On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death of Ad Reinhardt on August 30th, 1967, Braun-Falco Gallery is pleased to remember the „black monk“ and his ideals by presenting the complete portfolio of 10 screenprints published in 1966.

As a member of the New York School Ad Reinhardt (b. 1913) has been particularly recognized for his „black paintings“. Even several painters during the period of the abstract expressionsm such as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Robert Rauschenberg or Frank Stella among others were working on the theme of black painting, Ad Reinhardt was by far the most radical of all in pursuing the idea that black is the fundamental color for creating the „ultimate painting“ eraced of any space, lines, and all traces of means. Reinhardt’s urge for abstraction and absoluteness let him from 1956 on until his death in 1967 to work exclusively on black paintings. Not only that he reduced his color spectrum to subtile traces of black, moreover from the 1960s he additionally cuted down the variable of the canvas size to a single format of a square at a lenght of 1,53 cm. This consequent, puristic and ascetic behaviour brought him the nick name of the „BLACK MONK“. The strict rejection of all literal representations in his works opened an undefined room for an extented understanding of art and particular of painting towards „negation, transcendeny, contemplation as well spirituality. Reinhardt by himself stated „I am merely making the last painting which anyone can make.“ This „last painting“ was ment to be of no texture, no brushwork, no drawing, no forms, no design, no colors, no light, no space, no time, no size, no movement and no matter.

During his life time, Ad Reinhardt’s extreme position was often interpretated as nihilism and emptiness, nevertheless his oevre not only oppened the doors for minimal art, it gained fascination by many younger artists even half a century apart until today. The group show illustrating Ad Reinhardts influence as an artist’s artist further comprises works by Josef Albers, Rolf-Gunter Dienst, Marcia Hafif, Thomas Kaminski, Gerhard Langenfeld, Phil Sims, Howard Smith, Rolf Rose, and Dieter Villinger.

We kindly thank our gallery colleagues Rupert Walser and Bernhard Wittenbrink for their kind support and collaboration.

Braun-Falco Galerie   |   Nymphenburger Str. 22   |   80335 München   |   T 089-57949774-1   |   info@braunfalco.com

A group exhibition with prints by Ad Reinhardt accompanied by works of Josef Albers, Rolf-Gunter Dienst, Marcia Hafif, Thomas Kaminski, Gerhard Langenfeld, Phil Sims, Howard Smith, Rolf Rose, and Dieter Villinger