Constant Dutch, 1920-2005
75 1/8 x 78 7/8 inches
In Constant's own words: "Ode à l’Odéon was my first painting after New Babylon. In 1968 there was the student
uprising in Paris, where the Odéon theater was occupied. I was in Paris then, by chance on the Rue de l’Odéon. I
saw it all from close by."
Ref: 'Constant' by Linda Boersma, BOMB 91/Spring 2005/ART
Description Kunstmuseum The Hague: The composition depicts an interior space subdivided into multiple open
zones, defined by lines, grids and painterly marks suggesting scaffolding, walls and floors, interconnected by long
ladders. Shadowy human figures animate the labyrinthine space, conveying a sense of intense collective activity.
Depth is rendered through converging perspective lines and the diminishing scale of spaces, figures and ladders.
The work is characteristic of Constant's New Babylon series (1956–1974), in which he envisioned a nomadic, postrevolutionary city designed for unrestrained creative play.
Provenance
Collection Fondation ConstantOn long term loan to the Kunstmuseum, The Hague since 1974
Exhibitions
Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Constant. New Babylon, 15 June - 1 September 1974
Århus Kunstbygning, Constant. Det Ny Babylon, 1 Aug – 15 Oct 1976
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Constant. Schilderijen 1969-77, 17 March – 7 May 1978
Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Constant. Schilderijen 1940-1980, 27 Sept– 23 Nov 1980
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, ‘60 – ‘80 Attitudes/Concepts/Images. A selection from twenty years of visual arts, 9 April – 11 July 1981
Museum Bochum, Das Prinzip Hoffnung. Aspekte der Utopie in der Kunst und Kultur des 20. Jahrhunderts, (Paintings, Sculptures, Objects and Architecture), 23 Oct 1983 – 15 Jan 1984
Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, Constant 1945-1983, 17 Jan 1986 – 2 March 1986
Centre Pompidou Paris, Sur le passage de quelques personnes à travers une assez courte unité de temps, à propos de l’Internationale Situationniste 1957-1972, traveling exhibition to Institute of Contemporary Arts London and Institute of Contemporary Arts Boston, 21 Feb – 9 Apr 1989
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Constant. Schilderijen (Paintings) 1948-1995, 25 Nov 1995 – 21Jan 1996
Museu d’Art contemporani de Barcelona, Situacionistas: Arte, Politica, Urbanismo, 13 Nov 1996 – 6 Jan 1997
Witte de With, Center for contemporary art, Rotterdam Retrospective exhibition of Constant’s New Babylon project, (with presentation of the book of Mark Wigley, Constant’s New Babylon. The Hyper-Architecture of Desire), 21 Nov 1998 – 10 Jan 1999
Musée Picasso Antibes, Constant - une rétrospective, 30 June – 15 Oct 2001
Documenta 11, Kassel, Constant. New Babylon -
The artistic director was Okwui Enwezor (1963-2019), a Nigerian curator specialising in art history, art critic, writer, and poet. At the opening of the Rétrospective in 2001, he visited Constant at the Picasso Museum in Antibes to prepare for the exhibition.8 June –15 Sept 2002
Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Ode aan Constant (no cat), 3 Dec 2005 – 26 Feb 2006
Centraal Museum, Utrecht, In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni – The Situationist International (1957-1972), 14 Dec 2006 –11 March 2007
Museum Tinguely, Basel, In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni – The Situationist International (1957-1972), 4 Apr – 5 Aug 2007
Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Constant. In het atelier, (presentation of the monograph by Trudy van der Horst, Constant. De late periode. Tegen de stroom in naar essentie. Une peinture nouvelle, BM uitgevers, Nijmegen 2008), 13 Dec 2008 – 22 March 2009
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Constant. Nueva Babilonia / Constant. New Babylon, 20 Oct 2015 – 29 Feb 2016
Gemeentemuseum The Hague, Constant. New Babylon. Aan ons de vrijheid / Constant. New Babylon. To us Liberty, 28 May – 25 Sept 2016
Folkwang Museum, Essen, Wir ist Zukunft. Visionen neuer Gemeinschaften / We Is Future. Visions of New Communities, 24 Nov 2023 – 17 March 2024
Literature
Locher, J.L. and Constant, Introduction and 7 texts by Constant, Planologie of revolutie? exh. cat. New Babylon, Gemeentemuseum, 1974, p. 119, ill. cat.nr. 86 ill.b/w
Jakobsen, Kristian and Constant, Constant. Det Ny Babylon, exh. cat. Århus Kunstbygning, 1976, ill. cat.nr. 17, p. 5
Kelk, Fanny and Constant, Gesprek met Constant en De honden blaffen, de karavaan trekt verder, exh. cat. Constant. Schilderijen 1969-77, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 1978, ill. 1, p. 1 ill. b/w
Locher, J.L., De schilderkunst van Constant, in: Constant. Schilderijen 1940-1980, exh. cat. Gemeentemuseum, 1980, p. 99, cat. 76 ill. b/w
Wilde, Edy de, Ad Petersen, Gijs van Tuyl, Wim Beeren, Antje von Graevenitz and Cor Blok, ’60 –’80 Attitudes / Concepts / Images. A selection from twenty years of visual arts, exh. cat. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 1982, p. 102, ill. 4
Spielmann, Pieter ed., Das Prinzip Hoffnung. Aspekte der Utopie in der Kunst und Kultur des 20.Jahrhunderts, exh. cat. in Museum Bochum, 1983, ill.
