<

Vera Molnár

QUOTES

“If you replace the word ‘random’ with ‘intuition’, there you have it. With intuition, suddenly you say – now what if I used a curve instead of a straight line and what sort of a curve? And then you try it – that’s intuition. Randomness does the same thing” https://vintage.hu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Molnar-Vera-HUO-interview.pdf


‘I have no regrets. My life is squares, triangles, lines’

https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/vera-molnar-interview-computer-art-paris-mayor-gallery


On her approach: “Attuned from childhood to the possibilities of a system-based art, Molnár conjured up a “machine imaginaire” whose hypothetical programmes altered the concrete bones of her images, rotating, disordering, and fracturing specific elements in multiple iterations.”

“Avoiding premeditation, Molnár fine-tunes her programmes as the works unfold, favouring an instinctive method that enables greater receptiveness to the unpredictable, an approach she has called “the conversational method”.”

“Proceeding by small steps, the painter is in a position to delicately pinpoint the image of dreams. Without the aid of a computer, it would not possible to materialize quite so faithfully an image that previously existed only in the artist’s mind. This may sound paradoxical, but the machine, which is thought to be cold and inhuman, can help to realize what is most subjective, unattainable, and profound in a human being.” Quoted in Digital Art: Painting with Pixels


Toward Aesthetic Guidelines for Paintings with the Aid of a Computer “I am a painter, an image-maker, in particular, of images of a nonfigurative kind. I ‘create’ visual forms in the sense that they consist of combinations of shapes that cannot be found in nature.” https://arena-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/3925408/e77cfae32bd916141e6f2b2f7964a14a.pdf?1553439831


“Between 1959 and ’68, when she was first able to program a mainframe computer to make drawings, Molnar imagined herself to be a drawing machine, a “Machine Imaginaire.””

https://hyperallergic.com/437834/vera-molnar-drawings-1949-1986-senior-and-shopmaker-gallery-2018/


Machine imaginaire vs. machine réelle → computer as formal instrument

“To genuinely systematize my research series I initially used a technique which I called machine imaginaire. I imagined I had a computer. I designed a programme and then, step by step, I realized simple, limited series which were completed within, meaning they did not exclude a single possible combination of form. As soon as possible I replaced the imaginary computer, the makebelieve machine by a real one.”

http://dam.org/artists/phase-one/vera-molnar/artist-s-statement ^ Artist’s statement


https://twitter.com/oiioiioioiiioio/status/1186931015756996608

^^ Video from MuDA talking about what happens when you explore “randomness” + “iteration”


"My final aim, in common with so many painters of history, is to be able to create valuable works of art in a conscious way. Conscious way does not mean in my opinion the suppression of intuition, but its reinforcement by a cognitive process; it does not mean that painting becomes a matter of logic. Art at its inception is essentially intuitive, it is in its elaboration that intuition needs control and aid by cognition."

The Artist Who Drew With Computers, Before Computers Were a Thing

Vera Molnar : A Cognitive Process


“Proceeding by small steps, the painter is in a position to delicately pinpoint the image of dreams. Without the aid of a computer, it would not possible to materialize quite so faithfully an image that previously existed only in the artist’s mind. This may sound paradoxical, but the machine, which is thought to be cold and inhuman, can help to realize what is most subjective, unattainable, and profound in a human being.” From Frank Popper’s Visualization, Cultural Mediation and Dual Creativity in Leonardo.

In order to systematically process her research series, she invented a “technology”, which she called “Machine Imaginaire”.


“Vera Molnar holds that the computer can serve four purposes. The first concerns its technical promise---it widens the area of the possible with its infinite array of forms and colors, and particularly with the development of virtual space. Secondly, the computer can satisfy the desire for artistic innovations and thus lighten the burden of traditional cultural forms. It can make the accidental or random subversive in order to create an aesthetic shock and to rupture the systematic and the symmetrical. For this purpose a virtual data bank can be assembled. Thirdly, the computer can encourage the mind to work in new ways. Molnar believes that artists often pass far too quickly from the idea to the realization of the work. The computer can create images that can be stored for longer, not only in the data bank but also in the artist's imagination. Finally, Molnar thinks that the computer can help the artist by measuring the physiological reactions of the audience, their eye movements for example, thus bringing the creative process into closer accordance with its products and their effects.” Visualization, Cultural Mediation and Dual Creativity, Frank Popper


Vera Molnár on creating new vocabulary for her art, specifically “livrimage”:

“It is a contraction, a reduction by welding of two linguistic elements: book and image, as the object itself is contraction. A series of images that you can leaf through, like a book, but that cannot be read: you look at yourself. There is neither subject nor history in the literary sense of the word. Images are produced, followed, explained, developed, destroyed, remade, renewed”.

“Aware that our critical exercise, paradoxically, comes to separate what Véra Molnar is trying to reconcile since, obviously, the reader of these lines is not confronted with the works themselves but with a discourse which takes them up and distances ourselves from it, we formulate the request that our sentences as soon as read be forgotten and replaced by the desire, and its satisfaction, to leaf through the livrimages of Vera Molnar.”


