artist/ KALLOS

HONGRIE

Paul Kallos is a painter of Hungarian origin, naturalized French in 1974. He settled in France in 1950 as a political refugee, and was soon noticed. The Galerie Pierre (Pierre Loeb), a major exhibition and sales venue – one of the galleries that shaped the art market, exhibiting works by Man Ray, Miro, Chirico, Arp, Ernst, Braque, Picasso… – took him on under contract from 1954 to 1963. After Pierre Loeb’s death, he exhibited at Galerie Domec until 1967.
A pictorial itinerary that draws its strength from a conscious, considered method. “By dint of reflection, you can make a canvas full and balanced, but you can’t always make it come alive. You can work on it for months without the sparkle of life being present, and suddenly in five minutes, you’ll have found the solution. A small proportion to modify, a spot of color to lighten or darken”.

A pictorial itinerary in constant oscillation between “figuration” and “abstraction
After an abstract period, figurative allusions follow. In the early 60s, Paul Kallos turned his attention back to the subject – Two Figures, Three Women 1963, Crucifixion 1961, an expression of all the suffering caused by man’s cruelty – he had experienced the horror of the Nazi extermination camps (Auschwitz, 1944). One of his crucifixions was donated to Évreux Cathedral in 2007.1969 marked the beginning of a transition period that lasted until 1975. A return to abstraction through landscape painting begins.

In 1976, Paul Kallos switched from oil to acrylic for greater mastery and delicacy of execution. From this date onwards, very large formats and diptych compositions became more common. A further break came in 1977 with the “Premières strates”, a series of rigorously structured, compartmentalized, stripped-down works. Massive blocks – though their edges are as if eaten away by the light – then increasingly fluid over the course of the 80s.

With a rigor reminiscent of that of his compatriot Simon Hantaï, Paul Kallos has created a powerful, sensorial body of work. The quality of his light makes a powerful statement, and his compositions are “animated” by a powerful economy of color.

His work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions in France (Galeries Pierre, Domec, Nane Stern, Le troisième Oeil, Convergences, etc.) and abroad (Galerie Albert Loeb, New York; Galerie d’Art Moderne, Basel; Galerie Matthiesen, London; Galerie Aele, Madrid; Galerie Ressle, Stockholm; Galerie Yamaguchi, Tokyo).
Works by Paul Kallos have entered public collections: Museums of Dijon, Épinal, Metz, National d’Art Moderne-Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, FRAC,Seine saint Denis and abroad Museums of Fine Arts Budapest, Rio de Janeiro, Art Gallery o……