Art Basel

In the wake of the Second World War, artists worldwide recognized that previous modes of creative practice—especially the representational tradition and the integrity of the picture plane—were no longer sufficient or even appropriate. Dominique Lévy (Booth H11) is pleased to present an Art Basel booth dedicated to revolutionary artistic practices in the United States, Germany, and Italy in the postwar period, demonstrating an international spirit of radical rebirth, innovation, and transformation. In the US, Frank Stella unmoored the painting from the quadrilateral format, instead creating architectural and sculptural shaped canvases. Italian painter Lucio Fontana attacked the integrity of the canvas surface with slashes and stabs, producing voids of unbounded potentiality. In Germany, Gerhard Richter worked to unfix art historical traditions, formulating an alternate praxis of representation. These artistic gestures were coupled with revolutionary ways of thinking about the act of creation in the wake of advanced capitalism, immaterial labor, and rapid economic growth bolstered by globalization. Thus, it was not only the art object that was thrown into question—the very role of the artist in society was reconsidered in this pivotal moment.