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Vera Molnár

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Mackthefinger (talk | contribs) at 08:37, 25 September 2023 (Corrected name for the Tate. There never was a "Tate Museum" but it was known as the Tate Gallery for many years. The Molnars were only acquired in 2020, by which time it was definitely just "Tate".). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For the German actress, see Vera Molnar (actress).
Vera Molnár
Still image from Encyclopédie audiovisuelle de l'art contemporain, 1996
Born1924 (age 99–100)
Budapest, Hungary
EducationHungarian University of Fine Arts
Known forGenerative art, Op art, computer art
Websitewww.veramolnar.com

Vera Molnár (born 1924) is a Hungarian media artist living and working in France. Molnar is widely considered to be a pioneer of computer art and generative art, and is also one of the first women to use computers in her art practice.[1]

Born in Hungary, she studied aesthetics and art history at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts. In the 1940s and 50s, she created non-representational paintings. By 1959 she was making combinatorial images; in 1968, she would use a computer to create her first algorithmic drawings.

In the 1960s, she founded two groups in France concerned with the use of technology within the arts: the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel and Art et Informatique. In 1976 took place her first solo exhibition in the gallery of the London Polytechnic.[2]

Her work has been widely collected by major museums; in 2007, she was named a Chevalier of Arts and Letters in France.

She was selected as one of 213 artists for the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022.[3]

Life

Vera Molnár, born in 1924 in Hungary, is one of the pioneers of computer and algorithmic arts. Trained as a traditional artist, Molnár studied for a diploma in art history and aesthetics at the Budapest College of Fine Arts. She iterated combinatorial images from as early as 1959.[4] In 1968 she began working with computers, where she began to create algorithmic paintings based on simple geometric shapes and geometrical themes.[5]

Work

Molnár created her first non-representational images in 1946. These were abstract geometrical and systematically determined paintings. In 1947 she received an artists’ fellowship to study in Rome at the Villa Giulia, and shortly after moved to France, where she currently resides.

In the 1960s, Molnár co-founded several artist research groups. The first, in 1960, was Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel, which investigate collaborative approaches to mechanical and kinetic art.[6][7] The second was Art et Informatique, with a focus on art and computing.[8] Molnar learned the early programming languages of Fortran and Basic, and gained access to a computer at a research lab in Paris where she began to make computer graphic drawings on a plotter.

Legacy

Molnár was part of the 2010 exhibition "On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The exhibition demonstrated the history of drawing lines.[9][10]

A 2015 retrospective exhibition called "Regarding the Infinite | Drawings 1950-1987" was held at Senior & Shopmaker Gallery in New York City.[11][12]

Awards

In 2005 Molnár received the DAM Digital Arts Award for her life’s work,[13] which includes €20,000 prize, and a cataloged exhibition.[14] Vera Molnár’s exhibit, (Un)Ordnung.(Dés)Ordre.[15] at the Museum Haus Konstruktiv shows her early freehand drawings never exhibited before, from her late-1960s to the new installation at Museum Haus Konstruktiv.[16][17]

Molnár was appointed Chevalier of Arts and Letters (2007), and won the outstanding merit award AWARE in 2018.[18][19][20]

Molnár is one of 213 artists announced as part of the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022.[3] The theme for the Venice Biennale is to "Challenge the Idea of ‘Men as the Center of the Universe’".[21][22]

Collections

References

  1. ^ a b Museum, Victoria and Albert. "Print | Molnar, Vera | V&A Explore The Collections". Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections.
  2. ^ "Ars Electronica Archiv". archive.aec.at. Retrieved 2023-02-27.
  3. ^ a b "VENICE BIENNALE REVEALS ARTISTS FOR 2022 EDITION". Art Forum. Feb 2, 2022. Retrieved Feb 22, 2022.
  4. ^ "FIELD x Exploring art + technology to create new formats of visual communication". Field.io. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  5. ^ "Artists :: Phase One :: Vera Molnar". DAM.org. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  6. ^ Cubitt, Sean; Malina, Roger F. (2003). Women, Art, and Technology. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-13424-8.
  7. ^ "Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel (GRAV) | ZKM". zkm.de.
  8. ^ "Vera Molnar | Database of Digital Art". Dada.compart-bremen.de. 1924-01-05. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  9. ^ "Vera Molnar | MoMA". Museum of Modern Art. USA. Retrieved 2017-03-31.
  10. ^ Cotter, Holland (2010-12-01). "'On Line': Drawings Leap Off the Page at MoMA - Review". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-03-31.
  11. ^ "Senior & Shopmaker Gallery — Vera Molnar: Regarding the Infinite | Drawings 1950-1987". Seniorandshopmaker.com. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  12. ^ "Vera Molnar Regarding the Infinite Drawings 1950-1987". www.artnet.com. Retrieved 2017-03-31.
  13. ^ "Vera Molnar - DDAA en". Ddaa-online.org. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  14. ^ "|Ddaa| - Ddaa En". Ddaa-online.org. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  15. ^ Museum Haus Konstruktiv (2015-02-16), Vera Molnar - (Un)Ordnung. (Dés)Ordre., retrieved 2017-03-31
  16. ^ team, Museum Haus Konstruktiv. "VERA MOLNAR(UN)ORDNUNG. (DES)ORDRE. 2017". www.hauskonstruktiv.ch. Retrieved 2017-03-31.
  17. ^ "Vera Molnar / Haus Konstruktiv Zurich". Elusive Magazine. Retrieved 2017-03-31.
  18. ^ "Vera Molnar Aug 31, 2019 – Feb 9, 2020". MUA. Feb 2, 2022. Retrieved Feb 22, 2022.
  19. ^ "Vera Molnar". Artspace. Retrieved Feb 22, 2022.
  20. ^ "Vera Molnar". NY Art Beat. Retrieved Feb 22, 2022.
  21. ^ Vivienne Chow (Feb 2, 2022). "The Venice Biennale's Main Exhibition Will Challenge the Idea of Men as the Center of the Universe". Artnet. Retrieved Feb 22, 2022.
  22. ^ Alex Greensberger (Feb 2, 2022). "Venice Biennale Names 213 Artists for 'Transhistorical' 2022 Edition". Artnews. Retrieved Feb 22, 2022.
  23. ^ "Collection FRAC Lorraine | Vera Molnar:Promenade (presque) aléatoire". collection.fraclorraine.org.
  24. ^ "Vera Molnar: Hypertransformation of 20 Concentric Squares". mfah.org.
  25. ^ "Vera Molnar | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art.
  26. ^ RITTER, MUSEUM. "Vera Molnar: Sammlung Marli Hoppe-Ritter - Sammlung Marli Hoppe-Ritter". www.museum-ritter.de.
  27. ^ "Morganmobile: Order and Disorder". The Morgan Library & Museum. 29 January 2021.
  28. ^ "Artist Info". www.nga.gov.
  29. ^ "'Transformations 1-21', Vera Molnar, 1976". Tate.


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