Pic Adrian Rumanian, 1910-2008

1910

Pic Adrian is born on 3 September in Moinesti, Romania. This Moldavian town was also the birthplace, fourteen years previously, of Tristan Tzara, whose family used to visit the Adrian family.

 

1915

The Adrian family moves to Bucharest, where he attends primary and secondary schools, subsequently going on to study Law at Bucharest University. After graduating he practices as a lawyer for several years and also takes up poetry and painting.

 

1928

He publishes his first poems.

 

1932

Travels to Paris and Italy, indefatigably visiting museums and art galleries.

 

1940-44 Wartime in Romania under nazi rule

 

1952

He marries Alice, who had studied music at the Bucharest Conservatoire (and would later study sociology in Barcelona).

 

1953

Travels to Venice to meet Marc Chagall. Later, in Paris, he meets Léger, Arp and Brancusi. Frequent visits to Brancusi's studio in the Impasse Ronsin and numerous conversations with him.

Moves to Barcelona but often goes to Paris. "I am only an hour away by plane or a night by train." His painting is figurative, though aiming for simplification of forms. (Les personnages; La mère; Le chat; La femme-mer).

 

1955

Publication of his essay Réflexions sur l'univers sonora, in which he studies musical sounds in relation to light and colour.

Conversations with the physicist Albert Schweitzer in Gunsbach, Alsace.

 

1958

Birth of his daughter Mònica. He meets Antoine Pevsner and writes an article on his work. This year marks the transition from his figurative period to abstract art.

 

1960

Introduces the sentient line in his paintings and produces a series of reliefs in wood on canvas.

 

1962

Exhibits 28 oil paintings and various reliefs at Galeria Syra, Barcelona.

 

1963

Takes part in the group exhibition Pintores extranjeros at the Palau de la Virreina, Barcelona.

Exhibits at the Galerie de France, Paris

 

1964

Takes part in the VIII Salón de Mayo, Barcelona.

Exhibits 30 works, including several large-scale pieces, at Galería Neblí, Madrid.

 

1965

Solo exhibition at Galerie Raymonde Cazenave, Paris.

Publishes Du Réalisme Naturaliste au Réalisme Essentialiste (Arted, Paris).

Meets Lucio Fontana in Milan.

 

1966

Organises the first Tendencia Esencialista group exhibiton a the Institute of North-American Studies in Barcelona, exemplifying his theories with works by Faber, Hernández Pijuan, Tharrats and some of his own pieces.

 

1967

Group exhibition at the Maison de  Culture, La Havre.

Takes part in the Comparaisons Salon at the Musée d'Art Modern de la Ville de Paris.

Takes part in the Neue Malerei aus Paris exhibition, Schwäbisch Gmünd Museum.

Takes part in the Vingt peintres exhibition, which remains open throughout the summer at the Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, with Michaux, Sam Francis, Matthieu and Dubuffet, amongst others.

Solo exhibtion at Ateneo, Madrid.

 

1969

Takes part in the international group exhibition at Galeria Refugi d'Art, Barcelona.

Organises the second Tendencia Esencialista group exhibiton in Madrid, with over 50 works by 10 artists.

Exhibits his Synchronicité series at Galerie Raymonde Cazenave, Paris, presented by Pierre Restany.

 

1970

Takes part in the Exposición Nacional de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid.

Solo exhibition at Galeria Ivan Spence, Ibiza.

Publishes a series of 10 screenprints in Turin, entitled 10 condizione lineari di segnaletica aleatoria, with text and poem by Carlo Belloli.

Tha Catalan composer J. M. Mestres Quadreny writes Variaciones essencisals, a musical composition inspired by Adrian's paintings, particularly the Synchronicité series.

 

1971

Takes part in the Forma y Poema Salon at the Institute of North-American Studies, Barcelona, in which each artist shows a picture related to a particular poem.

Publication of his treatise Essentialisme et Pop dans l'Art Actuel.

Publishes a folder with five screenprints and a text titled Sincronías.

 

1972

Solo exhibition at Galerie Montjoie, Brussels.

Group exhibition to commemorate the Bertrand Russell centenary at Rotunda Gallery, London.

 

1973

Publishes his Art Principiel manifesto to complete his Essentialist theory.

Exhibits the first examples of Principle Art at the French Institue, Barcelona.

