Carel Balth (

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, November 25, 1939 –

Vreeland Vreeland () is a village in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It was a part of the former municipality of Loenen. Since 2011 it has been part of the new formed municipality of Stichtse Vecht. It is located on the river Vecht, about 2 km nort ...

, July 10, 2019) was a Dutch artist and

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

. He was self-taught and lived and worked in the Netherlands and Italy. Between 1987 and 1999 he worked regularly from his studio in White Street in New York. The main themes in his work are light, time, space and movement. Balth has made many different kinds of works in his career, but his hallmark is exploring the intersections between

abstract photography Abstract may refer to: *"Abstract", a 2017 episode of the animated television series '' Adventure Time'' * ''Abstract'' (album), 1962 album by Joe Harriott * Abstract algebra, sets with specific operations acting on their elements * Abstract of t ...

, painting and new media. * 60s/70s: Light Objects In the late 1960s, he began with the abstract Light Objects, made of crystal-clear

plexiglass Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bran ...

, sometimes combined with metal bands. By cutting the material and then projecting artificial light onto the object, he creates special light and shadow lines and shapes on the wall, creating a new composition. He had several exhibitions at the avant-garde Galerie Swart in Amsterdam. Mondriaan and

Lucio Fontana Lucio Fontana (; 19 February 1899 – 7 September 1968) was an Italian Argentines, Argentine-Italian painter, sculptor, and theorist. He is known as the founder of Spatialism and exponent of Abstract art, abstract painting as the f ...

are important for the development of his work. The straight line, which divides and connects at the same time, is an element that recurs throughout Balth's oeuvre. * 70s/80s: Abstract Photography Balth uses various techniques to delve into the interplay of light and time. In the 70s and 80s, photography played a major role in this. He is one of the pioneers of

. By photographing the same architectural form by day and night in his Light Photo Works, he connects daylight with artificial light, reality with abstraction. In The New Collage he captures the light on beautiful foil, stuck to a corner of an exterior wall. Later, he incorporates the same foil into the print of the photo. In doing so, he creates a special interplay between the three-dimensionality of the photographed subject and the final collage on the flat surface. The photo becomes an object. In his

Polaroid Polaroid may refer to: * Polaroid Corporation Polaroid Corporation was an American company that made instant film and cameras, which survives as a brand for consumer electronics. The company was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land, to exploit his P ...

Paintings, Balth edits the Polaroid photos with his nails during the development process, leaving his signature on an image that does not yet exist at that time. * The 90s: New techniques In his Laser Paintings, Balth experiments with new light: laser. He uses this technique to 'paint' on canvas, a medium with which he once started his career as a painter in 1967. In his series of laser paintings 'The Touch', Balth uses the brushstrokes of the French Impressionist

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

, which he magnifies 2500 times. An ode to the French master who, like Balth, but some 100 years earlier, was always looking for light and the effect of light in his work. In 1997, Balth brought his research into light and reflection to The Vinyls, large pieces of canvas hanging off the wall with poetic semi-abstract images on them. * 2001-2019: Videowatercolors Since 2001, Balth has been using two or more moments from a digital video in the Videowatercolors, which he freezes in time, as it were. By combining these different 'video grabs' in 1 print, a new, often painterly image is created, which connects space and time. Always separated by a horizontal or vertical line, Balth combines two different moments from time, which he brings together in 1 image. The images from the videos Balth chooses often have the fluid effect of watercolour on paper. Hence the term 'videowatercolors'. Light, movement and the passage of time are important elements in this series.

Museums

His work can be found in, among others, the following museums: *

Stedelijk Museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Kunstmuseum Den Haag The Kunstmuseum Den Haag is an art museum in The Hague in the Netherlands, founded in 1866 as the Museum voor Moderne Kunst. Later, until 1998, it was known as Haags Gemeentemuseum, and until the end of September 2019 as Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. I ...

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

Museum of Modern Art, New York The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, and includes over 200,000 works of arc ...

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Louisiana Museum of Modern Art The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, also known as the Louisiana, is an art museum located north of Copenhagen, Denmark. Attracting over 700,000 guests annually, the Louisiana is Scandinavia's most visited museum for Modern art, modern and contempor ...

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National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

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Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal Museum De Lakenhal is the city museum of fine art and history in Leiden, Netherlands. Founded in 1874, its collection ranges from early works by Rembrandt van Rijn and Lucas van Leyden's ''Last Judgement'' to modern classics of De Stijl and artwork ...

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

Kröller-Müller Museum The Kröller-Müller Museum () is a national art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. The museum, founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller within the extensive grounds of ...

Otterlo Otterlo is a village in the municipality of Ede of province of Gelderland in the Netherlands, in or near the Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe. The Kröller-Müller Museum, named after Helene Kröller-Müller, is situated nearby and has the world ...