WORKS

Varied + Recent Works:

http://www.veramolnar.com/


https://www.pinterest.com/e_vigier/vera-molnar/


http://dam.org/artists/phase-one/vera-molnar/artworks-bodies-of-work



colour Lithograph on paper of computer-generated drawing, 1985
colour Lithograph on paper of computer-generated drawing, 1985
Interstices, 1985
Interstices, 1985
Parcours Sainte-Marie, 2019, pigment printing on canvas
Parcours Sainte-Marie, 2019, pigment printing on canvas
Vera Molnar, ‘Quelques lignes à julije’, 2007-2013, Atelier-Editions Fanal
Vera Molnar, ‘Quelques lignes à julije’, 2007-2013, Atelier-Editions Fanal
Vera Molnar, ‘Quelques lignes à Julije 1 ’, 2007-2013, Galerie La Ligne
Vera Molnar, ‘Quelques lignes à Julije 1 ’, 2007-2013, Galerie La Ligne

Strucuture à partir de la lettre N , 2011, Serigraphie on Rives paper 300gm2 Source: https://www.artsy.net/artwork/vera-molnar-strucuture-a-partir-de-la-lettre-n (Link from Lynn H)
Strucuture à partir de la lettre N , 2011, Serigraphie on Rives paper 300gm2 Source: https://www.artsy.net/artwork/vera-molnar-strucuture-a-partir-de-la-lettre-n (Link from Lynn H)
Vera Molnar, Carambolage rouge (Red Pileup), 2016, acrylic on canvas, 31 1/2 × 31 1/2".
Vera Molnar, Carambolage rouge (Red Pileup), 2016, acrylic on canvas, 31 1/2 × 31 1/2".

Apres Mondrian, 1950 - Vera re-creates Mondrian’s art. Recreating The Past!
Apres Mondrian, 1950 - Vera re-creates Mondrian’s art. Recreating The Past!
Vera Molnar, 3 Verts Et 3 Bleus, 1972, gouache on board. Courtesy of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York
Vera Molnar, 3 Verts Et 3 Bleus, 1972, gouache on board. Courtesy of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York
Vera Molnar, Untitled, 1968, gouache on paper. Courtesy of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York.
Vera Molnar, Untitled, 1968, gouache on paper. Courtesy of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York.

Du Cycle : Histoire d'I, 1979
Du Cycle : Histoire d'I, 1979
Du cycle : Histoire d'I
Du cycle : Histoire d'I
Icône, 1962
Icône, 1962
Emergence d'une croix, 1970
Emergence d'une croix, 1970
Pour mes 85 ans /09, 2009
Pour mes 85 ans /09, 2009
Parallèles et obliques /A, 1968 - 2015
Parallèles et obliques /A, 1968 - 2015
Passages B, 1968
Passages B, 1968
Parallèles et obliques /C
Parallèles et obliques /C

https://www.galerie-ba.com/vera-molnar-eng


Lines:

Quatre quarts, Acrylic on canvas, 31 1/2 × 31 1/2 in
Quatre quarts, Acrylic on canvas, 31 1/2 × 31 1/2 in

Vera Molnar, “Inclinaisions” (1971), ink on Benson plotter
Vera Molnar, “Inclinaisions” (1971), ink on Benson plotter
Untitled, 1972, Computer drawing, 51.5 x 36 cm
Untitled, 1972, Computer drawing, 51.5 x 36 cm
Untitled, 1973
Untitled, 1973
Untitled, 1972
Untitled, 1972

Rectangles:

5 Rectangles en 2 /A
5 Rectangles en 2 /A
2 carrés coupés en 16
2 carrés coupés en 16
2 carrés coupés en 8, 2014
2 carrés coupés en 8, 2014
Retour aux Histoires d' "i", 2009
Retour aux Histoires d' "i", 2009
"XYZ", 2013
"XYZ", 2013

Triangles + Circles:

Montparnasse d'après Klee
Montparnasse d'après Klee
Cycle Klee, 2005
Cycle Klee, 2005
rois triangle, un cercle, cycle du Mont Parnasse d'après Klee
rois triangle, un cercle, cycle du Mont Parnasse d'après Klee
Le Mont Parnasse d'après Klee en bleu, vert, rouge, 2006
Le Mont Parnasse d'après Klee en bleu, vert, rouge, 2006
Du Cycle Klee, 2005
Du Cycle Klee, 2005
Du Cycle Klee, 2005
Du Cycle Klee, 2005
Le Mont Parnasse d'après Klee, 2005
Le Mont Parnasse d'après Klee, 2005
Cercle et ligne briée (du cycle Montparnasse d’après Klee), 2007, colored pencils, pencil, paper
Cercle et ligne briée (du cycle Montparnasse d’après Klee), 2007, colored pencils, pencil, paper
Epure d'un paysage de Van Gogh, 2013 - 2015
Epure d'un paysage de Van Gogh, 2013 - 2015
Montparnasse à la lune blanche, trois lignes et un cercle, 2007
Montparnasse à la lune blanche, trois lignes et un cercle, 2007
Montparnasse à la lune blanche, trois lignes et un cercle 2007
Montparnasse à la lune blanche, trois lignes et un cercle 2007
Triangle et cercle, 2006
Triangle et cercle, 2006

