There are only a few days left of this vast and significant exhibition that has toured the States (Ohio, San Francisco, Dallas and Chicago) before its home coming to Belgium, Luc Tuymans’ native country. The artist’s last major European exhibition was a solo show in 2004 at Tate Modern. He is regarded as one of the most important artists of the contemporary art world, considered to have re-invented history painting and re-vitalised figurative art at a time when it was deemed obsolete.
It is particularly significant that Belgium hosts Tuyman's first major retrospective because his work scrutinises their history. On display as one of three complete series is ‘Mwana Kitoko: Beautiful White Man’, which follows the shadowy assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected prime minister of postcolonial Belgian–Congo. Chalk, 2000 (see above), depicts what seems a simple offering but is in fact inspired by a story Tuymans over-heard about a police officer that pulled two teeth from Lumumba’s mouth after his death.
Tuymans’ images are often superficially obscure and banal, their real meaning (and shock) found in the titles and history of the work. It is perhaps his one flaw that the viewer often has to read the accompanying text to truly appreciate the context and skill of his paintings for his brush-stroke is not significant enough on its own. His composition, however, is incredibly astute, luring in the innocent viewer. Often cropped, zoomed and edited from media images, his paintings are influenced by his brief spell making film and is perhaps what makes his series works so compelling.
The 70 works on show are drawn from major international museums and private collections. Each emphasizes Tuymans’ fascination with our collective memories of tragic historical events, such as the aftermath of the Second World War and America’s upheavals after 9/11. Whether it is the facade of a concentration camp, a cancerous cell or the shadow of a Nazi, each subject and various genre is treated with the same gravitas and scale as the other. Tuymans’ snippets of narrative draw in the viewer, making them consumers and, often, unwilling participants of the historical events. In turn, they ask us to reconsider historical representation and to reconcile our discriminations. As proof, prompted by Tuymans’ first public display of ‘Mwana Kitoko’, in 2002 the Belgian government issued a formal apology to the Congolese.
‘Luc Tuymans: Retrospective’ is at The Centre for Fine Art in Brussels until 8 May 2011.
Image credit: Chalk by Luc Tuymans, 2000. Oil on canvas. Private collection, promised gift to the San Fransico Museum of Modern Art. © Luc Tuymans; photo: Ben Blackwell
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