Henry Art Gallery The Henry Art Gallery ("The Henry") is a contemporary art museum located on the campus of the University of Washington, in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located on the west edge of the university's campus along 15th Avenue N.E. in the Un ...

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Groninger Museum The Groninger Museum () is an art museum in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. The museum exhibits modern and contemporary art of local, national, and international artists. The museum opened in 1874. The current post-modernist building c ...

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

* Stedelijk Museum Schiedam,

Schiedam Schiedam () is a large town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of the city Rotterdam, east of the town Vlaardingen and south of the city Delft. In the south, Schi ...

* Museum Voorlinden,

Wassenaar Wassenaar (; population: in ) is a municipality and town located in the province of South Holland, on the western coast of the Netherlands. An affluent suburb of The Hague, Wassenaar lies north of that city on the N44/A44 highway near the Nort ...

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 117,000 work ...

* Fleming Museum of Art,

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* Städtiches Museum Abteiberg, Monchengladbach * Museo Fondazione Antonio & Carmela Calderara,

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

* Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain,

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

Television programs

* Exhibition of Carel Balth in Museum EICAS on Dutch National Television "Nu te Zien!" on 28 oktober 2024 * Exhibition interview of Carel Balth in Galerie Swart, Amsterdam on Dutch National Television "NOS Scala" on 29 augustus 1969

Gallery

Light object Carel Balth 16 stainless steel rings

Polaroid Painting About the Reality of Peace 1986

Videowatercolor Street perception II Carel Balth

Videowatercolor Night Lights V Carel Balth

Selected exhibitions

* 2024-2025 Museum EICAS in Deventer: 03 The Poetry of Light * 2024 Gallery Borzo on PAN Amsterdam * 2022 Double Je (collection Durand-Dessert) Musée d'art Moderne et Contemporain in Saint-Étienne * 2020 Kjubh Kunstverein in Cologne: Beauty in Restraint * 2017 Parts Project 06 in The Hague * 2013 Louisiana Art & Science Museum in Baton Rouge: The Edge of Vision * 2012 Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland: The Edge of Vision * 2011 The Henry Art Gallery in Seattle * 2010 Center for Creative Photography in Tucson: The Edge of Vision

Abstract photography Abstract may refer to: *"Abstract", a 2017 episode of the animated television series '' Adventure Time'' * ''Abstract'' (album), 1962 album by Joe Harriott * Abstract algebra, sets with specific operations acting on their elements * Abstract of t ...

* 2009 Aperture Foundation in New York: The Edge of Vision * 2009 China Pingyao Photography Festival in Pingyao * 2002 Kunstraum Innsbruck * 2001 Kunstmuseum The Hague: The Beauty of Intimacy * 2001 Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden Baden: The Beauty of Intimacy * 2000 Kunstmuseum The Hague * 1992 Elga Wimmer Gallery New York * 1989 Danforth Museum in Boston: Vision and Revision, recent art from the Netherlands * 1988 Städtisches Museum Abteiberg in Monchengladbach: Collectie Etzold * 1988 Kunsthalle Dusseldorf: Similia/Dissimilia * 1987 Columbia University New York, Leo Castelli Gallery: Similia/Dissimilia * 1987 Vereniging van het S.M.A.K in Ghent * 1986 Folkwang Museum in Essen * 1985 Groninger Museum * 1983 Museum hedendaagse Kunst Utrecht * 1981 Mercato del Sale in Milan * 1978 Gallery Banco / Massimo Minini in Brescia * 1978 Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels: Les Livres d'artistes * 1977 Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven * 1977 Galerie Durand-Dessert in Paris * 1977 Musee d'Art et d'Industrie in St Etienne * 1975 Galerie Swart in Amsterdam * 1974 Folkwang Museum in Essen * 1974 Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam * 1972 Galerie Swart in Amsterdam * 1972 La Polena in Genova * 1972 Galerie Keller in Munich * 1969 Galerie Swart in Amsterdam * 1969 Stedelijk Museum Schiedam

Groups of works

* Light Objects 1969–1975 * Light Photo Works 1975–1978 * The New Collages 1979–1982 * Polaroid Paintings 1982–1986 * Laser Paintings 1986–1995 * Natsune Paper Works 1995–2000 * The Vinyls 1997–1999 * Videowatercolors 2000–2019

