Association des amis du musée cantini Marseille 1982

Created in 1982, this original exhibition poster by Simon Hantaï was designed for the Association des Amis du Musée Cantini in Marseille. Combining Hantaï's unmistakable abstract imagery with an innovative typographic composition, the poster reflects the artist's mature period and his enduring influence on post-war European abstraction. Produced as both a cultural announcement and an autonomous work of graphic art, it perfectly embodies the dialogue between contemporary painting and exhibition design.

The composition features two striking rectangular forms—one in vibrant ultramarine blue and the other in deep emerald green—created using Hantaï's celebrated pliage (folding) technique. The irregular white fragments that emerge across each colored surface result from the artist folding and creasing the canvas before applying paint, allowing untouched areas to appear when unfolded. This revolutionary process, which Hantaï developed during the early 1960s, transformed chance into a fundamental creative element and became one of the defining innovations of post-war abstract painting.

Surrounding the abstract forms is a carefully arranged border of repeated typography reading "Association des Amis du Musée Cantini Marseille." Rather than functioning as a simple informational frame, the text becomes an integral visual component, balancing the spontaneity of the painted forms with a restrained architectural structure. The poster is both minimalist and visually powerful, reflecting Hantaï's fascination with rhythm, repetition, and the relationship between form and space.

Born in Hungary in 1922 and later becoming a French citizen, Simon Hantaï emerged as one of the most important figures of post-war abstraction in France. Initially associated with the Surrealists after arriving in Paris in 1948, he gradually developed an entirely original artistic language through his pliage method. His work attracted widespread critical acclaim throughout the 1960s and 1970s, culminating in his representation of France at the 1982 Venice Biennale, the same year this poster was produced. Today, Hantaï's paintings are held in major museum collections including the Centre Pompidou, Tate Modern, the Museum of Modern Art, and numerous international institutions.

Founded in 1936, the Musée Cantini in Marseille is one of France's leading museums devoted to modern and contemporary art. Through exhibitions and collaborations with major twentieth-century artists, the museum has played a significant role in promoting avant-garde movements, making this poster an important document of France's vibrant cultural landscape during the early 1980s.

Printed in a limited edition for members and supporters of the museum association, this poster was never intended as a mass-market decorative print. Like many cultural posters of the period, relatively few examples have survived in excellent condition, making original impressions increasingly desirable among collectors of post-war art, graphic design, and museum ephemera.

Today, Association des Amis du Musée Cantini Marseille remains one of Simon Hantaï's most refined graphic works, combining the revolutionary visual language of the pliage technique with elegant modern typography. It stands as both an outstanding exhibition poster and an important collectible representing one of the greatest innovators of twentieth-century abstract art.

Original poster

Exhibition - Abstract

Mouth of the Rhone , Signed by hand by the artist and dated 82

Good condition, a stain