Martial Raysse

Martial Raysse - Son of a ceramic artist; a self-taught artist

Martial Raysse was born on 12th February 1936 in Golfe-Juan, France. He was fascinated by the visual arts from an early age and the workshop of his father, a ceramic artist, allowed him to take his first creative steps. However, Martial Raysse was largely self-taught; instead of painting, he studied literature at the University of Nice. In his free time, he was an enthusiastic painter of watercolours, initially in the abstract style of the École de Paris and created mobiles of modest size, but great originality. The newly developed material of plastic exerted a strong fascination on the artist, who soon tried his hand at his first sculptures and also made use of the innovative material. He also liked to incorporate small everyday objects, objets trouvés, into his sculptural works.

Ridiculous and necessary art led to Nouveau Réalisme

In his experiments with everyday objects, Martial Raysse endeavoured to find a new visual language. It should be realistic, closer to reality than the previous forms of expression. The artist takes this search seriously, although he himself actually sees art as something ridiculous - something ridiculous, but absolutely necessary. He has had an artistic friendship with Yves Klein and Arman since the 1950s and together with them and other artists such as Jacques Villeglé and Jean Tinguely, he founded the new movement of Nouveau Réalisme, showing a close affinity with Pop Art over the course of his career. A frequent motif in his object boxes were themes of mysticism and magic, and more recently his works have also focussed on mythology. He took part in Documenta and has received several public commissions.

Martial Rayasse lives and works today in Issignac in Dordogne.