Claude Viallat

Born in 1936 in Nîmes, France.

Lives and works in Nîmes, France.

Claude Viallat is known for his contributions to the canon of modern painting through experimentation with texture, use of unstretched recycled fabrics, and mastery of color. A founding member of the Supports/Surfaces movement. While there, Viallat was exposed to the work of fellow artists such as Michel Parmentier and became interested in American Abstract Expressionist painters, above all Jackson Pollock.

After completing his studies in Paris, Viallat leaned into abstraction and began experimentation with the formal elements of painting. A fundamental tenet of Viallat’s oeuvre is abandonment of the stretcher, allowing all kind of displays in the exhibition space and the use of materials such as draped canvas, tarpaulin, and recycled textiles such as sheets, rugs, curtains, and nets.

Public Collections

MOMA, New-York, USA

Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne,

Paris, France

Musée Sara Hilden, Tampere, Finland

Musée de Bâle, Switzerland

Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Belgium

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Canada

Fukuyama Museum of Art, Fukuyama, Japan

Musée d’Art moderne et d’Art contemporain de Nice, France

Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Saint-Etienne,

France

Bibliographies

2021 - Claude Viallat, Taureaux, Edited by Aymeric Mantoux,

Ceysson Éditions d’Art, Collection Modernes

2017 - Claude Viallat, Dessins, Éditions Ceysson, collection

Modernes, French-English edition

2014 - Claude Viallat, Écrits, Ceysson Éditions d’Art,

collection L'Âge Moderne, French-English edition

2011 - Le Psychiatre et le Torero, Ceysson Éditions d'Art,

Essay by Michel Steyaert, with illustrations by Philippe Favier

and Claude Viallat

2010 - Le Moment Supports/Surfaces, Ceysson Éditions

d’Art, Deborah Laks and Bernard Ceysson

2006 - Claude Viallat, Oeuvres, écrits, entretiens, Pierre Wat,

Tours, France

Major personal exhibitions

2023

Et pourtant si…, Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France

2022

Libertad de Colores, MACBA, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo

de Buenos Aires, San Telmo, Argentina

2014

Rétrospective - Claude Viallat, Musée Fabre, Montpellier, France

2000

Claude Viallat, oeuvres sur papiers (1968-1990),

Musée d'Art Moderne, Saint-Etienne, France

1999

Claude Viallat, Répétitions, Shangai - Art Museum,

Chengdu - Kunming City Museum, Kunming - Heping

Museum, China

1991

Papiers, Musée national d'art moderne - Centre Georges

Pompidou, Paris, France

1983

Musée d’art et d’industrie, Saint Etienne, France

1982

Musée national d'art moderne - Centre Georges

Pompidou, Paris, France

Léo Castelli Gallery, New York, USA

Major group exhibitions

2025

Supports/Surfaces, Indang Museum of Daegu Health

College, Daegu, South Korea

2019

Unfurled: Supports/ Surfaces 1966-1976, organisée par

Wallace Whitney, MOCAD, Detroit, USA

2017

The Surface of the East coast, curated by Marie Maertens,

Le 109, Nice, France

Supports/Surfaces : les origines 1966-1970, Carré d'Art,

Nîmes, France

1998

Les années Supports/Surfaces dans les collections du

Centre Georges Pompidou, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de

Paume, Paris, France

1991

France

Supports/Surfaces, Musée d'Art Moderne, Saint-Étienne,

1984

The international Survey of recent painting and sculpture,

The Museum of Modern Art - MoMA, New York, USAs

1974

Nouvelle Peinture en France : pratiques, théories,

Musée d’art et d’industrie, Saint Etienne, France

1971

Supports/Surfaces, Théâtre de Nice, Nice, France