View source for Judit Reigl

{{short description|Hungarian painter (1923–2020)}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = Judit Reigl
| image          =Judit Reigl.jpg
| imagesize        =
| caption          = Judit Reigl in her studio in Marcoussis, February 2012
| birth_name       =
| other_names      =
| birth_date     = {{birth date|1923|5|1|df=y}}
| birth_place    = Kapuvár, Hungary
| death_date     = {{death date and age|2020|8|7|1923|5|1|df=y}}
| death_place      =  Marcoussis, France
| education        =
| field            = Painter
| training         =
| movement         =  [[Abstract Expressionism]]
| works            =
| patrons          =
| awards           =
| spouse           =
| partner          =
| website          = {{URL|judit-reigl.com}}
}}
'''Judit Reigl''' (née Némedy; 1 May 1923 – 6 August 2020)<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=Sarah |title=Judit Reigl obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/aug/19/judit-reigl-obituary |accessdate=23 August 2020 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=19 August 2020}}</ref> was a Hungarian painter who lived in [[France]].
== Biography ==
Reigl was born on 1 May 1923 in Kapuvár, Hungary.<ref name="BnF authorities">{{cite web |title=Reigl, Judit (1923-2020) |url=https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb11959798j |website=BnF authorities |access-date=29 April 2023}}</ref> She attended the [[Hungarian University of Fine Arts]] from 1942 to 1945 where she was the student of the celebrated painter [[István Szőnyi]]. She was awarded a scholarship from the Academy of Hungary in Rome which allowed her to study in [[Italy]] between 1947 and 1948.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Birkhofer|first1=Denise|title=Judit Reigl: Body of Music|date=2016|publisher=Allen Memorial Art Museum in association with the Fonds de Dotation Judit Reigl, Marcouddid, France|isbn=978-0-692-57954-1|page=15}}</ref> During her studies there she encountered [[Byzantine]] icons, the mosaics of [[Ravenna]], the works of [[Giotto]] and [[Masaccio]] and the paintings of [[Venice]]'s [[Giorgione]] and [[Titian]] amongst others.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Passuth|first1=Krisztina|title=Judit Reigl September 20 – November 24, 2007|date=July 2007|publisher=Janos Gat|location=New York}}</ref>
In 1950, when the [[Iron Curtain]] had divided Hungary and Western Europe, Reigl succeeded in crossing into Western Europe after eight previous attempts.<ref name="AWARE">{{cite web |title=Judit Reigl |url=https://awarewomenartists.com/en/artiste/judit-reigl/ |website=AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes |access-date=29 April 2023}}</ref> She explained that her home country of Hungary solely commissioned her to paint portraits of ruling Communist leaders such as [[Stalin]], [[Rákosi]] and [[Gerő]], and so her defection to the West was necessary to preserve her artistic freedom. Reigl eventually reached Paris by crossing through [[Austria]], [[Switzerland]], [[Germany]] and [[Belgium]] where she lived from 1950 to 1963. In 1963 she moved to [[Marcoussis]] ([[Île-de-France]]).<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|title=Judit Reigl website|url=http://www.judit-reigl.com|website=Judit Reigl}}</ref>
Reigl acquired French nationality by naturalization.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ader |title=Judit REIGL [hongroise naturalisée française]... - Lot 107 |url=http://www.ader-paris.fr/lot/103606/11848357-judit-reigl-hongroise-naturalisee-francaise-nee-en-1923 |access-date=2023-11-21 |website=Ader |language=fr}}</ref> She died on 7 August 2020 in Marcoussis, France.<ref name="Le Journal Des Arts">{{cite web |title=Judith Reigl (1923 - 2020) |url=https://www.lejournaldesarts.fr/creation/judith-reigl-1923-2020-150598 |website=Le Journal Des Arts |access-date=29 April 2023 |language=fr}}</ref>
== Influences and impact ==
Four years after arriving in Paris, in May 1945, Simon Hantaï, a fellow Hungarian émigré, introduced Reigl to [[André Breton]]. Known as the Pope of [[Surrealism]], Breton welcomed Reigl into his circle of Surrealist artists and their influence is evident in her early work. She read authors such as [[Comte de Lautréamont|Le Comte de Lautréamont]] and [[Arthur Rimbaud]], whose texts were seminal for the Surrealists.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Birkhofer|first1=Denise|title=Judit Reigl: Body of Music|date=2016|publisher=Allen Memorial Art Museum in association with the Fonds de Dotation Judit Reigl, Marcouddid, France|isbn=978-0-692-57954-1|page=16}}</ref> Breton was impressed with Reigl's art, and one of her most important pieces, They Have an INsatiable THirst for Infinity, particularly stood out. Reigl was interested in Surrealism and Andre Breton because of her interest in automatic writing. After being introduced to one another, Riegl soon started to spend time with the surrealists.  Reigi had a relatively short phase of focusing on surrealism but she would become an important bridge between surrealists and the younger generation of artists that would be associated with lyrical abstraction in the future.<ref>{{Cite web|title=In Memoriam: Judit Reigl|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/curatorial-departments/modern-and-contemporary-art/judit-reigl-in-memoriam|access-date=2021-05-07|website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref> Reigi would soon be known for pushing the practice of automatism in surrealism by constantly striving for a level of absolute automatism, both psychologically and physically.