Hilla Rebay : Forgotten pioneer of modern art
Galerie Raphaël Durazzo announces its participation in the Showcase sector of TEFAF 2025 (15 to 20 March 2025) in Maastricht, with the presentation of works by Hilla von Rebay (1890-1967), a pioneer of abstract art.
Hilla von Rebay, visionary artist and curator, is best known for her crucial role in the creation of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, which she founded and directed as curator. Her graphic work, developed in parallel with her curatorial duties, is now being rediscovered and recognised as a major influence on the American artistic landscape, both formally and theoretically. Rebay was part of the first wave of abstraction to sweep across the United States. Rejecting the term ‘abstract’, Rebay preferred to refer to his work as non-objective art. Her work is a quest for the spiritual absolute in art, a response to the fragmentation of the twentieth century.
Hilla Rebay has developed a unique style, creating a meticulously thought-out cosmos in search of an aesthetic ideal.
The selection presented by the gallery explores the relationship between ‘rhythm, line, balance and measure’ and ‘the inner cosmic order’. Rebay described the relationship between these elements on canvas as a ‘diagram of the soul’. The result is captivating paintings that bear witness to his boundless energy.
From the 1940s onwards, his works on canvas were characterised by centrifugal compositions in which swirls of lines are criss-crossed by flat geometric shapes. Triangles, squares and circles - the three fundamental forms of non-objective painting - embody for Rebay the ultimate manifestations of beauty. These forms are, in her words, ‘means of exerting a direct influence on the soul’, evoking geometric constellations carried away in vortexes of colour.
Hilla Rebay's approach, both spiritual and contemplative, gave rise to a new form of geometric abstraction imbued with lyricism. Several decades later, this philosophy was echoed by artists in the Color Field Painting movement, such as Ad Reinhardt and Mark Rothko, who claimed the meditative effect of flat areas of colour.
Hilla Rebay insists on the ‘invisible’ power of paint. This philosophy is reflected as much in her works as in her curatorial work. Within an immersive and contemplative environment, the hushed rooms of the Musée de l'Art Objectif were one after the other: some bathed in music, others plunged into absolute silence. Although this changed museography forever, its logic - placing the viewer's experience at the heart of the artistic process - left a lasting impression, particularly on the Minimalist movement that emerged a few years later.
Despite her obvious artistic and curatorial influence, Hilla Rebay has left few educational traces. Her legacy lies primarily in the works and philosophy of art that she indirectly passed on to future generations. Her conceptual approach and quest for the spiritual in art not only redefined notions of abstraction and beauty, but also inspired later artistic movements such as minimalism and meditative art. Through her paintings, her writings and her role in the development of the Museum of Non-Objective Art, she established a bridge between European and American thought, contributing to a global reconfiguration of artistic practices in the twentieth century.