André Cadere
André Cadere (1934-1978) was a French/Romanian artist, a key figure in an avant-garde generation that contested the nature of the art object and the institutional framework of the art world in the 1970s.
Descendent of a prominent family of interwar Romania, Cadere was born in Warsaw, Poland, where his father was the Romanian Ambassador. After the war, as Romania descended into Stalinist dictatorship, he led a life of constant harassment and social exclusion. Cădere emigrated to France in 1967 and, after some years in the wilderness, emerged as one of the most innovative and original conceptual artists.
His actions centered on appearances with his Barres de Bois Rond (1970-78) – “round bars of wood” made of brightly painted cylindrical units. Although he presented his work in galleries, these appearances at public sites and at the openings of renowned Conceptual artists, constituted a provocative approach towards art’s dependence on context.
He died from cancer in Paris.
Retrospective exhibitions
- Peinture sans Fin, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, 2007-08. Curated by Karola Grässlin and Astrid Ihle. Reviews: Godfrey (Frieze), Neuenschwander (Idea).
- Documenting Cadere: 1972-1978, Artists Space Books & Talks, New York, 2013. Curated by Lynda Morris.
Catalogues
- Peinture sans Fin, eds. Karola Grässlin, Astrid Ihle, Fabrice Hergott, Cologne: Walther König, 2008. [1] [2]
- Documenting Cadere, 1972-1978, ed. Lynda Morris, forew. Paul Luckraft, Phillip Van den Bossche and Stefan Kalmár, Cologne: Walther König, 2013, 172 pp. [3]
Literature
- Simon Pope, "Dialogue with André Cadere", 2008.
- Magda Radu, "André Cadere: Promenades and Refrains", Flash Art 266, May-Jun 2009.
- Andrei Cadere / Andre Cadere, ed. Magda Radu, Bucharest: MNAC, 2011, 471 pp. Introduction. [4]
- Lily Woodruff, "André Cadere’s Calligrams of Institutional Authority", in Woodruff, Disordering the Establishment: Participatory Art and Institutional Critique in France, 1958-1981, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2020, pp 158-194.