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Judit Reigl - French painter - Diane de Polignac Art Gallery|url=https://dianedepolignac.com/en/home-gb/artists-en/00-judit-reigl-gb/|access-date=2021-05-07|website=Gallery Diane de Polignac|language=en-GB}}</ref> Reigi talked about her experiences with automatism and stated "My entire body took part in the work, in the wake of my arms wide open. I wrote in the given space with gestures, beats, impulses".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Judit Reigl - 1951-54 {{!}} Surrealism|url=http://www.judit-reigl.com/?english/1951-54-surrealism.html|access-date=2021-05-07|website=www.judit-reigl.com}}</ref> Reigl eventually moved away from Surrealism and towards [[lyrical abstraction|Lyrical Abstraction]]. [[Georges Mathieu]], one of the greatest French Lyrical Abstractionists, was one of Reigl's significant influences during this period. Both series garnered Reigl much success in France as well as in [[West Germany]] and in the [[United States]], where she familiarized herself with the American Abstract Expressionists such as [[Jackson Pollock]], [[Willem de Kooning]] and [[Franz Kline]].
Reigl exhibited her work in [[France]] beginning in 1954. For her first exhibition, the prologue to the catalogue was written by André Breton. Her works are primarily found in the collections of French museums, including the [[Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris]], [[Musée National d'Art Moderne]] and [[Musée de Grenoble]].<ref name="auto1"/> Her works were only displayed in Hungary starting in the mid-2000s.
== Artwork ==
Reigl's early works from her Surrealist period combine elements of photo collage with a mixture of figurative and more abstract elements (''Incomparable Pleasure'', 1952–53). She later expanded her use of collages from 1953 to 1955 using images from popular magazines and newspapers. Although these smaller photo collages weren't included in her inaugural exhibition at André Breton's galerie À l'Étoile scellée, they still align with the Surrealist movement through their bizarre juxtapositions, dreamlike scenarios and transfigured bodies. Most of her paintings which were included in the show at galerie À l'Étoile scellée are more abstract, the exhibited canvases were Reigl's first experimentation with automatic writing, a technique that recurs in various forms throughout her oeuvre. Reigl's automatism arode from instinctive gestures of her body and showcases movement, levitation, tension and changes in processes, rhythms and roots of existence on spectacular large canvases. Figurative- and non-figurative representation was for her a question of encoding and de-coding but may also be anthropomorphic.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last1=Birkhofer|first1=Denise|title=Judit Reigl: Body of Music|date=2016|publisher=Allen Memorial Art Museum in association with the Fonds de Dotation Judit Reigl, Marcouddid, France|isbn=978-0-692-57954-1}}</ref>
Reigl used her body as her primary instrument when creating the series ''Outburst (Éclatement)'' which she began in 1955. The ''Outbursts'' series is different from her earlier paintings with automatic writing in that they no longer used improvised metal tools to make spontaneous gestural marks. She began with throwing thick industrial pigment mixed with linseed oil onto the canvas with her hands and continued by vigorously scraping it from the center to the edges with a tool. In a 1956 ''Outburst'' in the collection of the [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]], the relatively spare composition is punctuated by thick impastos or forceful marks. The artist later explained this time in her life as a transitional period when she severed her ties with the Surrealists. The ''Outbursts'' are explosions of mass, radiating from a center as bursts of pure energy.<ref name=":0" />
For her following series ''Mass Writing (Écriture en masse)'', Reigl applied large volumes of thick, slow-drying black pigment to the canvas using a blade or a stick, and then painted with upward strokes. In these works, the black areas are dispersed outward toward the edges of the canvas. While working on these canvases, Reigl inadvertently began in 1958 working on an innovative oeuvre of paintings called ''Guanos'', in which she reworked rejected canvases that had been covering the floor of her studio. The textured surface of these paintings evoke the archeological which was further affirmed by the artist herself when she referred to the canvases becoming "fertile ground" for new paintings.<ref name=":0" />
Some of her subsequent series include ''Man'', ''Drap/décodage'' and ''Facing... (Face à...).'' They display Reigl's desire for liberation from her own body by investigating the human figure. Other Reigl series such as ''Writings after Music (Écritures d'après musique)'' and ''Unfolding (Déroulement)'' are based around the central theme of music. In ''Writings after Music'', she transcribes musical notes into concrete visual signs. Scholars characterize the creative process of ''Unfolding'' as a type of dance in which the artist develops a unique form of visual [[calligraphy]] by combining gesture and innovative painting techniques.<ref name=":0" />
