AD REINHARDT. Last Paintings/Letzte Bilder

AD REINHARDT (1913-1967)

The paintings of the American artist, Ad Reinhardt were from the start defined by their clear geometrical forms. ­Reinhardt, who before his training as a painter had received a degree in art history, rejected any kind of fusion between art and life or any mystification of painting. Around 1953 he did his first black paintings in which every tendency to color seemed to fade. From 1960 his painting were all only black, which he himself described as the “last paintings that anyone can paint.”
The encounter between Ad Reinhardt and Josef Albers in 1952/53 and their ensuing dialogues on the meaning of color within the painting process were for the young Reinhardt an important impulse on his path towards his black paintings. Presented in this book is his oeuvre from the end of the 1930s to the late works; their special relevance can be recognized in juxtaposition with the works of Josef Albers.