Series: Square Positions:

Vera Molnar, ‘Carrés en deux positions 1’, 2013, Atelier-Editions Fanal
Vera Molnar, ‘Carrés en deux positions 1’, 2013, Atelier-Editions Fanal
Vera Molnar, ‘Carrés en deux positions 3’, 2013, Atelier-Editions Fanal
Vera Molnar, ‘Carrés en deux positions 3’, 2013, Atelier-Editions Fanal
Vera Molnar, ‘Carrés en deux positions 2’, 2013, Atelier-Editions Fanal
Vera Molnar, ‘Carrés en deux positions 2’, 2013, Atelier-Editions Fanal
Vera Molnar, ‘Carrés en deux positions 4’, 2013, Atelier-Editions Fanal
Vera Molnar, ‘Carrés en deux positions 4’, 2013, Atelier-Editions Fanal

Series: Structure de Quadrilatères:

Structure de Quadrilateres (Square Structures), 1987, computer drawing with white ink on salmon-colored paper
Structure de Quadrilateres (Square Structures), 1987, computer drawing with white ink on salmon-colored paper
Vera Molnar, Structure de Quadrilatéres (Square Structures), 1987, computer graphic with Chinese water ink on paper. Courtesy of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York.
Vera Molnar, Structure de Quadrilatéres (Square Structures), 1987, computer graphic with Chinese water ink on paper. Courtesy of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York.
1988 ink on paper (ink on paper)
1988 ink on paper (ink on paper)
Vera Molnar, Structure de Quadrilatéres (Square Structures), 1987, colored ball point pen on paper. Courtesy of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York.
Vera Molnar, Structure de Quadrilatéres (Square Structures), 1987, colored ball point pen on paper. Courtesy of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York.
Structure de Quadrilatères (Square Structures), 1987. Computer drawing with white ink on salmon-coloured paper, 11 3/4 x 16 1/2 in. Courtesy Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York.
Structure de Quadrilatères (Square Structures), 1987. Computer drawing with white ink on salmon-coloured paper, 11 3/4 x 16 1/2 in. Courtesy Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York.

Series: Hommage à Dürer:

400 aiguilles, traversées par un fil, acrylic on untreated cotton cloth (plywood), cut needles, approx. 40 m thread (knotted once), diptych, 1/2, , 1989/2004, 84 x 84 cm, Edition Axel Rohlfs
400 aiguilles, traversées par un fil, acrylic on untreated cotton cloth (plywood), cut needles, approx. 40 m thread (knotted once), diptych, 1/2, , 1989/2004, 84 x 84 cm, Edition Axel Rohlfs
225 variations aléatoires, direction chaos, plotter drawing, open series, 1990, +/- 30 x 30 cm
225 variations aléatoires, direction chaos, plotter drawing, open series, 1990, +/- 30 x 30 cm
400 variations, plotter drawing, open series 1990, +/- 30 x 30 cm
400 variations, plotter drawing, open series 1990, +/- 30 x 30 cm
400 aiguilles, traversées par un fil, acrylic on untreated cotton cloth (plywood), cut needles, approx. 40 m thread (knotted once) diptych, 1/2, 1989/2004, 84 x 84 cm, Edition Axel Rohlfs
400 aiguilles, traversées par un fil, acrylic on untreated cotton cloth (plywood), cut needles, approx. 40 m thread (knotted once) diptych, 1/2, 1989/2004, 84 x 84 cm, Edition Axel Rohlfs
chinese ink on cardboard, 1948, 8.5 x 8.5 cm collection Manfred Wandel
chinese ink on cardboard, 1948, 8.5 x 8.5 cm collection Manfred Wandel

Series: Hommage à Klee:

Based of a geometric picture of Paul Klee Vera Molnar examines the result of a transformation of the picture by computer and by hand-drawing:

Searching for Paul Klee, 1971, crayon and pencil on paper. Courtesy of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York.
Searching for Paul Klee, 1971, crayon and pencil on paper. Courtesy of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York.
Vera Molnár. A la Recherche de Paul Klee (Searching for Paul Klee) (detail). 1971. Felt tip pen on paper. The Anne and Michael Spalter Digital Art Collection. © 2017 Vera Molnár.
Vera Molnár. A la Recherche de Paul Klee (Searching for Paul Klee) (detail). 1971. Felt tip pen on paper. The Anne and Michael Spalter Digital Art Collection. © 2017 Vera Molnár.
Vera Molnar, À la recherche de Paul Klee (Searching for Paul Klee) 1970, plotter drawing, 68 x 68 cm, artist′s own collection
Vera Molnar, À la recherche de Paul Klee (Searching for Paul Klee) 1970, plotter drawing, 68 x 68 cm, artist′s own collection
Vera Molnar, À la recherche de Paul Klee  (Searching for Paul Klee) 1971, felt-tip pen on paper (hand drawing) 44 x 50 cm, artist′s own collection
Vera Molnar, À la recherche de Paul Klee (Searching for Paul Klee) 1971, felt-tip pen on paper (hand drawing) 44 x 50 cm, artist′s own collection
Vera Molnár. A la Recherche de Paul Klee (Searching for Paul Klee) (detail). 1970. Ink on paper, plotter drawing. The Anne and Michael Spalter Digital Art Collection. © 2017 Vera Molnár
Vera Molnár. A la Recherche de Paul Klee (Searching for Paul Klee) (detail). 1970. Ink on paper, plotter drawing. The Anne and Michael Spalter Digital Art Collection. © 2017 Vera Molnár