Honnef, Klaus, Constant, Gabriele Ülsberg, Constant 1945-1983, exh. cat. Rheinisches Landes-museum, Bonn, 1986, ill. p. 59, cat. 40 ill. b/w
Jorn, Asger, G.E. Debord and Martin Reyss ed., Sur le passage de quelques personnes à travers une assez courte unité de temps. À propos de l’Internationale Situationniste 1957-1972, Éditions du Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Institute of Contemporay Arts, London and the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Boston
Wollen, Peter, Greil Marcus, Mark Francis, Tom Levin, Mirella Bandini, Troels Anderson, Elisabeth Sussman ed., On the passage of e few people through a rather brief moment in time. The Situationist International, cat. travelling exhibition, 1989
Lambert, Jean-Clarence, Constant. Les Trois Espaces, Éditions Cercle d’Art, Paris, 1992, p. 111, ill. 81
Heynen, Hilde, New Babylon of de antinomieën van de utopie, Journal for Architecture Oase 43/ Zwischenraumgespenster, SUN, Nijmegen, 1995, pp. 37-49, ill. pp 46-47
Hummelink, Marcel and Constant, Een dier, een nacht. een schreeuw, een mens...Eenheid en verscheidenheid in het oeuvre van Constant/An Animal, a night, a scream, a human being...Unity and Diversity in Constant’s Work en Het Zien van beeldende kunst. Enkele opmerkingen omtrent zin en onzin van de iconografie/About seeing Works of Art. Observations on the Sense and Nonsense of Iconography, exh. cat. Constant. Schilderijen / Paintings 1948-1995, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1995, p. 41, ill. 31
Hummelink, Marcel and Constant, Constant. Malerier 1948-1995, ex. cat. Constant, Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, Aalborg, 1996, cat.n. 31, p. 41
Arian, Max, Constant in opstend, De Groene Amsterdammer, 1996, ill.
