Nicolas Schöffer

NICOLAS SCHÖFFER (Hungary, 1912- Paris, 1992).
Untitled.
Mobile sculpture in aluminum and metal.
Enclosed certificate of authenticity issued by the Denis René Gallery.
Electrified piece.
Measurements: 51 x 56 x 32 cm.
Nicolas Schöffer was a French cybernetic artist of Hungarian origin. His works were based on cybernetic theories of control and feedback mainly influenced by the ideas of Norbert Wiener. Wiener's work suggested to Schöffer an artistic process in terms of circular causality of feedback loops that he used in a wide range of artistic genres. His career spanned painting, sculpture, architecture, urban planning, film, theater, television and music. The quest for dematerialization of the artwork and the search for movement and dynamics became central themes in his work. He worked with the immaterial media space, time, light, sound and climate, which he called the five topologies. He freed artistic genres from their spatial and temporal limitations by creating sound structures. According to his ideas, art should be available as a cultural good to everyone equally, without limitations. The playful and spectacular aspects of his works served the goal of capturing the public's attention and involving the viewer through participation in the creative processes. To make art universally available, he explored the possibilities of mass production. Thanks to his father's influence, Schöffer left home to study law at the Royal Hungarian Pázmány Péter University in Budapest. After graduating as a doctor of law, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1932 he participated in the winter exhibition of the National Salon in Budapest. In 1936 he left Hungary and settled in Paris. Here, Schöffer continued his studies at the Fernand Sabatté workshop of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. In 1937 he participated in the Salon d'Automne and in 1938 in the Salon des Indépendants. His artistic consecration took place in the 1950s. He participated in Documenta II (1959) and Documenta III (1964) in Kassel. In 1968 he participated in the Venice Biennale and won the Grand Prize. He has achieved both international media projection and institutional recognition.