Exhibits at Galerie Suzanne Egloff, Basel.

 

1974

Starts working on a series of reliefs in wood on canvas.

Solo exhibition at galerie Raymonde Cazenave, Paris.

Solo exhibition at Galleria Vismara, Milan, presented by Gillo Dorfles.

Starts working on the Agua primaria series.

Solo exhibition at Galeria Ovidio, Madrid

 

1975/76

The Oxford magazine Leonardo an article on his work.

His L'Entité Art-Actuel is published by Arted, Paris

Publication of the Spanish and English editions of Art Principiel.

 

1977

Publication of a monograph by Pierre Restany (Le Musée de Poche).

 

1978

Publication of his treatise Le Continuum terrestre humain (La Pensée Universelle, Paris).

Solo exhibition at Galerie Suzanne Egloff, Basel.

Solo exhibition at Galerie Henry Meyer, Lausanne.

 

1979

Solo exhibition at Fundació Miró, Barcelona.

Travels to New York, where he meets a numebr of Conceptual artists.

 

1980

Publishes the Segundo Manifiesto del Arte Pricipial.

 

1981

Solo exhibition at Galeria Ciento, Barcelona.

Takes part in the group exhibition Libros de artista, Galeria Metrònom, Barcelona.

Travels to Berkeley, California.

 

1982

Starts working on a series of reliefs in painted wood.

Publishes Occident-Orient, second book of Principle Art.

Spends Spring in the United States.

Takes part in the Libros de artista group exhibition organised by the Ministerio de Cuktura at the Sala Picasso, Madrid.

 

1983

Solo exhibition at the Henie-Onstad Art Center, Havikodden (Norway).

Spends Spring in the United States.

 

1985

Solo exhibition at Galerie Brigitte March, Stuttgart.

Takes part in the group exhibition Die Musik in der Kunst des 20 Jahrhunderts, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.

 

1987

Solo exhibition at Artifact Gallery, Tel Aviv.

 

1991

Solo exhibition at Galeria Artual, Barcelona.

Features in the permament collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

 

1993

Anthological exhibition Pic Adrian, organised by the Generalitat de Catalunya at the Salas BBV, Barcelona.

 

1994

Solo exhibtion at IVAM, Valencia.

 

1997

Takes part in the group exhibition Pintura dels Setanta, superficie/color, MACBA, Barcelona

 

2009

Takes part in the group exhibition Temps com a matèria, MACBA, Barcelona and Museo de Belles Artes, Granada.

 

2011

Group show La sombra del habla. Obras de la col·lecció MACBA, Seoul Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul.

 

2012

Group show Abstracción y movimiento, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Sevilla

 

2015

Solo exhibition Art Principiel, l'Essèncialisme de Pic Adrian, Sala d'Exposicions La Caixa, Santa Cristina d'Aro, organised by Richard van der AA.

Group Show Second Beginning 1950-1977, MNAC, Barcelona.

 

2017

Solo exhibition Pic Adrian Art Principial, Galeria Marlborough, Barcelona

 

2019

Group show Abstracte, figuratiu, etcètera, GALERIA RICHARD VANDERAA, Girona.

 

2021

Group show l'Art del descobriment. Segones Avantguardes, GALERIA RICHARD VANDERAA, Girona.

 

2022

Group show Tardor/Fall 2022, GALERIA RICHARD VANDERAA, Cadaqués.

Solo exhibition Galerie Zlotowski, Paris

Pic Adrian Universo sonoro, Fundación Cristino de Vera, Sant Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife.

 

 

COLLECTIONS

 

Bibliothèque Nationale, Cabinet des Estampes, Paris

Boymans-Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam

Cabinet des Estampes, Geneva

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid

Centro Julio Gonzalez, Valencia

Fondation for Constructivist and Concrete Art, Zurich

Henie-Onstad Artcenter, Oslo

Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencia

Musée National d'Art Moderne Centre Pompidou, Paris

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris

Musée de Peintre et Sculpture, Grenoble

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago de Compostela

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Sevilla

Museo de Arte Moderno, Rio de Janeiro

Museo de Bellas Artes, Granada

Museu Victor Balaguer, Vilanova i la Geltrú

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona

Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona

Museum of Modern Art, New York

Museum of Modern Art, Haifa

Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna

New York University Art Collection, New York

Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv

The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Victoria & Albert Museum, London