Pontus Hultén

Pontus Hultén Karl Gunnar actually (* June 21, 1924, † October 26, 2006 in Stockholm ) was a Swedish art historian, university professor, art collector, founding director of six major museums and one of the main curator of the 20th century. In professional circles, he was considered a visionary and unorthodox.

Life and work

Pontus Hultén 1996 was the founding director of the designed by the Ticino architect Mario Botta Museum Tinguely in Basel. In 1954, he had become acquainted with the Swiss painter and sculptor Jean Tinguely ( 1925-1991 ) in Paris and accompanied him throughout his life.

Hultén 1958 was the founding director of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm ( where he worked from 1957 to 1973 ) and a founding director of the Paris Centre Georges Pompidou and the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn's Museum Mile (1992). Among his most important and groundbreaking special exhibitions include the presentation Paris - New York and Paris - Berlin at the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Stockholm Moderna Museet 4 Americans ( 1962), the first time the work of Robert Rauschenberg ( 1925-2008, Pop Art ) and Jasper Johns ( b. 1930, Pop Art ) brought to Europe, in 1963, a highly acclaimed retrospective of Jackson Pollock ( 1912-1956, Abstract Expressionism ) and Action Painting as well as 1968 world's first retrospective exhibition of Andy Warhol 's (1928-1987, Pop Art ). Even before the fall of the Iron Curtain, it was through his presentations to popular cultural ambassador.

In 1981, Hultén the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and was director of the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, in which he presented in 1986 the first exhibition ever.

His friends included artists especially Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Claes Oldenburg, Sam Francis and Rebecca Horn.

Pontus Hultén 2005 gave the Stockholm Moderna Museet its approximately 700 works comprehensive private collection, which he himself hurried one in three sections: Pontus ' friends ( especially with artists of his generation who have developed new artistic concepts since the 1950/60er years ), Hultén in the mirror ( combines very personal, the art historian works dedicated and portraits, including Sebastián Matta and Piotr Kowalski ) and inter-character and drawing (with very high-quality graphic work, at the same time the heart of the collection, with works by Max Ernst, Kazimir Malevich, Marcel Duchamp Constantin Brancusi and ).

Publications

• Pontus Hultén: Niki de Saint Phalle. Special edition textbook. Hatje Cantz Verlag 1995.
• Pontus Hulten ( Fwd ): Brancusi. photographe. Musée National d' Art Moderne, Centre National d' Art Moderne, Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1982, ISBN 2-85850-025-8
• Pontus Hulten, Natalia Dumitresco, Alexandre Istrati: Brancusi, Klett- Cotta, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-608-76226-4
• Pontus Hulten, Henriette Hahn Loser: Museum Jean Tinguely Basel. The collection. Benteli Verlag 1996. 302 pp., ISBN 3-7165-10432 ( This documentation of the collection includes the most important works of the major Swiss iron sculptor ).
• Pontus Hulten, Mario Botta, Niki de Saint Phalle, Margrit Hahnloser, Andres Pardey: Museum Jean Tinguely Basel. English edition. Benteli Verlag 1996. 270 pp., ISBN 3-7165-10513 ( documentation of the collection of the newly opened museum, taking into account aesthetic aspects of the museum ).
• Pontus Hulten, Niki de Saint Phalle, Michel de Grèce, Ulrich clutter: Niki de Saint Phalle. Monograph. Images, shooting pictures, assemblages, reliefs. From 1949 to 2000. Benteli Verlag 2001. 588 pp., ISBN 3-716-51258-3.