Reigl's work is in the collection of the [[Buffalo AKG Art Museum]]<ref name="Buffalo AKG Art Museum">{{cite web |title=Judit Reigl |url=https://buffaloakg.org/person/judit-reigl |website=Buffalo AKG Art Museum |access-date=29 April 2023}}</ref> the [[Cleveland Museum of Art]],<ref name="https:/Cleveland Museum of Art">{{cite web |title=Volutes, Twists, Columns, Metal |url=https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2016.42 |website=Cleveland Museum of Art |access-date=29 April 2023 |language=en |date=30 October 2018}}</ref> the [[Hungarian National Gallery]],<ref name="Hungarian National Gallery">{{cite web |title=Unfolding |url=https://en.mng.hu/artworks/unfolding/ |website=Hungarian National Gallery |access-date=29 April 2023}}</ref> the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]],<ref name="The Metropolitan Museum of Art">{{cite web |title=Judit Reigl {{!}} Saigon |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/679661 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=29 April 2023 |language=en}}</ref> the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Houston]],<ref name="The MFAH Collections">{{cite web |title=Judit Reigl |url=https://emuseum.mfah.org/people/28858/judit-reigl |website=The MFAH Collections |access-date=29 April 2023 |language=en}}</ref> the [[Museum of Modern Art]],<ref name="Museum of Modern Art">{{cite web |title=Judit Reigl |url=https://www.moma.org/artists/36077 |website=Museum of Modern Art |access-date=29 April 2023}}</ref> the [[Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris]],<ref name="Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris">{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Judit Reigl |url=https://www.mam.paris.fr/en/expositions/exhibitions-judit-reigl |website=Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris |date= June 2018|access-date=29 April 2023 |language=en}}</ref> the [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]],<ref name="Guggenheim Museums">{{cite web |title=Judit Reigl |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/judit-reigl |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |access-date=29 April 2023}}</ref> the [[Tate]],<ref name="Tate">{{cite web |title=Judit Reigl 1923–2020 |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/judit-reigl-10123 |website=Tate |access-date=29 April 2023}}</ref> and the [[Toledo Museum of Art]].<ref name="Toledo Museum of Art">{{cite web |title=Art of the Fugue (Art de la fugue) |url=http://emuseum.toledomuseum.org/objects/76555/art-of-the-fugue-art-de-la-fugue |website=Toledo Museum of Art |access-date=29 April 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
Reigl's work was included in the 2021 exhibition ''Women in Abstraction'' at the [[Centre Pompidou]].<ref name="Women in abstraction">{{cite book |title=Women in abstraction |date=2021 |publisher=Thames & Hudson Ltd. ; Thames & Hudson Inc |location=London : New York, New York |isbn=978-0500094372 |pages=170}}</ref>In 2023 her work was included in the exhibition ''[[Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-1970]]'' at the [[Whitechapel Gallery]] in London.<ref name="Whitechapel Gallery">{{cite web |title=Action, Gesture, Paint |url=https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/action-gesture-paint-women-and-global-abstraction-1940-70/ |website=Whitechapel Gallery |access-date=29 April 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
== Awards ==
* Guggenheim International Award ([[New York City]], 1964)<ref>{{cite web|title=Judit Reigl Guggenheim Award|url=http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artists/bios/11375/Judit%20Reigl|website=guggenheim.org|publisher=Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum|access-date=2016-03-21|archive-date=2015-05-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150519021821/http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artists/bios/11375/Judit%20Reigl|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Carnegie Award (Pittsburgh, 1967–68)<ref>{{cite web|title=Judit Reigl Carnegie Award|url=http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/interviews/unfolding-a-conversation-between-jean-paul-amelin-and-judit-reigl-1/|website=Art in America|date=3 April 2009}}</ref>
* Commander's Cross of Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (Budapest, 2008)
* [[Kossuth Prize]] (Budapest, 2011)<ref>{{cite web|title=Judit Reigl Kossuth Prize|url=http://artportal.hu/magazin/kozugy/kossuth-dijat-kapott-reigl-judit-es-orosz-istvan|website=artportal.hu|date=15 March 2011}}</ref>
== External links ==
* [https://kalmanmaklary.com/artists/judit-reigl Kálmán Makláry Fine Arts gallery: Judit Reigl]
== References ==
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{{Authority control (arts)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reigl, Judit}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Hungarian painters]]
[[Category:20th-century Hungarian women artists]]
[[Category:21st-century Hungarian painters]]
[[Category:21st-century Hungarian women artists]]
[[Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]]
[[Category:Hungarian expatriates in France]]
[[Category:Hungarian University of Fine Arts alumni]]
[[Category:Hungarian women painters]]
[[Category:Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of France]]
[[Category:20th-century women painters]]
[[Category:21st-century women painters]]