Ladislas Kijno - The alchemy between plastic revolt and poetic spirituality
Ladislas Kijno 1921 - 2012
Born in Warsaw on June 27, 1921, to a Polish father and a French mother, Ladislas Kijno emigrated to France in 1925 and settled in Nœux-les-Mines. His intellectual journey began with philosophy at the Catholic University of Lille, but his path was interrupted by tuberculosis, which confined him to a sanatorium between 1942 and 1954. It was during this ordeal that he met Louis Aragon and Francis Ponge in 1943, forging an unbreakable bond with poetry. From 1949, he participated in the revival of sacred art with his Last Supper for the church in Assy, working alongside Matisse, Braque, Léger, and Rouault. After destroying 250 of his own canvases in 1955 in an effort to start afresh, he moved to Antibes in 1956. There, he exhibited at the Kamer Gallery with Arnal, Bellegarde, and Hundertwasser, while forming close friendships with Hans Hartung, Alberto Magnelli, and André Verdet. In 1958, the Museum of Modern Art acquired his first work. After settling in Paris that same year, he produced numerous tributes to figures like Nelson Mandela and Yuri Gagarin. Following a major invitation to the Venice Biennale in 1980, he received the Grand Prix National des Arts in 1986. In the 1990s, he created the rose window of Lille Cathedral before passing away in Saint-Germain-en-Laye on November 27, 2012.
The Vision: Matter as Energy
The Kijno system is based on a clean break with traditional easel painting. His approach revolves around three major technical pillars. First, crinkled paper, a technique he invented in the late 1940s to manipulate the surface and provide an organic relief. This crinkling breaks the flat plane to create a topography where light is captured. It was through his friendship with Sonia Delaunay that he fully embraced this abstraction of matter. Second, his pioneering use of spraying and aerosols; as early as 1958, he used aerosol cans to project color. His 1962 work, OAS Assassin, subverted political graffiti and established him as a precursor to French Street Art, notably influencing Ernest Pignon-Ernest. Finally, the pursuit of the absolute form; influenced by his exchanges with Picasso, he developed an obsession with spheroid and ovoid shapes. For Kijno, energy is a ball and the universe is an expanding curve. His primary colors, including electric blues and deep reds, are applied in vibrant layers that play on transparency and the void between things.
Why invest in Ladislas Kijno?
Despite his presence in the Centre Pompidou and his monumental historical importance, Kijno remains one of the most undervalued masters of the School of Paris. However, his reputation is growing, bolstered by recent retrospectives in both France and Poland. His lithographs and artist's proofs, generally priced between 300 and 1,500 euros, offer a prestigious entry point for collectors. Meanwhile, his original crumpled papers, ranging from 2,000 to 15,000 euros, are seeing their value increase as the market rediscovers the origins of graffiti and lyrical abstraction.
Living with Kijno
Kijno is the artist for interiors that seek strength without aggression. His intense primary colors are paradoxically soothing, providing energy rather than agitation. A work by Kijno transforms a space. His pieces on crumpled paper require a specific type of framing, such as a deep shadow box without glass, which allows the texture of the paper to breathe and interact with the light. An artwork by Kijno is a living presence that evolves throughout the day, never appearing quite the same twice.
