Hundertwasser

The painter-king with the five skins

"His trump card is his art, the creator of beauty: of natural harmony, peace and joy. The extra-lucid power of his analytical sensitivity makes him the perfect decoder of global culture and its guided information. He reveals the prodigious quality resources of naturist empiricism against the abusive uniformity of rationalist totalitarianism, against the tyranny of ugliness and the iron rule of its straight line." Pierre Restany, Hundertwasser: The Painter-King with the five Skins: The Power of Art

Friedensreich Hundertwasser constantly rebelled against the omnipresent might of rational and pragmatic thought patterns and became a symbolic figure for a non-conformist way of life and an ambassador for a self-determined alternative existence. Hundertwasser's world of images awakens the longing for universal harmony, for an existence in accord with nature.
With emphasis on Hundertwasser's ecological, civilization- and architecture-critical approaches, Pierre Restany examines the phases of his multifaceted work. Restany creates a comprehensive portrayal of an artist of visionary power, of his artistic development, from the architectural boycott and the naked addresses at the end of the sixties, through the worldwide architecture projects, to his alternative blueprints for society.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features:

• a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist
• approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions
• a concise biography

About the author:
Pierre Restany (1930-2003) was brought up in Morocco. He later studied in France, Italy and Ireland. In 1963 he worked on the art and architecture journal "Domus", and since 1985 he has edited the magazine "D'ARS". His meeting with Yves Klein in 1955 inspired his 1960 theory of "Nouveau Réalisme" and he founded an art-group of the same name in Paris. He has written and published extensively on the art of the twentieth century.