
 


http://www.editions-dilecta.com/fr/livres/254-vers-limmateriel.html

In April 1958, Yves Klein, known for his monochromes and his attachment to blue, presented an exhibition in which no painting, no sculpture, no object were visible. This event, soon known as the "Empty Exhibition", was a landmark. But this title, which was not due to the artist, makes his project almost incomprehensible. Klein, however, repeatedly explained his intentions. Thanks to this "immaterialization of the painting", he hoped to "create an atmosphere, an invisible but present pictorial climate" capable of manifesting, by its radiation, the very essence of painting: the "immaterial pictorial sensibility".
Since his first attempt at a presentation of the "invisible pictorial sensibility" in 1957, until his death in 1962, at the age of thirty-four, Yves Klein has never stopped deepening and to refine his words. At the same time, he imagined using the bodies of young women as "living brushes". Applying the imprint of their flesh on supports arranged for this purpose, they realized paintings perfectly visible: "Anthropometries". Far from emerging from a contradictory aspiration, these two modalities of existence of his work rest on an articulation which is at the heart of the fundamental Christian Mystery, the Incarnation. Such is the intuition developed in this essay.

In April 1958, Yves Klein, known for his monochromes and fondness for the colour blue, presented an exhibition in which no painting, sculpture or object was visible. The event, which was soon known as the “exhibition of the void,” marked a milestone. The title, which was not the artist’s suggestion, rendered his project more or less incomprehensible. Klein had, however, explained his intentions on several occasions. Thanks to this “immaterialisation of the painting,” he hoped to create “an ambience, a pictorial climate that is invisible but present” capable of expressing—through its radiance—the very essence of painting: the “immaterial pictorial sensibility.” Shortly afterwards, Yves le Monochrome organised “ritual” transfers of “zones of immaterial pictorial sensibility” in exchange for large sums of money.


From his first attempt at presenting the “immaterial pictorial sensibility” in 1957 to his death, aged thirty-four, in 1962, Klein never ceased going deeper into and refining his project. In parallel, he thought of using the bodies of young women as “living paintbrushes.” Leaving the impression of their bodies on supports provided for that purpose, they produced perfectly visible paintings, the “Anthropometries.” Far from being contradictory aspirations, these two modes of existence of Klein’s oeuvre are based on an association that is at the heart of the fundamental Christian mystery, the Incarnation. That at least is the intuition developed in this essay, which attempts to locate, beyond the disparity of the creations, the profound unity of the artist’s preoccupations.



http://www.editions-dilecta.com/en/books/258-yves-klein-expressing-the-immaterial.html