Evelyne Axell - Knowledge (XXG)

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activities. In 1970, she coined the term, "The Age of Plastic." She enamel painted these contoured-cut sheets, often painting on both back and front surfaces, and mounted them on background panels to create layered, low relief images of the figures imbued with an opalescent, dream-like quality. With their upfront sexual imagery, the use of bright colours and manufactured plastic materials, their intense monochromatic surfaces and canvasses shaped like large sign posts and public tableaux, Axell's paintings owned the immediacy and commonality of Pop.

242:, and Joe Tilson. Inspired by these studio visits, Axell created her own style of Pop art, becoming one of the first Belgian artists to experiment within this avant-garde idiom. Although Belgian collectors were interested in her work, private galleries were resistant to showing her paintings. At this time she started to use the androgynous name "Axell" professionally, in the hopes that she would be taken seriously as an artist despite her gender, youth, and beauty, not to mention the explicit sexual nature of her work. 299:, Jean Devaux, the creator of the Guatemala Ballet, where she became enamored with the landscape and vowed to return. She had secured an exhibition in Mexico for 1973, decided to divorce from her husband and move to Central America for a few years where she had found a nice house in Guatemala with the help of the Devaux family. But her life and career were unexpectedly cut short in a tragic car crash outside of 144:

family. Her father, André Devaux, was a well known craftsman in silverware and jewelry in the region and her mother, Mariette Godu, came from a very modest family. At the age of two she was declared "The Province of Namur's most beautiful baby"; her beauty continued to be a defining feature of her

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Belgian painters. After Antoine and Axell's son Philippe was born, Axell worked as a television announcer. Although she gained a fair amount of local celebrity, she found the job trivial. In 1959, she moved to Paris to pursue a more serious acting career. There she performed in a variety of

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Axell, Evelyne, and Angela Stief. "Evelyne Axell." Power up - Female Pop Art: Evelyne Axell, Sister Corita, Christa Dichgans, Rosalyn Drexler, Jann Haworth, Dorothy Iannone, Kiki Kogelnik, Marisol, Niki De Saint Phalle; Kunsthalle Wien, 5. November 2010 Bis 20. Februar 2011, Phoenix Art. Köln:

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Axell's first paintings were more classically based on oil. Soon after, Axell evolved a groundbreaking signature technique by using transparent and translucent plastic sheets from which she cut silhouettes of her voluptuous females and self-conscious heroines absorbed in (homo)erotic poses and

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In 1956, she married Belgian film director Jean Antoine, who specialized in art documentaries for Belgian television. She decided to change her name to Evelyne Axell for the purposes of her acting career, which her husband encouraged. He cast her as an interviewer in

212:, a family friend of Antoine's, to be her artistic mentor. Axell visited with Magritte twice a month for a whole year, during which time he helped her improve her oil painting technique. At the same time, Antoine embarked on a series of documentaries devoted to 1048:

Liesbeth Decan, "Evelyne Axell (1935-1972) A Belgian Surrealist Pop Artist?" in Collective Inventions: Surrealism in Belgium eds. Patricia Allmer and Hilde Van Gelder. Leuven University Press (2007), 154.

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Pierre Restany, as cited in Jean Antoine, "Stages in a Life Cut Short. Biography of Evelyne Axell." in EVELYNE AXELL. Du viol d'Ingres au retour de Tarzan iac editions, (2006), p. 17.

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that blend the hedonistic and Pop impulses of the 1960s. Elements of the 1960s—the Vietnam War, the Black Panthers movement, and the sexual liberation of women affected her work.

