Jesús Rafael Soto
- Born in 1923 in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela
- Director of the Maracaibo School of Fine Arts, intrigued by the works of Malevitch and Mondrian,In 1950, he received a scholarship and went to Paris in 1950
- Participates in the 1955 exhibition Le Mouvement at the Galerie Denise René
- He explored three-dimensionality and in 1957, he produced his first works entitled “Vibration”. Receiving numerous international public commissions, he produced monumental works, inscribing his work in space and architecture: UNESCO, Paris, 1969; Teresa Carreño Theatre, Caracas, 1972; Hall de la régie Renault, Paris, 1975; Royal Bank of Toronto, 1977; Centro Banaven, Caracas, 1979; Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1987.
- 2005 : The artist died in Paris
From 1947 onwards, Soto was interested in geometric and constructed art, a concept that had come from Europe and which he echoed. He contributed to the blossoming of the kinetic movement and shared the search for immateriality. Systematically radicalising the frame as a support, he superimposes different elements (suspended and mobile rods, metal squares, or what he calls Tes: small T-shaped metal pieces), which appear and disappear according to the movement of the spectator, allowing a glimpse of an interstitial space: the vibration, the oscillation of the visible and the invisible, the material and the immaterial.
The viewer is at the heart of Soto’s work. He invites the viewer to enter and move around, to “be” in the work, and thus perceive the “matter-energy” of the world.
“In the past, the viewer was an external witness to reality. Today, we know that man is not on one side and the world on the other. We are not observers but constituent parts of a reality that we know is teeming with living forces, many of which are invisible. We are in the world like fish in water: without recoil from the matter-energy; WITHIN and not IN FRONT: there are no more spectators: there are only participants.”– Jean Clay, “Les Pénétrables de Soto”, Robho, n°3, Paris, 1968
Public collections (selection):
- Allemagne : Josef Albers Museum- Quadrat, Bottrop,
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Sprengel
Museum Hannover, Hanovre
Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld
Museum Wurth, Kunzelsau - Angleterre : Tate Gallery, Londres
- Argentine : Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires
- Australie : National Gallery of Australia, Canberra : National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- Belgique : Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles,
Musée de Sculpture en Plein Air, Middelheim - Brésil : Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, Sao Paulo
- Canada : Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, Montréal
- Chili : Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, Santiago
- Chine : Yuz Foundation, Shanghai
- Colombie : Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia, Cali
- Corée du Sud: Ho-Am Art Museum, Seoul,
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul
Tongyoung Nammang Open Air Sculpture Park, Tongyoung City - Cuba : Casa de las Américas, La Havane
- Danemark : Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek
- Egypte : Universal Graphic Museum, Giza
- Emirats arabes Unis : Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi
- Espagne : Museo Luis González Robles, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Alicante MACA, Alicante
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Helga de Alvear, Caceres
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid
Fundación ARCO, Madrid
Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas (Canary Islands)
Fundación César Manrique, Teguise, Lanzarote (Canary Islands) - Finlande : The Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
- France : Le Musée Martiniquais des Arts des Amériques- M2A2, Le Lamentin (Martinique)
Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon
Musée d’arts de Nantes
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Musée National d’Art Moderne Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris - Israël : The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv - Italie : Fondazione Lucio Fontana, Milan
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Roma
Fondazione Il Giardino di Daniel Spoerri, Seggiano (Grosseto)
Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin
Fondazione Calderara, Vacciago di Ameno - Japon : Fukuoka Art Museum
Museum of Modern Art, Hokkaido
Itami City Art Museum, Itami
The Iwaki City Museum, Iwaki
Museum of Modern Art, Saitama
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama - Nouvelle Zélande: Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland
- Pays-Bas : Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort
Peter Stuyvesant Foundation, Amsterdam
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo - Roumanie: Muezul de Arta Universala Burcuresti, Bucarest
- Suède : Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö
- Suisse : Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel
- U.S.A. : The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Floride
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Oklahoma City Art Museum,
Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, Californie - Venezuela : Fundación Galería de Arte Nacional, Caracas
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas
Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto, Ciudad Bolivar
Museo de Arte Moderno de Mérida Juan Astorga Anta, Merida
Recent exhibitions (selection):
2023 : “Kinetic Art, past and present”, Galeria Rachel Arnaud, Brésil
Jesus Rafael Soto, “the instability of the real”, Galeria RGR, Mexico
