A collection of works, documents, testimonies, recollections and analyses that offers an exceptional overview of the history and life of the
New Realist group.
Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois has committed to showcasing artists of the Nouveau Réalisme since its inception. From 1991 on,
Arman,
Jacques Villeglé,
François Dufrêne,
Niki de Saint Phalle,
Jean Tinguely have been regularly exhibited in its spaces;
César also made his mark there. It is in the gallery's DNA to have known these artists personally, to continue working with their most significant pieces, to contrast them with young artists.
The contemporaneity of the themes broached in this catalogue demonstrate, once again, the necessity of a varied perspective in order to appreciate this extraordinary generation. This major book, published on the occasion of the gallery's 30th anniversary, spotlights the group's life through an exclusive access to the Villeglé archives. Unfolding here are the disputes and reconciliations, as well as memories from the October 27th signing of the Manifeste du Nouveau Réalisme (New Realism's manifesto), as told by the artists themselves in previously unpublished testimonies. Newspaper articles, letters, pictures, and key works that have transited through the gallery are displayed alongside specialists' essays in order to tell the story of this movement "
40 degrees above zero-dada" with a fresh take.