Series: Hommage a Monet:

Hommage a Monet, plotter drawing, 20 x 26 cm, 1983
Hommage a Monet, plotter drawing, 20 x 26 cm, 1983
Vera Molnar, Hommage à Monet, 1983, Drawing, 20 x 26 cm
Vera Molnar, Hommage à Monet, 1983, Drawing, 20 x 26 cm
https://www.profartspla.info/images/lycee/Monet_molnar.pdf
https://www.profartspla.info/images/lycee/Monet_molnar.pdf

Series: Sainte Victoire:

Sainte Victoire
Sainte Victoire
Courbe de Sainte Victoire /1, 2001
Courbe de Sainte Victoire /1, 2001
Courbe de Sainte Victoire /4
Courbe de Sainte Victoire /4
Sainte Victoire en ligne, II. 2017, screen printing on paper Kiscell Museum – Municipal Gallery
Sainte Victoire en ligne, II. 2017, screen printing on paper Kiscell Museum – Municipal Gallery
https://www.artspace.com/vera-molnar/sainte-victoire-on-line
https://www.artspace.com/vera-molnar/sainte-victoire-on-line
Sainte-Victoire (N&B), 0 x 40 cm each canvas (120 x 120 cm as a whole), 8 copies + 4 artit's copies  and artist’s certificate,  printing on canvas, 2017
Sainte-Victoire (N&B), 0 x 40 cm each canvas (120 x 120 cm as a whole), 8 copies + 4 artit's copies and artist’s certificate, printing on canvas, 2017
Sainte-Victoire (O&B), 0 x 40 cm each canvas (120 x 120 cm as a whole),  8 copies + 4 artit's copies, and artist’s certificate, silkscreen printing on canvas, 2017
Sainte-Victoire (O&B), 0 x 40 cm each canvas (120 x 120 cm as a whole), 8 copies + 4 artit's copies, and artist’s certificate, silkscreen printing on canvas, 2017
Sainte-Victoire, 2017
Sainte-Victoire, 2017

Trame déchirée, 1981
Trame déchirée, 1981

Series: Quatre Carrès:

Vera Molnar, Quatre carrès, open series, plotter drawing, 1991, +/- 7,8 x 7,4 cm
Vera Molnar, Quatre carrès, open series, plotter drawing, 1991, +/- 7,8 x 7,4 cm
Vera Molnar, Quatre carrès, open series, plotter drawing, 1991, +/- 7,8 x 7,4 cm
Vera Molnar, Quatre carrès, open series, plotter drawing, 1991, +/- 7,8 x 7,4 cm
Vera Molnar, Quatre carrès, open series, plotter drawing, 1991, +/- 7,8 x 7,4 cm
Vera Molnar, Quatre carrès, open series, plotter drawing, 1991, +/- 7,8 x 7,4 cm
Vera Molnar, Quatre carrès, open series, plotter drawing, 1991, +/- 7,8 x 7,4 cm
Vera Molnar, Quatre carrès, open series, plotter drawing, 1991, +/- 7,8 x 7,4 cm
Vera Molnar, Quatre carrés, acrylic on canvas,
Vera Molnar, Quatre carrés, acrylic on canvas,
1992, diptych, each 100 x 100 cm
1992, diptych, each 100 x 100 cm

Series: Gothique:

The series ‘Gothique' was created on the occasion of a commissioned work for the German-French exhibition 'Construction and Conception'.
The show was arranged for the station Schöneberg in Berlin which was still shut down back in 1988. Vera Molnar implemented a work on the windows of the railway's hall. The installation picks up the existing architectonic structures of the glass front - high and slender like the gothic ideal.

