Simon Hantaï

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Simon Hantaï (born 1922, Biatorbágy, Hungary; he took French nationality in 1966) is a painter generally associated with abstract art.

After studying at the Budapest School of Fine Art, he travelled through Italy on foot and moved to France in 1949. André Breton wrote the preface to his first exhibition catalogue in Paris, but in 1955 Hantaï broke with the surrealist group over Breton's refusal to accept any similarity between the surrealist technique of automatic writing and Jackson Pollock's methods of action painting.

In 1960, Hantaï developed his technique of "pliage" (folding): the canvas is folded and scrunched, then doused with color, and unfolded, leaving apparent blank sections of the canvas interrupted by vibrant splashes of color. He stated: "The pliage developed out of nothing. It was necessary to simply put myself in the place of someone who had seen nothing... in the place of the canvas. You could fill the folded canvas without knowing where the edge was. You don't know where things stop. You could even go further, and paint with your eyes closed." ("Le pliage ne procédait de rien. Il fallait simplement se mettre dans l'état de ceux qui n'ont encore rien vu; se mettre dans la toile. On pouvait remplir la toile pliée sans savoir où était le bord. On ne sait plus alors où cela s'arrête. On pouvait même aller plus loin et peindre les yeux fermés.")

Starting in 1960, Hantaï ranged his works in series, some very white, others full of color (subtle shades or vibrant).