Victor Vasarely - Fondation Vasarely

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Tuz (1966-1970, p59) achieves the illusion of depth, and the
appearance of a now half sphere shape by the means of
the transformation and distortion of a black oval axle which
includes white circles. The paintings: Vega-Art (1968) and
Vega Blue (1968, p58) show the solution of the enrichment
of the topic with colours. The above mentioned illusion
of half sphere is supported by a square shape distortion
in every direction. Moving inward from the side of the
painting towards the centre there is a line of black and
white rhomboids, getting gradually smaller, showing up two
colours, blue and dark-white.
Vasarely was fond of the half-sphere even though his years
of the 70s are characterised by his “honour to the sexagon”.
Quoting him: "The hexagon is different from the square
which is closed within its own structure and does not obey
the laws of parallel planes. Interestingly, the hexagon
was transformed into a cube, an unstable Kepler-cube of
perspectives. It can be divided into three rhombus of the
same size. These I had to colour and, lo and behold, the
cube is in front of us it multiplies and it creates a new web
of cells… This made the structure more dynamic, but – in
terms of vision – more unstable too. In truth we have the
mounting on each other of all the hypothetic perspectives:
all elements carry their own ambiguity. I could say I had
created a conjuring perpetuum mobile".
A good example for the web of cells is the painting Ambigu-B
(1970, p60). It shows how good the mode of composition,
selected by Vasarely was to make the sight of the seer
unstable, if the task was to place the spatial position of a
quadrilateral shape.
Vasarely called the creations in his last period: extendingshining
universal structures. The Up Album prints and the
Bach Album graphical page are characterised by the earlier
strict compositional order as structured into coordinates
being loosened in baroque-mode. The purpose was to give
enjoyment to the eye, to provide a visual experience.
Vasarely proclaimed the art object’s, art’s democratisation.
His original works were multiplied by prints which made
his compositions accessible in newer varieties. He created
albums from well selected pages where he showed the
stations of abstractions, and his own creative struggles.
These occur in given topics, alternatives shown with rich
motivational textures.
The art of Vasarely is part of abstract constructivism. His
artistic language is related to the results of constructive
movements relying upon the compositional results of
synthetic cubism. In its spirituality one can discover the
artistic perceptions of Bauhaus as well as artistic concerns
(Jean-Paul Sartre’s) of France of the forties, and fifties.
After the Second World War the plane constructivism
showed up with its new authentic values of geometric purity,
the attitudes of socially sensitive Gesammkunstwerk or
that of the renaissance classicism. The extreme horrors
had conjured up the dethronement of the mind, the
impossibility of order. This feeling was transmitted fully
and powerfully by the expressionist creators. They have
created a more authentic and more valid picture of the world
and of themselves, who had explored its depth, they had
opened up their feelings, with no more restraint than the
representatives of constructivism.
Despite his international successes and many awards
Vasarely often voiced his disappointment. He never wanted
to recognise that time of great social ideas had ended. He
fought his fight alone to make art a “common treasure”
hoping that “this will bring a betterment of the human
condition”.
The creator of works that could be presented as models, and
mathematical formulae, and which could also be multiplied
on an industrial scale, was the spiritual heir of the humane
and socialist practitioners of art, a late companion of the
romantic creators of the 1920-30-40s, in an increasingly
individualistic world.
József sárkány
Vasarely Museum, Pécs, Hungary