***"The work is based on an intense reflection concerning proportions. After I had left one of the ideals of forms, the square, behind and lengthened it, I did not go any further than the proportions of the golden ratio allowed... After the cube, after the rectangle based on the rules of the golden ratio, I stuck to the double cubes, the quadruple cube, arriving at the 'wild' proportions in the end, e.g. 1:30. In this case it was hardly a rectangle anymore, rather a thick line. More precisely, you find yourself visually 'in between the two': neither line nor bar... These elongated rectangles, gothic, truly amazed me as antipodes to the canon of ancient beauty. It was like a healthful shaking at the point on which I had been comfortable with my aesthetic understanding.' Vera Molnar interviewed by Marc Chauveau, 2010.*

1991, ink on paper
1991, ink on paper
1990, plotter, ink on paper
1990, plotter, ink on paper
1990, plotter drawing, ink on paper, blue
1990, plotter drawing, ink on paper, blue
1990, ink on paper, 40 x 11 cm
1990, ink on paper, 40 x 11 cm
Vera Molnar, Gotique, 1986, plotter drawing, ink on paper, 38 x 29 cm
Vera Molnar, Gotique, 1986, plotter drawing, ink on paper, 38 x 29 cm
1988, installation Berlin Schöneberg train station, blue adhesive tape on window
1988, installation Berlin Schöneberg train station, blue adhesive tape on window

https://dam-gallery.de/kuenstler_ui/vera_molnar/?lang=en#1522142020853-7ccabfe9-20e0


Series: Interruptions:

Vera Molnar, Interruptions, 1968/69, open series, 28.5 x 28.5 cm
Vera Molnar, Interruptions, 1968/69, open series, 28.5 x 28.5 cm
Vera Molnar, Interruptions, 1968/69, open series, plotter drawing, 28.5 x 28.5 cm
Vera Molnar, Interruptions, 1968/69, open series, plotter drawing, 28.5 x 28.5 cm
Vera Molnar, Interruptions à recouvrements, open series , 1969, 29 x 77 cm Kunsthalle Bremen − Der Kunstverein in Bremen, inv. no. 2006/2
Vera Molnar, Interruptions à recouvrements, open series , 1969, 29 x 77 cm Kunsthalle Bremen − Der Kunstverein in Bremen, inv. no. 2006/2
Interruptions No 1, 1968, ink on paper
Interruptions No 1, 1968, ink on paper

Series: Transformations + Hypertransformation:

Vera Molnar, Transformations de 160 rectangles, completed series of 6 sheets, 2 variations, plotter drawing, 1976, +/- 21 x 21 cm
Vera Molnar, Transformations de 160 rectangles, completed series of 6 sheets, 2 variations, plotter drawing, 1976, +/- 21 x 21 cm
Vera Molnar, Hypertransformations, variation
Vera Molnar, Hypertransformations, variation
“Job from Molnar”
“Job from Molnar”
Vera Molnar, Hypertransformations, variation
Vera Molnar, Hypertransformations, variation
Vera Molnar, Hypertransformations, variation
Vera Molnar, Hypertransformations, variation
Vera Molnar, Hypertransformations, variation
Vera Molnar, Hypertransformations, variation
Vera Molnar, Transformation en bleu, acrylic on canvas, 1983, 150 x 150 cm, collection Remy Mathiot, France
Vera Molnar, Transformation en bleu, acrylic on canvas, 1983, 150 x 150 cm, collection Remy Mathiot, France
Hypertransformations,  1973-6, Serigraph, 25.5 x 19.5"
Hypertransformations, 1973-6, Serigraph, 25.5 x 19.5"

https://digitalartarchive.siggraph.org/artwork/vera-molnar-hypertransformations/

Hypertransformation 19, 1975, , Gouache on Cardboard, 75 cm x 75 cm
Hypertransformation 19, 1975, , Gouache on Cardboard, 75 cm x 75 cm
Transformation 15, 1975, acrylic on canvas
Transformation 15, 1975, acrylic on canvas

Series: (Dés)Ordres:

Untitled (13), 1974, Computer drawing 20 3/10 × 14 1/5 in, 51.5 × 36 cm
Untitled (13), 1974, Computer drawing 20 3/10 × 14 1/5 in, 51.5 × 36 cm
1% désordre, 1974, screen print
1% désordre, 1974, screen print

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/vera-molnar-untitled-13-1

Vera Molnar, (Dés)Ordres, 1974, open series, plotter drawing, 70 x 70 cm
Vera Molnar, (Dés)Ordres, 1974, open series, plotter drawing, 70 x 70 cm
Vera Molnar, (Dés)Ordres, 1974, open series, plotter drawing, 70 x 70 cm
Vera Molnar, (Dés)Ordres, 1974, open series, plotter drawing, 70 x 70 cm
Vera Molnar, (Dés)Ordres, 1974, open series, plotter drawing, 70 x 70 cm
Vera Molnar, (Dés)Ordres, 1974, open series, plotter drawing, 70 x 70 cm
Vera Molnar, (Dés)Ordres, 1974, open series, plotter drawing, 70 x 70 cm
Vera Molnar, (Dés)Ordres, 1974, open series, plotter drawing, 70 x 70 cm
Vera Molnar, (Dés)Ordres, 1974, open series, plotter drawing, 70 x 70 cm
Vera Molnar, (Dés)Ordres, 1974, open series, plotter drawing, 70 x 70 cm
Carrés, 1973, computer graphic and ink on paper. Courtesy of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery
Carrés, 1973, computer graphic and ink on paper. Courtesy of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery
Vera Molnar, Carrés, 1973, computer graphic on Benson plotter paper. Courtesy of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York.
Vera Molnar, Carrés, 1973, computer graphic on Benson plotter paper. Courtesy of Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York.