149:. After graduating high school, she studied pottery at the Namur School of Art in 1953. In 1954, she switched to drama school and quickly began a career as an 261:. This new method became her signature technique, which she showed for the first time at an exhibition at the Galerie Contour in Brussels in the fall of 1967. 536:"Axell. Le Pop Art jusqu’au Paradis", Maison de la Culture de la province de Namur, Musée Provincial Félicien-Rops, Namur, Galerie Détour, Jambes, Belgium 1167: 1066:

Jean Antoine, "Stages in a Life Cut Short. Biography of Evelyne Axell." in EVELYNE AXELL. Du viol d'Ingres au retour de Tarzan iac editions, (2006), p. 21.

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adult life. Although the family home and shop in Namur were destroyed by a Royal Air Force bomb in 1940, the young Axell was little affected by

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theatrical and televised plays. Eventually she moved back to Belgium to star in several movies, including three directed by her husband (

397:, exh. cat., Namur, Musee Felicien-Rops, Namur, Maison de la Culture de la province de Namur, and Jambes: Galerie Detour (2004), 23–40. 1137: 341: 33: 1152: 1142: 264:

In 1969 she won the Young Belgian Painters Prize, no small feat for a female artist at that time. She organized a few illicit

250: 494:"Evelyne Axell et les années 60. Un frisson de la vie (Het ruisen van het leven)", Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Ixelles, Brussels 249:

paintings won an honorable mention in the Young Painters Prize. In early 1967, she had her first solo exhibition at the

179: 330: 803:"De Picasso à Magritte. 40 toiles pour 40 ans de jumelage entre Biarritz et Ixelles", Musée Bellevue, Biarritz 227: 253:. Shortly thereafter, she stopped using oil on canvas and began painting plastic, first clartex and later 223: 307:, shows a woman resting comfortably with her sunglasses by her side and surrounded by a tropical forest. 292:

as real women, with all the direct, unsurprising consequences: the other side is taking the initiative."

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commented, "The Belgian painter Evelyne Axell has joined the company of womanpower's art, with

1112: 899:"Warhol, Axell, un double regard sur les Sixties", Cornette de Saint Cyr – Bruxelles, Brussels 783:"Autoportraits en Belgique depuis 1945", Maison de la Culture de la province de Namur, Namur 582:"Axell’s Paradise, Last works (1971-72) before she vanished", Broadway 1602 Gallery, New York 345: 289: 272:

said to be the first painting in which a woman painted herself naked and as an artist. Critic

239: 187: 570:"Axell (1965 – 1972) Entre Pop Art et Figuration Narrative", Galerie Natalie Seroussi, Paris 352:

Kalliopi Minioudaki, "Pop's Ladies and Bad Girls: Axell, Pauline Boty and Rosalyn Drexler."

285: 218: 209: 855:"Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists 1958 – 1968", University of the Arts, Philadelphia 556:"Evelyne Axell, Die belgische Amazone der Pop Art", Fernsehturm and Belgian Embassy, Berlin 1032: 1015: 989: 972: 960: 941:"Pop Impact - Women Artists" Maison de la Culture de la Province de Namur, Namur, Belgium 388: 367: 117: 273: 1121: 693:"Images et signes de notre temps", Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels 504:"Evenlyne Axell en de jaren zestig", Provinciaal Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Ostende 763:"Vies de femmes 1830-1980", Europalia Belgique, Banque Bruxelles Lambert, Brussels 580:"Evelyne Axell, le Pop Art en Wallonie", Centre Wallon d’Art Contemporain, Flémalle 363:

eds. Patricia Allmer and Hilde Van Gelder. Leuven University Press (2007), 155–173.

