Raymond Hains

Raymond Hains ( born November 9, 1926 in Saint- Brieuc, Brittany, † October 28th 2005 in Paris) was a French painter and sculptor of the New Realism.

Life and work

Raymond studied in 1945 for a short time sculpture at the École des Beaux -Arts in Rennes, then moved to Paris where he worked as a photographer. In 1949, a first Décollage ( newspaper demolition ), 1955, he met François Dufrêne and Yves Klein.

Raymond Hains in 1960 founded with his close friend Arman and César, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, Mimmo Rotella, Pierre Restany and Yves Klein, the New Realists, whose goal was to create a smooth transition between art and life and social realities in their reflect work.

Hains was internationally known for his poster outlines, the " Affiches lacérées ". The principle of the exposed layers one above the other glued posters he developed in the late 1940s with Jacques Villeglé. The Affichistes, which included François and Mimmo Rotella Dufrêne, wanted to convey social and media critical content by tearing, burning and painting over the advertising messages. Raymond Hains devoted himself after 1946 also the abstract photography ( Photographies hypnagogiques ) and the film, which are among the earliest works of this genre. In 1950 he invented the concept of the "Ultra- lettre " and dedicated to " lettres éclatées " ( broken letters).

His works have been exhibited around the world, such as the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam ( exhibition " Moved Beweging " ), the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Grove in 1964 invited to the Venice Biennale, Documenta 4 1968 and 1997 for Documenta X in Kassel.

In 1996 he was awarded the Kurt Schwitters Prize of Fine Arts of the Lower Saxony Savings Bank Foundation.