Series: Trapèzes:

144 Trapèzes
144 Trapèzes
Vera Molnar, 10 Trapèzes, variation
Vera Molnar, 10 Trapèzes, variation
1975, computer graphic, open series, 10 variations, all sole copies print: each +/- 23 x 30 cm
1975, computer graphic, open series, 10 variations, all sole copies print: each +/- 23 x 30 cm
Trapèzes inscrits 1/5
Trapèzes inscrits 1/5
Trapèzes inscrits 2/5
Trapèzes inscrits 2/5
Trapèzes inscrits 3/5
Trapèzes inscrits 3/5
Trapèzes inscrits 4/5
Trapèzes inscrits 4/5
Trapèzes inscrits 5/5
Trapèzes inscrits 5/5

Series: 9 Double Dignes:

9 Doubles signes sans signification, 5 part, 2004 plotter drawing on grey paper,
9 Doubles signes sans signification, 5 part, 2004 plotter drawing on grey paper,
completed series of 5 sheets, 2/5,  sheet size: each 42 x 29.5 cm
completed series of 5 sheets, 2/5, sheet size: each 42 x 29.5 cm

Series: My Mother’s Letters

https://arena-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/3925409/28a4730c59ee621e83db6a6fca851cc7.pdf?1553439831

Vera Molnar, Lettres de ma mère, diptych, 1987
Vera Molnar, Lettres de ma mère, diptych, 1987
Vera Molnar, Lettres de ma mère, diptych, 1987
Vera Molnar, Lettres de ma mère, diptych, 1987
Vera Molnar, Lettres de ma mère, variation, 1990
Vera Molnar, Lettres de ma mère, variation, 1990

Screen Photography:

Vera Molnar, Structures de quadrilatères, screen photography, 1986, each 9 x 13 cm, artist′s own collection
Vera Molnar, Structures de quadrilatères, screen photography, 1986, each 9 x 13 cm, artist′s own collection
Vera Molnar, Structures de quadrilatères, screen photography, 1986, each 9 x 13 cm, artist′s own collection
Vera Molnar, Structures de quadrilatères, screen photography, 1986, each 9 x 13 cm, artist′s own collection

Book Works:

Véra Molnar - Six million seven hundred and sixty five thousand and two hundred and one Sainte-Victoire
Véra Molnar - Six million seven hundred and sixty five thousand and two hundred and one Sainte-Victoire

This Vera Molnar object-book offers exactly 6,765,201 versions of Montagne Sainte-Victoire (Aix-en-Provence, France).

Véra Molnar - ni queue ni tête
Véra Molnar - ni queue ni tête

Reference : https://www.bernardchauveau.com/en/artists-books/230-vera-molnar-six-million-seven-hundred-and-sixty-five-thousand-and-two-hundred-and-one-sainte-victoire-9782363060617.html

Ni queue ni tête is gathered an original drawing by Vera Molnar with a musical composition by Jean-Yves Bosseur

Reference : https://www.bernardchauveau.com/en/artists-books/234-vera-molnar-ni-queue-ni-tete.html

Original Drawing on Paper

mage 3: CDROM Véra Molnar. Diaries. 1976-2003. Present Edition composed 2008. EA 3208. Rennes 2. Copyright
mage 3: CDROM Véra Molnar. Diaries. 1976-2003. Present Edition composed 2008. EA 3208. Rennes 2. Copyright

Reference : https://computerdrawing.hypotheses.org/197 (it’s originally written in French but you can use google translated it to English)


TIMELINE

1942-47 studied painting and for a diploma in art history and aesthetics at the Budapest College of Fine Arts.
1946 first non-representational images are created.
Abstract, geometrically and systematically determined painting.
1947 artists’ fellowship in Rome at the Villa Julia
moved to France
1947-60 occasional co-operation with François Molnar
1948 marriage to François Molnar
1959-68 works with the machine imaginaire method
1960 Co-founder of the artist group GRAV (Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV) (Research Group for Visual Art) was a collaborative artists group in Paris[1] that consisted of eleven opto-kinetic artists)
First participation in an exhibition organized by her friend Max Bill with the title Konkrete Kunst (Concrete Art) in Zürich, Helmhaus
1967 Co-founder of the artist group Art et Informatique at the Parisian Institut d’Esthétique et des Science de l’Art
1968 first computer graphics are designed: thereafter continuous work with the computer
1974-76 development of the Molnart computer software programme jointly with her husband
1976 first single exhibition ’’Transformations’’ at the gallery of the London Polytechnic
1979 works at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, at the Atelier de Recherche des Techniques Avancées (ARTA)
1980 member of the CREIAV at the Université de Paris I, Sorbonne
The first artist’s book ‘’Ein Prozent Unordnung’’ is published by Wedgepress & Cheese in Bjerred (Sweden)
1985-90 professor in fine arts and aestehtics and art history at the Université de Paris I, Sorbonne
Since 1990 her works are on display at major European exhibitions on non-representational art and avantgarde
The first installative work is created fort he Foundation of Concrete Art, Reutlingen
1999 large monographic exhibition ‘’Extrait de 100 000 milliards des lignes’’ at the Centre de Recherche, d’Échange et de Diffusion pur l’Art Contemporain (CRÉDAC) in Ivry-sur-Seine
2005 recipient of the first [ddaa] for her life’s work.
2015 (Un)Ordnung. (Dés)Ordre. at haus konstruktiv:
From Vera Molnar’s early freehand drawings that have never been exhibited before, to her late-1960s plotter drawings, through to a new installation that was specially conceived for Museum Haus Konstruktiv. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3OOrYkpMwU
2019 Exhibiton in Muda in zürich: https://muda.co/veramolnar/

