Martial Raysse

Cette oeuvre est inscrite à l'inventaire de l'Oeuvre de Martial Raysse sous le numéro IMR-0006

Collection Pierre Restany, Paris
Collection Marie-Aline et Jean-François Prat, Paris
Galerie Georges-Philippe et Nathalie Vallois, Paris 
The Mayor Gallery, London
Collection Marcel Brient, Paris (acquired from the above in 2000)
Sale: Sotheby's Paris, Collection Marcel Brient - La Page Française, 24 September 2012, lot 7
Collection Alain & Candice Fraiberger

Paris, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume; Vienna, Museum Moderner Kunst, Stiftung Ludwig, Palais Lichtenstein; Valencia, IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez; Nîmes, Carré d'Art, Musée d'Art Contemporain, Martial Raysse, 1992-1993; catalogue, p. 44, illustrated in colour
Copenhagen, ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Eoro Pop : A dialog with the US, 1999; catalogue, p. 43, illustrated in colour
London, The Mayor Gallery, Nouveau Réalisme, 2000; catalogue, no. 10, illustrated in colour
Neuilly-Sur-Seine, L'arbre qui ne meurt jamais,  21 March - 30 June 2013
Paris, Centre Pompidou, Martial Raysse, 1960-2014, 2014; catalogue, p. 76, illustrated in colour
Catherine Grenier, Martial Raysse, la rétrospective, in. Code Couleur 19, Paris, May 2014, p. 84, illustrated in colour
Minneapolis, Walker Art Center; Dallas Museum of Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art, International Pop, 11 April 2015 - 15 May, 2016; catalogue, p. 301, no. 94, illustrated in colour

Encore un instant de bonheur, 90 statues de Martial Raysse, Paris, 2008, p. 9, illustrated in colour
Martial Raysse, L'Exposition | The Exhibition, 1960-2014, 2014, Paris, p. 5, illustrated in colour
Connaissance des Arts Hors-Série, Martial Raysse, réstrospective 1960-2014, 2014, p. 23, illustrated in colour

The colours are fairly accurate in the catalogue illustration, although the overall tonality is deeper. The work is in very good original condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Martial Raysse is indisputably one of the most talented and inventive artists of his generation. By establishing a new relationship to reality, integrating manufactured articles into his compositions, he presents himself as a veritable "archaeologist of the present" according to the terms of Pierre Restany, author of the constitutive declaration of Nouveau Réalisme signed by Raysse at Yves Klein's home on October 27 1960.

An assemblage of objects found in a supermarket, Arbre is not only the premonition of what will be the Nouveau Réalisme movement but also perfectly compatible with what was taking place across the Atlantic at the same time with artists such as Claes Oldenburg and Wayne Thiebaud, the standard-bearer of American Pop-Art. Like Oldenburg or Thiebaud, Raysse maintains that "supermarkets are the Museums of modern art" and that games, gadgets and other plastic utensils are the colourful flags of modernity. Metamorphosed into a tree, the bottles and brushes in flashy colours, organised according to a very personal geometry, replace the leaves in this composition that is both modest, intimate and the result of found treasures that are as enlightening as they are poetic.