Media

* * Upchurch, Michael 'Videowatercolors' play with time and space The Seattle Times 2011 * Brian Miller, The Henry's Two Big Fall Shows. Brain art vs. body art The Seattle Weekly 2011 * Heingartner, Douglas Videowatercolors: the Perception of Meaning 2007 * Brehm, Margrit Die Verwandlung von Potenzialität in Realität. Einige Gedanken zu den Videowatercolors von Carel Balth Heart Beat 2005 * Jansen, Gregor Die Errettung der äußeren Wirklichkeit. Medientheoretische Überlegungen zu den Videowatercolor Heart Beat 2005 * Mac Giolla Léith, Caoimhín Carel Balth's The New Collages and the psychodynamics of vision Heart Beat 2005 * Wieczorek, Marek From Magneple to Videowatercolors: The Heart Beat in Balth's Oeuvre Heart Beat 2005 * Van Hasselt, Kai / van Zeil, Wieteke “Dit is mijn meta-kunstwerk” Volkskrant 2005 * Bronwasser, Sacha Dicht op de huid van de kunstenaar Volkskrant 2001 * Piller, Micky Intensiteit en bravoure Het Financieële Dagblad 2001 * Put, Roos van Intimiteit van de gedachte Haagsche Courant 2001 * Smallenburg, Sandra De charme van ontluikende seksualiteit NRC Handelsblad 2001 * Stiemer, Flora De jaren negentig: vrijheid en betrokkenheid Algemeen Dagblad 2001 * Velde, Paola van de Intimiteit van de jaren negentig De Telegraaf 2001 * Wieczorek, Marek Sky Lines: recent work of Carel Balth 2001 * Roos, Renate Vogelflug im Bild Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger 1999 * Wieczorek, Marek Reflections: The World Writ Large with Carel Balth 1997 * Ooms, Toine The Interactive Exhibition; Tools and Tales, CD-Rom Catalogue Artis, ‘s-Hertogenbosch 1994 * Wieczorek, Marek The Touch of Light: Laser Paintings by Carel Balth 1993 * Ostrow, Saul "Shifting Ground, Unstable Territories" Sytsema Galleries, Baarn 1992 * Van Mulders, Wim "Permutations of Unveiled Realities" Kunst Nu 87-5 1987 * Norden, Linda Similia/Dissimilia:"Carel Balth" Similia/Dissimilia, pp. 69–73 1987 * Kouwenhoven, Frank "De schilderijen van Carel Balth, het vangen van licht" Cicero nr. 8. Leiden 1986 * Stachelhaus, Heiner Foto oder Malerei – das ist die Frage Neue Ruhr Zeitung, Essen 1986 * Van Mulders, Wim "Fictions of a Clear Conscience" Groninger Museum, Groningen. Museum Folkwang Essen Carel Balth: The Next Stage of Knowing pp. 7–24, 31- 53 1986 * Scheers-Simons, Marijke "Carel Balth" De Bouwadviseur, nr. 7/8 pp. 28–31 1985 * Balth, Carel "A way in painting? "Arte Factum, nr. 6, Antwerp, pp. 48-50 1984 * Daval, Jean-Luc In: La Photographie, Histoire d'un Art. Albert Skira, Geneva, pp. 249 1982 * Caroli, Flavio Enciclopedia, il magico primario in Europa. Galleria Civica, Modena 1981 * Piller, Micky “The Light and Dark Side of Carel Balth’s Reality” Carel Balth: Towards a Monumental Lyricism. pp. 5–14 1980 * Art Actuel. Editions d’Art Albert Skira, Geneva Skira Annuel 5. 1979 * Debbaut, Jan / Liat, Kwee Swan / Wintgens, Doris / Balth, Carel * Carel Balth, Light-Photoworks, Transitions and Diptychs. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven 1978 * Peters, Phillip “Tekenen met Licht” Kunstbeeld. Amsterdam 1978 * Rotzler, Willy “Calculated Phantasy”. Rizzoli, Inc. New York Constructive Concepts, pp. 203 1977 * Balth, Carel Catalogue Museum Folkwang, Essen 1974 * Kerber, Bernhard “Carel Balth” Art International XVIII nr. 4, pp. 48–49 1974 * Daval, Jean-Luc In: La Photographie, Histoire d'un Art. Lugano Edition d'Art Albert Skira, Geneva, pp. 249 1974 * Stachelhaus, Heiner “Seeing and Understanding Light. Notes on the Work of Carel Balth” Carel Balth: The Art of Seeing pp. 1–20 1974 * Kerber, Bernhard “Works between painting and relief” Carel Balth: The Art of Seeing, pp. 20–25 1974 * Odenhausen, Helmut “Giochi di luce e di superfice” Acciaio, Acier, Stahl, Steel, nr. 1 1970

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balth, Carel 1939 births 2019 deaths Dutch male painters Painters from Rotterdam Dutch conceptual artists Dutch contemporary artists Conceptual art 20th-century Dutch painters 21st-century Dutch painters 20th-century Dutch male artists Dutch abstract artists Abstract photographers