A specialist in 20th-century European and American art, Yve-Alain Bois is recognized as an expert on a wide range of artists, from Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso to Piet Mondrian, Barnett Newman, and Ellsworth Kelly. His talk is titled "Chance Encounters: John Cage, François Morellet, Ellsworth Kelly."
Bois has curated and co-curated numerous influential exhibitions, including Piet Mondrian, A Retrospective (1994-95); L’informe, mode d’emploi (1996); and Matisse and Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry (1999). His books include Matisse and Picasso (1998), for which he received the Alfred H. Barr award in 2001; Formless: A User’s Guide (with Rosalind Krauss, 1998); Painting as Model (1990); and Art Since 1900 (with Benjamin Buchloh, Hal Foster, and Rosalind Krauss, 2004). Bois is currently a faculty member at the School for Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ.
The lecture is presented in conjunction with the special exhibition Chance Aesthetics now on view at the Kemper Art Museum, and is co-sponsored by the Department of Art History and Archaeology. The talk will be preceded by a reception at 6 pm in Steinberg Hall.




