Description: Long recognized as the founding father of the Happening, a term he coined in the late 1950s, Allan Kaprow (19272006)co-creator of the Fluxus Group, pioneer of performance art, discoverer of the Action movement, and visionary American artist still recognized for his major contributions in art theory and historychanged the conversation about contemporary art-making worldwide. His long career as artist and theorist is often published, but little is known about his early paintings. Influenced while studying under German Abstract Expressionist painter Hans Hofmann at the School of Fine Arts, NY, Kaprows early work from 1946 to 1957 is presented for the first time at Villa Merkel, Esslingen (2017). The paintings reveal the role models that led to Kaprows investigations into space and action while contextualizing the achievements of his contemporaries, Jackson Pollock and John Cage. This slender but informative catalog documents both unseen paintings along with historical imagery introducing an important portrait of the artist as he began to launch his monumental career.
