Coup de Pied, 1960

Dimensions: 103 x 110 cm

Physical Description: Billboard-tearing on canvas

Inventory Number: 2284

Acquisition: Acquired in 2010 with funds from the Städelkomitee 21. Jahrhundert, property of Städelscher Museums-Verein e.V.

Status: On display, lower level, Contemporary Art, room 20

Texts

About the Work

In what is a brutal attack on the panel painting, Raymond Hains mounted a torn-off poster surface onto a piece of canvas. It is not known for certain whether he intervened in his find in any way. As a member of the Nouveaux Réalistes, he handled reality in a provocative manner. In this décollage, the surface of the present breaks open to reveal shreds of the past; word and image fragments unite anew – a book, and a leg lifted to perform a ‘coup de pied’, a kick, are discernible. The result is a pictorially powerful visualisation of memory and history.