281: 258: 231: 146: 133: 46: 514:"Evelyne Axell, 1935-1972. L’amazone du Pop Art", Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris 303:, Belgium. Axell died in the early morning of 10 September 1972. Her final piece, 204:

In 1964, Axell quit her promising acting career to pursue painting. She enlisted

867:"Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists 1958 – 1968", Brooklyn Museum, New York 359:

Liesbeth Decan, "Evelyne Axell (1935-1972) A Belgian Surrealist Pop Artist?" in

162: 721:"D’aprés—Omaggi e dissacrazioni nell’arte contemporanea ", Lugano, Switzerland 1099: 753:"De jaren '60—Kunst in België", Centre d’expositions Sint-Pietersabdij, Ghent 697:"Le plastique et l’art contemporain", Grand Palais, porte de Versailles, Paris 265: 205: 823:"Portrait en Namurois", Musée provincial des Arts anciens du Namurois, Namur 604:"Axelleration" (retrospective exhibition), Museum Abteiberg, Monchengladbach 268:

as she continued to make increasingly erotic paintings. In 1970 she painted

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EVELYNE AXELL. 'Axell’s Paradise: Last Works (1971-72) Before She Vanished.’

296: 254: 121: 85: 695:"Pop Art—Nouveau Réalisme—Néo Dada et tendances apparentées", Casino Knokke 32: 925:"Noir Chantilly, Féminisme(s)", Centre Wallon d’Art Contemporain, Flémalle 743:"La Femme dans l’art", Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels 196:, it would be the last film project Axell and Antoine worked on together. 192:, also directed by her husband. Although the film won first prize at the 731:"La Vénus de Milo ou les dangers de la célébrité", Musée du Louvre, Paris 141: 113: 107: 81: 1108: 213: 150: 140:, Evelyne Axell (née Devaux) was born into a traditional, middle-class 137: 110: 95: 50: 869:"POWER UP – Female Pop Art", Städtische Galerie, Bietigheim-Bissingen 560:"The Sixties seen by Evelyne Axell", Patrick Derom Gallery, Brussels 288:

from Venezuela - and the list goes on. These women are living their

935:"La résistance des images", La Patinoire Royale, Brussels, Belgium 526:"Evelyne Axell 1935-1972, Erotomobiles", The Mayor Gallery, London 395:

Evelyne Axell. From Pop Art to Paradise/Le Pop Art jusqu'au Paradis

300: 69: 1094: 614:"The great journey into Space", Broadway 1602 Gallery, New York 440:"Axell, Pierre et les Opalines", Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris 342:"Axell's Paradise: Last works (1971-1972) before she vanished." 1103: 895:"GLAM! The performance of Style", Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt 833:"The 1960s, Painting and Collages", The Mayor Gallery, London 484:"Axell. Derniers dessins". Galerie Jacqueline Ledoux, Namur 186:)). In 1963, she wrote and starred in the provocative film 893:"GLAM! The performance of Style", Tate Liverpool, Liverpool 897:"GLAM! The performance of Style", LENTOS Kunstmuseum, Linz 733:"De Permeke à nos jours", Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels 932:"International Pop", Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA 222:. Axell went with Antoine to London for filming and met 120:, erotic paintings of female nudes and self-portraits on 938:"Pop Art in Belgium", ING Art Center, Brussels, Belgium 683:"Jeune peinture belge", Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels 641:"Boîtes à secrets, à surprises", Galerie Maya, Brussels 629:"Arts d’Extrème-Occident", Galerie Angle Aigü, Brussels 592:"Evelyne Axell, Images contestataires", WIELS, Brussels 1033:

Stages in a Life Cut Short. Biography of Evelyne Axell.

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Stages in a Life Cut Short. Biography of Evelyne Axell.

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Stages in a Life Cut Short. Biography of Evelyne Axell.

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Stages in a Life Cut Short. Biography of Evelyne Axell.

944:"International Pop", Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, USA 913:“Pop to Popism“, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sidney 639:"Jeune peinture belge", Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels 516:"Evelyne Axell, Mémoire de Bacchante", Iselp, Brussels 368:

Stages in a Life Cut Short. Biography of Evelyne Axell.

891:"Axelle Red, Fashion Victim", Fashion Museum, Hasselt 773:"Femmes artistes en Namurois", Halle al’Chair, Namur 401:

Evelyne Axell, 1935-1972 : L'Amazone du Pop Art.

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