Exhibitions + Installations

https://the-adaa.tumblr.com/post/117788020636/computer-art-pioneer-vera-molnar


Installation Berlin Schöneberg train station

Vera Molnar, Gotique, 1988, installation Berlin Schöneberg train station, blue adhesive tape on window The series 'Gothique' was created on the occasion of a commissioned work for the German-French exhibition 'Construction and Conception'. The show was arranged for the station Schöneberg in Berlin which was still shut down back in 1988. Vera Molnar implemented a work on the windows of the railway's hall. The installation picks up the existing architectonic structures of the glass front - high and slender like the gothic ideal. "The work is based on an intense reflection concerning proportions. After I had left one of the ideals of forms, the square, behind and lengthened it, I did not go any further than the proportions of the golden ratio allowed... After the cube, after the rectangle based on the rules of the golden ratio, I stuck to the double cubes, the quadruple cube, arriving at the 'wild' proportions in the end, e.g. 1:30. In this case it was hardly a rectangle anymore, rather a thick line. More precisely, you find yourself visually 'in between the two': neither line nor bar... These elongated rectangles, gothic, truly amazed me as antipodes to the canon of ancient beauty. It was like a healthful shaking at the point on which I had been comfortable with my aesthetic understanding.' Vera Molnar interviewed by Marc Chauveau, 2010.


Vera Molnar “Drawings 1949-1986” Senior & Shopmaker Gallery

poster for Vera Molnar “Drawings 1949-1986”
poster for Vera Molnar “Drawings 1949-1986”

[Image: Vera Molnar "2 Lettres M (du cycle M Comme Malevich)" (1961) collage on cardboard, 8 5/8 x 12 1/2 in.] This event has ended. A pioneer of computer art, Hungarian artist Vera Molnar, born in Budapest in 1924 and a resident of Paris since 1947, has established a prominent position in the field of Constructivist-Concrete art but is virtually unknown in this country. Working in Paris alongside artists such as Francois Morellet, Julio Le Parc, Jesus Rafael Soto, and Victor Vasarely, Molnar was a founding member in 1960 of the Research Group for Visual Art (“Groupe de Recherche d’art Visuel,” or GRAV), which espoused minimal, non-objective image-making, and gave rise to the Op-Art and Kinetic Art movements of the following decade. Still active today at 93, Molnar’s remarkable practice encompasses painting, drawing and collage, computer drawings, photography, and installation. The artist’s second exhibition at Senior & Shopmaker Gallery will feature computer drawings made between 1968 and 1986, as well as a small selection of pre-computer works on paper made between 1949 and 1970. An e-catalogue will accompany the exhibition. Beginning in 1968, the computer became a central device in the making of Molnar’s paintings and drawings, allowing her to more comprehensively investigate endless variations in geometric shape and line. Molnar learned the early programming languages of Fortran and Basic, and gained access to a computer at a research lab in Paris where she began to make computer graphic drawings on a plotter, several of which are included in the exhibition. Using the computer’s high calculation speed and signal capacity to arrive at a large number of variables, Molnar nonetheless insists upon the importance of hazard and chance in the final outcome—by injecting small programming “interferences,” she offsets predictable outcomes.

Molnar’s work has been the subject of retrospectives at the Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany, 2006; the Musée des Beaux Arts, Rouen, France, 2012; and the Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland, 2015, co-organized with the Museum fur Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany. Group exhibitions include Dynamo, curated by Serge Lemoine and Matthieu Poirier, Grand Palais, Paris, France, 2013; Abstraction/Figuration, Musée des Beaux Arts, Rennes, France, 2014; From Minimalism Into Algorithm, The Kitchen, New York, 2016; and Sixfold Symmetry: Pattern in Art and Science, Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum of Art, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, 2017. Currently Molnar’s drawings are included in Thinking Machines: Art and Design in the Computer Age, 1959-1989, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and The Other Trans-Atlantic: Kinetic and Op Art in Eastern Europe and Latin America 1950s – 1970s, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, in collaboration with Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, and SESC, Sao Paulo. Her work is included in such notable public collections as The Morgan Library and Museum, New York; Musée Nationale d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen; National Gallery, Budapest; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.