Art Basel Hong Kong, foire 2023, Galerie Canyon
J.R. Soto, Galeria Elvira Gonzales, Madrid, Espagne
ARCO Madrid, foire 2023, Galerie Perrotin, Madrid Espagne
2022 : The Dynamic Eye: Op and Kinetic Art from the Tate Collection, Museum of Art Pudong, Shanghai, Chine
“Mouvement” Hommage à Denis René, Centre d’art Boisson, Provence, France
“Paris et nulle part ailleurs”, Musée de l’histoire de l’immigration, Paris, France
Exhibitions (selection)
Solo Shows :
2019 : “Soto, la cuarta dimension”, Guggenheim, Biblio Espagne
2015 : “Soto- Retrospective” Musée Soulages, Rodez France
2014 : “Soto The Houston pénétrable”, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston USA,
2012: “Soto, Paris and Beyond, 1950-1970”, Grey Art Gallery, New York, USA
“Soto, negro sobre blanco, blanco sobre negro” Galeria Cayon, Madrid, Espagne
2009 : “Jesus Rafael Soto” Galerie Max Hetlzer”, Berlin Allemagne
2005 : “Soto A construção de Imaterialidade”, Instituto Tome Ohtake, Sao Paulo Brésil,
“Jesus Rafael Soto, vision et movimiento”, Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico, Mexique
2004 : “Soto la couleur en suspens”, Galerie Denise René Rive Gauche, Paris France
2003 : “Soto A Grand Escala”, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas, Venezuela
“Soto le Mouvement dans l’art”, Galerie Denis René, Paris, France
2000 : “Jesus Rafael Soto”, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
“Soto clásico y moderno”, Fundación Corp Groiup Centro Cultural Caracas Venezuela
1999 : “Exposition Durban Segninin Gallery, Caracas, Venezuela
“Soto la poética de la energia, Sala de Arte Telefonica, Santiago, Chili
1997 : “Jesus Rafael Soto”, Galeri National du Jeu de Paume, Paris France
1996 : “Soto” Comme des garçon, Tokyo, Japon
1993 : “Retrospective”, Musée des Beaux Arts de Pau, France
“Jesus Rafael Soto ” Fundacao de Serralves, Porto, Portugal
“La fisica, lo immaterial”, Museo de Arte Moderno Jesus Soto Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela
1991 : “Jesus Rafael Soto, Gallery 44, Kaarst, Allemagne;
“Soto- Opere recenti”, Galleria Arte 92, Milan Italie
1990 : “Soto”, Galerie Theo, Madrid Espagne,
“Soto”, Galerie Theospacio, Madrid Espagne,
“Jesus Rafael Soto”, The museum of Modern Art Kamakura, Japon
“Jesus Rafael Soto” The Museum of Modern Art Saitama, Japon
1985 : “Soto”, Galería Garces Velásquez, Bogota, Colombie
“Obras de Soto”, Sala Ateneo de Cumaná, Cumaná, Venezuela
“Soto – Space Art”, Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, USA
1982 : “Soto”, Palacio de Velasquez del parque del Retiro, Madrid, Espagne
1979 : “Jesús Rafaël Soto”, Helsinki City Art Collection, Helsinki, Finlande
“Soto – Œuvres Actuelles”, Musée National d’Art Moderne; Paris, France
1973 : “Raphael Soto”, Galleria Corsini, Intra, Italie
“Jesús Rafael Soto” : 6 ambientes de gran formato, Galería de Arte y Gráficas Arte/Contacto, Caracas, Venezuela
“Inauguración Estudio Dos Centro de Arte”, Contemporáneo Estudio Dos, Valencia, Venezuela
“Soto”, Galleria Godel, Rome, Italie1970 : “Soto”, Galerie Bonnier, Genève, Suisse
“Soto”, Galerie Godard Lefort, Montréal, Canada
1968 : “Soto”, Galerie Françoise Mayer, Bruxelles, Belgique
“Soto”, Kunsthalle Bern; Berne, Suisse
“Itinérance 1968-1969” : Berne, Hanovre, Düsseldorf, Amsterdam, Bruxelles, Paris.
“Soto”, Galleria Marlborough, Rome, Italie
“J. R. Soto Werke 1950-1968”, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Allemagne
“Itinérance 1968-1969” : Berne, Hanovre, Düsseldorf, Amsterdam, Bruxelles, Paris.
1957 : “Peintures Cinétiques de Soto”, Galerie Aujourd’hui, Palais des Beaux-Arts
Bruxelles, Belgique.
1956 : “Soto”, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France
1949 : “Jesús Soto”, Taller Libre de Arte, Caracas, Venezuela
Group shows :
2023 : “Mouvement et lumière #2” Fondation Villa Datris, France
2022 : “Hommage à Ivan Contreras Brunet” Galerie Wagner, Paris France
“Cinétique, la sculpture en mouvement” Fondation Villa Datris/Espace Monte Cristo, Paris
2019 : “Negative space, Trajectoire et Sculpture”, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Allemagne
2018 : “The others transatlantic Kinetic and Op art in Eastern Europe and Latin America”, Garage Museum, Moscou Russie
2010 : “Le mouvement, Vom Kino zue Kinetik”, Museum Tinguely, Bale Suisse
2008 : “Unico y diverso”, Galeria de Arte Ascasco, caracas Venezuela
2006 : “Zero. Künste einer europäischen Bewegung”, Museum der moderne Salzbourg Autriche
2000 : “Le Musée du XXe siècle de Michel Ragon”, hôtel du département, La Roche-sur-Yon, France
1997 : La collection du centre Georges Pompidou, les chefs-d’œuvre du Musée National d’art Moderne, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japon
1995 : “La decada prodigiosa, Fundación Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela
1982 : Salon Grands et Jeune aujourd’hui, Grand Palais Paris,
1978 : “Exposition Panorama de l’art Français” 1960-1975″, Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbonne, Portugal
“L’oeil en action”, Musée de l’Historie de la Guadeloupe, Basse-Terre, France
1977 : “Jardins Privés de Paris”, Hotel de Sully, Paris, France
1969 : “Latin American Painting, Solomor R. Guggenheim, Museum, New York, USA
1967 : “Exposition Universelle – Expo 67 Villanueva Soto, Pavillon du Venezuela, Montreal, Canada
“Lumière et Mouvement, Art cinétique à Paris”, Musée d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, France
1966 : “Bianco + Bianco” Galleria dell’Obelisco, Rome, Italie
“Licht und Bewegung, kinetische Kunst”, Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf, Allemagne
1959 : Musée D’Art Moderne de Sao Paulo, Biennal, Brésil
1957 : Exposition Homenaje a Soto, Centro Profesional De Este, Caracas, Venezuela
1955 : “Le mouvement”, Galerie Denise Rene, Paris France