Estate of Rudolf de Crignis

Born in Winterthur, Switzerland, 1948

Lived and worked in New York, USA

Died in New York, USA, 2006

The art world lost a quiet light when de Crignis died, in December, 2006. His first posthumous solo show of paintings, made between 1992 and 2006, traces de Crignis's development into a supreme colorist. What appear to be simple monochrome canvases are actually built up from dozens of layers of translucent pigment. Displayed in natural light, the works are exercises in slow looking, unfolding as one views them from different vantage points (as de Crignis prescribed). If art is about opening up possibilities, about asking questions rather than providing answers, paintings like these, which throw into flux such basic designations as "blue," "gray," and "green," are beacons. The New York Times June 13 2008

Biography

Rudolf de Crignis was born in Winterthur, Switzerland, in 1948 and studied at the Form und Farbe Schule für Gestaltung, Zürich, in 1975. He later settled in New York, where he lived and worked until his death in 2006.

His solo exhibition history spans four decades and includes presentations at Peter Blum Chelsea, New York; the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive; Kunstmuseum Bonn; Kunsthalle Winterthur; Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich; and the Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek, Bern, among many others. His work encompasses painting, works on paper, and installation.

De Crignis received numerous awards, including the Förderungspreis der Camille Graeser-Stiftung, Zürich (1989), the New York Stipendium der Stadt Zürich (1985), the Eidgenössisches Bundesstipendium (1977), the Stipendium des Kantons Zürich (1977), and the Stipendium der Stadt Zürich (1976). His estate continues to preserve and promote his legacy.