Andreotti, Libero and Xavier Costa, Eds., Miquel Molins, Mirella Bandini, Thomas McDonough, Giorgio Agamben, Constant, Jean-Clarence Lambert, Thomas Y. Levin, Situacionistes: Art, Politica, Urbanisme / Stuationists. Art, Politics, Urbanism, exh. tent. Museu d’Art contemporani de Barcelona,1997, ill. p. 106
Lambert, Jean-Clarence, De Cobra au situationisme (et après), Face à l’histoire 1933-1996. L’artiste moderne devant l’événement historique. Grande Galerie 1933-1980. Galerie Nord 1980-1996, Éditions du Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1996, ill. p. 256
Stillemans, Jean, Eliane Escoubas, Lucien Massaert, Chakè Matossian, Luc Richir eds., Le Part de l’Oeil. Dossier: L’architecture et son lieu, 1997
Sadler, Simon, The Situationist City, The MIT Press, 1998, ill
Wigley, Mark, Constant and Bartomeu Marí, Constant’s New Babylon. The Hyper-Architecture of Desire, (published on the occasion of the retrospective, Witte de With, centrum voor hedendaagse kunst / 010 Publishers, Rotterdam 1998, p. 198, ill. 1
Lambert, J.C, Constant. L’Atelier d’Amsterdam, Éditions Cercle d’Art, Paris, 2000, p. 29, ill. 1
Careri, Francesco, Constant. New Babylon. Una città nomade, Universale di architettura. Collana fondata da Bruno Zevi, Testo & Immagine, 2001, p. 89
Fréchuret, Maurice, Philippe Dagen, Laurent Cervereau, Francesco Careri and Trudy van der Horst, Constant - une rétrospective, exh. cat. Musée Picasso Antibes, 2001, p. 104, ill. 48
Rappolt, Mark, No more theory; nothing but practice. Constant after New Babylon, Constant and Jean-Clarence Lambert, Constant: The Amsterdam Studio, in Architectural Association School of Architecture, London, No. 44, Autumn 2001, pp. 21-37, ill. p. 29
Schaik, Martin van and Otakar Mácel (eds) c.s., Exit Utopia. Architecturel Provocations 1956-76, Prestel Verlag, Munich-Berlin-London-New York, 2005, p. 228, ill. 78
Zweifel, Stefan, Juri Steiner, Heinz Stahlhut Eds, In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni – The Situationist International (1957-1972), exh. cat. Centraal Museum Utrecht, 2006 & Museum Tinguely, Basel, 2007, JRP | Ringier, Zürich 2006, cat. 037|040
Horst, Trudy van der, Constant. De late periode. Tegen de stroom in naar essentie. Une peinture nouvelle, BnM uitgevers, Nijmegen 2008, p. 198, ill. 189
Borja-Villel, Manuel, Laura Stamps, Willemijn Stokvis, Pedro G. Romero, Mark Wigley, Constant, Pascal Gielen, Rem Koolhaas, Trudy van der Horst, Constant. Nueva Babilonia, exh. cat. tent. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2016), publication Department of MNCARS, 2015, ill. p. 255
Tempel, Benno, Laura Stamps, Willemijn Stokvis, Mark Wigley, Constant, Pascal Gielen, Rem Koolhaas, Pascal Gielen and Trudy van der Horst, Constant. New Babylon. Aan ons de vrijheid, exh. cat. Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Hannibal / Hatje Cantz, 2016, ill. p. 192
Pro, Juan and Constant Nieuwenhuys, Nueva Babilonia [La utopía de la ciudad ideal en el siglo XX], Ediciones Cátedra, Spain, p. 86, ill. 26
Herlemann, Rebecca, Antonina Krezdorn eds, Laura Stamps, Wir ist Zukunft. Visionen neuer Gemeinschaften / We Is Future. Visions of New Communities, exh. cat. Museum Folkwang, Essen and Hatje Cantz Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 2024, ill. p. 195
Publications
Herk, Arne van, Prof., Menu of the day, inaugural speech by Professor Arne van Herk upon accepting his professorship in Architecture Design, Form and Materialisation at the Architecture Faculty of the Technical University Delft, November 26, 1996, Publicatie bureau Bouwkunde, Delft, 1997
Lamoree, Jim, Lamoree and the Masters, a film clip about Constant's New Babylon, broadcast on Avro Kunstuur, January 21, 2012
Borja-Vllel, Manuel and Laura Stamps, El Reina Sofía recrea la utópica Nueve Babilonia de Constant,
Video of an interview during the exhibition Constant. Nueve Babilonia at the Museo Reina Sofía Madrid, October 21, 2015
Jankowski, Mylene, Constant and the canonisation process in the Stedelijk Museum, research by Mylene Jankowski on the collection of Constant’s work by the museum transcending several directorships, 1 Jan 2015 (academic paper)
Postma, Casper, Adri, interview met Adri Duivesteijn in voorbereiding van zijn openingstoespraak van de tentoonstelling Constant – New Babylon. Aan ons de vrijheid in het Kunstmuseum Den Haag, 28 May, 2016
Postma, Casper, Adri, Constant en de weg naar de onbekende stad (Constant and the Road to the Unknown City), an interview with Adri Duivesteijn in preparation for his opening speech for the exhibition Constant – New Babylon. Freedom is Ours at the Kunstmuseum The Hague, 28 May 2016
Rappolt, Mark, Renewed art is not interesting for me. Why always renew art?, an interview with Constant by Mark Rappolt in 2003, in Art Review, vol. 69, no 7, October 2017