© The book 'The Image Revisted: Luc Tuymans in conversation with Gottfried Boehm, T.J. Clark & Hans M. De Wolf', Ludion, 2018
At the age of 19, Luc Tuymans saw for the first time the work of El Greco on a visit to the Szépművészeti Múzeum in Budapest – an event that sparked his imagination and prompted him to embark on a journey that would lead him to be one of today's most influential artists. Almost forty years later, that life-changing experience is recounted and celebrated in 'The Image Revisited: Luc Tuymans in conversation with Gottfried Boehm, T.J. Clark & Hans M. De Wolf', a publication by which acts as both a monograph and a book on the history of art.
'The Image Revisited' contains talks which the artist conducted over the course of three years with art historians Hans Maria De Wolf, Gottfried Boehm and T.J. Clark in museums in Basel, Brussels and Budapest. The interviews date from 2007-2009. The concept: the academic world in conversation with the artistic world during the development of the Bologna agreement. By reading the introduction by Hans M. De Wolf it appears that the 10-year jubilee of Bologna is almost concealed:
The format of the book brings to mind a scientific publication. The differences lie in the layout and the print of the images. The critical, intellectual view and fascinating discussions on the work of artists such as El Greco, Cézanne, Goya, De la Tour, Titian, Courbet, Mantegna, Hopper and Richter amongst others are respectful and complete. As already mentioned, the book is divided in three major chapters.
The first conversation took place in January 2008 in Budapest. The Hall of Art had opened Tuymans' first major retrospective in Central Europe the month before. This space is faced by the even more dominant building of the Fine Arts Museum and it was there that Tuymans was overwhelmed by the paintings of El Greco years before. During these conversations, he explains why the six paintings in the museum's collection are still of great influence. Both Tuymans and Boehm are open for discussion without predominated ideas and ways of thinking. And during the second session the master himself explains his own oeuvre but not purely as a monograph. The debates of the first session had opened a new type of mental space and the final conclusion is that no matter how original and powerful an oeuvre can be it can never be truly understood without a larger context. In art there is no such thing as progress.
The Basel sessions took place located on the roof terrace of the historic university building of Basel, where Friedrich Nietzsche once had an office, and that is now used by the Eikones research group founded by Gottfried Boehm. The conversation is based on the previous sessions, and it includes twenty isolated, unique topics referring to those Budapest conversations. Conclusion, there is still a border between both artist and academic but they have now come very close to assessing one of the most mysterious products of human civilization: the nature of an image as an artwork.
During spring 2009 the last sessions are held in Brussels. Art historian TJ Clark joined the dialog. “TJ” is known for his understanding of creative processes as part of the larger and economic structure. His new fascinating angles reinforced the understanding between the artist and his academic partners already in place. This is a victory over the obscurantism of the Bologna reform.
'The Image Revisited' provides an insight into Tuymans' own creative process, and how the great art of the past inspired and motivated him. In essence, this interview style book gives you an unseen Tuymans: eloquent and truly original and virtuoso.
The book appeared at the opening of 'Sanguine/Bloedrood' at M HKA, in Antwerp, Belgium. It will be festively presented on the 28th of June in M HKA in the presence of the artist. The exhibition Sanguine/Bloedrood is a joint organization of the M HKA, the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, Studio Luc Tuymans and the KMSKA, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, the City of Antwerp and Fondazione Prada.
© The book 'The Image Revisted: Luc Tuymans in conversation with Gottfried Boehm, T.J. Clark & Hans M. De Wolf', Ludion, 2018
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