Raoul De Keyser: Terminus
Drawings (1979-1982) and Recent Paintings
?Text by Robert Storr
For nearly fifty years, Raoul De Keyser (1930–2012) created subtly evocative paintings and works on paper that appear at once straightforward and cryptic, abstract and figurative. Composed of basic but indefinable shapes and marks, his compositions often invoke spatial and figural illusions, though they remain elusive of any descriptive narrative. Despite—or precisely because of—their sparse gesturing, his works convey a grandeur that inspires prolonged contemplation; their apparent simplicity belied a lengthy gestation period, which was guided largely by intuition.
Terminus: Drawings (1979–1982) and Recent Paintings is a beautifully designed and produced catalogue that brings De Keyser’s singular touch to life. Originating from his 2009 solo exhibition at David Zwirner in New York, the publication reproduces fifty works, encompassing a suite of drawings from 1979 to 1982 and recent paintings from 2000 to 2009. Beyond the publication’s stunning, full-color reproductions, it also includes a selection of installation views and scholarship by acclaimed art historian Robert Storr.
Publisher: David Zwirner / Steidl
Artists: Raoul De Keyser
Contributors: Robert Storr
Designer: David Chickey, Skolkin/Chickey
Publication Date: 2011
Binding: Hardcover
Dimensions: 9 3/4 x 12 1/4 in (24.8 x 31.1 cm)
Pages: 144
Reproductions: 103 color, 11 b&w
ISBN: 9783869300542
Retail: $75 US & Canada | £45 | €55
Status: Available
Raoul De Keyser
For nearly fifty years, Raoul De Keyser (1930-2012) created subtly evocative paintings and works on paper which appear at once straightforward and cryptic, abstract and figurative. Composed of basic but indefinable shapes and marks, his works often invoke spatial and figural illusions, though they remain elusive of any descriptive narrative. Despite—or precisely because of—their sparse gesturing, De Keyser’s works convey a grandeur that inspires prolonged contemplation. Individually as well as collectively, his works revolve around the activity of painting, but also move beyond its physical means to become more than the sum of their parts. Their apparent simplicity belies a lengthy gestation period, which is guided largely by intuition, rather than by following a pre-existing plan.
Robert Storr
Robert Storr is an American artist, critic, and educator who was a curator, and then senior curator, of The Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Painting and Sculpture from 1990 to 2002 and from 2005 to 2007. He served as the first American-born director of the Venice Biennale. From 2002 to 2006, he was the Rosalie Solow Professor of Modern Art at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and then dean of the Yale School of Art from 2006 to 2016, where he remains as a professor of painting and printmaking. The exhibition he organized at David Zwirner in 2013 to celebrate the centenary of Ad Reinhardt was voted “Best Show in a Commercial Space in New York” by the US Art Critics Association.