Jesús Rafael Soto

1923 - 2005
Born in 1923, in Venezuela

An admirer of Mondrian and Malevich, Jesus Rafael Soto entered established abstract art circles, following in the footsteps of other South American artists. Born on June 5, 1923, in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela, he died in Paris, France, in 2005. He studied at the Escuela de artes plásticas in Caracas from 1942 to 1947 and then served as director of the Escuela de bellas artes in Maracaibo, Venezuela, until 1950, at which time he relocated to Paris. There he associated with Yaacov Agam, Jean Tinguely, and Victor Vasarely, as well as artists connected to Galerie Denise René and the Nouveaux Réalistes (New Realists).

Biography

In 1955 Soto participated in Le Mouvement (The Movement) at Galerie Denise René in Paris, the exhibition that effectively launched Kinetic art. Around this time, and for many years subsequently, Soto’s art oscillated between geometric and organic forms. By 1957 Soto had moved toward a more gestural abstraction, but by 1965 he had returned definitively to a geometric idiom.
During the same decade, he began making linear, kinetic constructions using industrial and synthetic materials such as nylon, Perspex, steel, and industrial paint, epitomized through the Pénétrable series of works.

Soto’s work has been celebrated in many major solo exhibitions around the world, including: Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, France (1969); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA (1971); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA (1974); Contemporary Sculpture Center, Tokyo, Japan (1986); Museum of Modern Art, Kanagawa, and Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan (1990); Banque Bruxelles Lambert, Brussells, Belgium (1999); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (1979, 2013); and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Texas, USA (2014). Soto’s work has also been included in major group exhibitions including the 1963 Sao Paulo Biennale in Brazil; and the 1964 and 1966 Venice Biennales in Italy.

Bibliographic resources

Lemaire, Gérard-Georges, Soto, Raphaël. Soto. Paris : Ed. de la Différence (Mains et merveilles.), 1997. 978-2-7291-1113-7

Ameline, Jean-Paul ; Jiménez, Ariel, Seban, Alain ; Pacquement, Alfred ; Mazel-Roca, Marie-Thérèse ; Moinot, Martine. Soto : collection du Centre Pompidou-Musée national d'art moderne : [exposition, Paris, Centre Pompidou, Galerie du Musée, 27 février-20 mai 2013]. Paris : Centre Georges Pompidou, 2013. 978-2-84426-594-4

Galerie Perrotin (Paris, New York, Hong Kong), Poirier, Matthieu ; Pierre, Arnauld. Jesus Rafael Soto, Galerie Perrotin. New York : Galerie Perrotin, 2014. 9781091539043

In The Collection

Pénétrable BBL bleu, 1999

Jesús Rafael Soto

Grand écriture noire, 1979

Jesús Rafael Soto

Exhibition of the Collection

From 20 February 2019 to 26 August 2019

A Vision for Painting

The Fondation Louis Vuitton displays a new selection of 70 works from the collection and gathers 23 international artists from the 1960s to the present day around one main theme : painting.

Hors les murs

From 7 December 2018 to 12 May 2019

Jesús Rafael Soto - Penetrable BBL Bleu

The Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo invites you to experience this emblematic work from the Collection: Pénétrable BBL Bleu (1999, ed. Avila 2007).

Artists

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