Nasser ASSAR
| French artist |
French painter. 1928, Teheran – 2011, Paris, France
Schools : Hurufiyya Movement. “Nuagism”, “painting of non-figurative signs”, “Figuration narrative”.
In a literate family environment, youth and adolescence nourished by classical Persian poetry, in which Rûmî figures prominently along with other poets of the 13th and 14th centuries, spiritual poetry and philosophy – Rûzbehân, and Sohrawardï in which, from the point of view of the renewal of Islamic mysticism, a proximity to the aforementioned poets, and in more philosophical terms, an unprecedented synthesis of Aristotelianism, the thought of Avicenna and various archaic, Greek and Iranian gnoses.
1966. Marriage at Chelsea Town to Isabelle de Gastines. The following years, friendships in London with Sir Colin Davis and his wife; in Provence, with Philippe Jaccotet; in Paris, with Patrick Waldberg, Henry Corbin, Emil Cioran, Pierre Leyris, Jean Leymarie, Christian Guez, Roger Munier, Mary-Ann Caws.
Solo exhibitions
- 1955. First exhibition, Galerie Prismes, Paris. Catalog with a preface by Julien Alvard.
- 1961. After participating a year earlier in an exhibition by the Antagonismes group at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (Pavillon de Marsan), first exhibition in London, Lincoln Gallery, prefaced by Sir Herbert Read. Encounter with Francis Bacon, which was to prove a great success, and lifelong friendship with Yves Bonnefoy.
- 1962. Exhibition at Galerie Smith, Brussels, which organized a second one two years later, prefaced by Gérald Gassiot-Talabot, who coined the term Figuration narrative and, a few years later, co-founded the magazine Opus international. During this period, a filial friendship develops with Jean Grenier, who supports Nassar’s work in the magazine Cimaise.
- 1966. Exhibition in London, Upper Grosvenor Galeries. Preface by Michael Sullivan
Group exhibitions
- 1957. Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris.
- 1959. Künstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria.
- 1960. Kaplan Gallery, London. – Breteau Gallery, Paris. – Galerie Grande, Lyon. – Galerie Marcelle Dupuis, Paris, under the title Présence dans l’abstraction.
- 1961. Lincoln Gallery, London.
- 1962. Galerie Greuze, Paris. – Galerie Valérie Schmidt, Paris.
- 1963. Grand Palais, Paris. – Otto Seligman Gallery, Washington DC, USA.
- 1964. L’Atelier, Toulouse. – Galerie internationale d’art contemporain, Paris.
- 1965. San Marino Biennale. – Musée Galliéra, Paris.
- 1968. Galerie Max Kaganovitche, Paris, titled D’après le paysage. – Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, titled L’art vivant.
- 1977. Galerie de la Différence, Milan.
- 1997. Musée Jenisch, Vevey, Switzerland, titled Arts et lettres.
Works for four hands
- 1967-68. Yves Bonnefoy and on poems “Hier régnant desert”, production of twenty large-format oils on paper, acquired by Aimé Maeght.
- 1990. Philippe Jaccottet, for « Eaux prodigues », five lithographs.
- 1999. Paul De Roux, « Sur le bord du monde », illustrations (Poésie 99 magazine).
Bibliography
Pierre Restany, in Cimaise n°48. 1960. – John Ashbery – Avant-Garde Bazaar, French Dominate Paris Biennale, in New York Herald Tribune. 1961. – Raymond Cogniat – Paysages-prétextes, in Le Monde, 1968. – Frank Elgar – Comment-on peut être à la fois paysagiste et peintre abstrait? in Carrefour n°1228, 1968. – Michel Ragon – Abstract art. Maeght éditeur, 1968. – Pierre Mazars – La montagne sacrée d’Assar, in Le Figaro, 1975. – Christian Jambet – Nasser Assar Galerie de Bellechasse, in Art Press internationale n°30, 1979. – Jean-Marie Dunoyer – Les Cahiers du Sud refont surface, in Le Monde, 1981. – Claude Esteban – Traces, figures, traversées. Editions Galilée, Paris 1985. – Jerôme Thélot – N.Assar, la réduction de la peinture. Actes du colloque L’art du peu, Metz. L’Harmattan éditeur, 2008.