RELATED ARTISTS

Lillian Schwartz (American, 1927)


Manfred Mohr (German, 1938)

https://studiovisitshow.com/2015/06/28/series-nine/


George Nees (German, 1926-2016)

Georg Nees – Schotter 1968. Nees had to write his own graphics libraries. His works often deals with order vs disorder.
Georg Nees – Schotter 1968. Nees had to write his own graphics libraries. His works often deals with order vs disorder.
He also made the world’s first computer-generated sculpture in 1968 using a computer aided milling machines.
He also made the world’s first computer-generated sculpture in 1968 using a computer aided milling machines.

Sol LeWitt (American, 1928-2007)

https://publicdelivery.org/sol-lewitt-wall-drawings/


François Morellet (French, 1926-2016)

a French contemporary painter, sculptor, and light artist

François Morellet — Réinstallations — Centre Georges Pompidou ...
François Morellet — Réinstallations — Centre Georges Pompidou ...

Pierrette Bloch (French-Swiss, 1928-2017)

Pierrette Bloch was a French-Swiss artist known her abstract paintings and drawings.

Pierrette Bloch — AWARE Archives of Women Artists, Research and ...
Pierrette Bloch — AWARE Archives of Women Artists, Research and ...

ARTICLES + ADDITIONAL REFERENCES

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/research-journal/issue-no.-6-summer-2014/cataloguing-change-women,-art-and-technology/

https://www.surfacemag.com/articles/vera-molnar-in-thinking-machines-at-moma


https://oniris.art/artistes/vera-molnar/ Presentation of Vera Molnar (French) - by Galerie Oniris - where she exhibited since 1995 https://oniris.art/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Molnar-_-Oniris.pdf Her works - Galerie Oniris https://oniris.art/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Molnar-papiers.pdf


Article (pdf): “Vera Molnar’s Computer Paintings” by ALINE GUILLERMET This article explores how Molnar’s computer-generated works used programming as a means to reflect upon the autographicity of the handmade trace in drawing and painting https://watermark.silverchair.com/rep_2020_149_1_1.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAokwggKFBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggJ2MIICcgIBADCCAmsGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMfVssFztuLrpU6GLEAgEQgIICPIpgyLJVzGP4FK8nXeRNVKcQry7eCX_6xehglPXMldmP-6ZUFqBT0D8lCQVgRr7ZBVqX-c_uk7ibxPxAc94PkgObkms3LjJpw1z838FnMuACHWfMdV65GJFMBamjKwOzPLUh7TAQfgenXKzTI8Tnqhv53gSX5OFas2gUUp7fssXVxjBcdPq2gUrfUABtbo-ImdOJaREBrpxHocka0Slmzj-uJ4FCIzrXCH1u1sK-RN37McMW8HgdPyVeSd2-a3u511TqC887xnQSZ0Ufs4OjzKPfzlf8I7HDuQGVfRSFLZrRA0zzZwc7N99VD4YJNwKeIJ9BICvsbHxN7KE9SEeCHnt4pg9OnwZ1pu7rrGq32ShkBVL8ZSRfUbtKa4p6z5z3HbnwRQpC_tWM08MWVEjEGg_xeJfq_lrZU-5o5955HbYyxlMB_KsSfE01HwjKlGWFc4UEzAsnHNVinIeyIJDakddee_NMMq8VxMhCeNshmJPudKphOMqK71i7u0VHUgpXACvJmGy_Hvh9Wku-6NACT4NNukdY9W5Fgxsrc0mD73Fj3ltzcpTJjvsKiHlx2WvLAMvNzoIkF6WSlYAwrVDmDbZnr087sgG6oyU3jIludQZ0FbDkOG7sRrDXRlu-oqDt3OmFzki7N8V2fEcCzLvWQ7SUjbSroIoH2MN-NivTn3ji46b0vU-9eu8IakVZnchO5hi3OH5dzcqb5t7dxs8972SYNV852-XU049UFsgb4Qxj5kQwmMXT_RFMVLjR

broader context
broader context

Toward Aesthetic Guidelines for Paintings with the Aid of a Computer, Vera Molnár, 1975

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rxo9oDUEU-WZCbeuZmwByXqpfBkAD5LC/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rxo9oDUEU-WZCbeuZmwByXqpfBkAD5LC/edit


Vera Molnar’s Exploration of the Unimaginable Rachel R. Roe-Dale: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/itr22xpSh6fbm6eSqycd/full?target=10.1080%2F10724117.2019.1568081&

Monoskop article on Vera: https://monoskop.org/Vera_Moln%C3%A1r


Technical Information

Fortran language manual: http://www-eio.upc.edu/lceio/manuals/Fortran95-manual.pdf


Plotters

This is a Benson plotter
This is a Benson plotter

Contemporary Pen Plotter work

https://mattdesl.svbtle.com/pen-plotter-1


You can buy pen plotter yourself! :) https://axidraw.com/