Mario Simon

Key facts

Born

1959, Austrian

Movements

• Abstract Expressionism
• Contemporary

• What is Mario Simon's most famous work?+

  Mario Simon is known for several paintings, but one he considered his best was *Lute Player*. This work evolved from his earlier painting, *Musicians*, and departs from the allegorical style of *Musicians* and the playful nature of *Mario as Bacchus*. *Lute Player* features a beautiful figure of Mario seated at a marble-topped table. He wears a loose white shirt and is shown with a lute. The composition includes a still life with a violin, madrigal music, flowers, and fruit; all elements are carefully arranged. The music in the painting includes four madrigals, all expressing love. The figure's parted lips and visible tongue suggest he is singing, while a closed bass part for another singer lies on the table. The figure's eyes appear veiled with tears. According to Simon, *Lute Player* invited the viewer into the space while maintaining a certain distance, as the figure silently sings.
• What should I know about Mario Simon's prints?+

  When considering Mario Simon's prints, bear in mind some basic facts about fine art printmaking. The edition claim is a pair of numbers on the left bottom margin of the print. It consists of a print number and an edition number written as a group with a short separating line between them. The print number is written above or to the left; the edition size is written below or to the right. The title of the print is written in the middle of the bottom margin of the print. The signature (or chop mark) is on the right of the bottom margin of the print. Edition descriptions are always signed in pencil. Limited editions involve a set number of prints. All prints should be numbered, such as 35/100. The largest number is the total number of prints in the edition; the smaller number is the sequential number of the actual print. Some artists hold out ten percent as artist’s proofs and number them separately with AP after the number (e.g., 5/100 AP).
• What style or movement did Mario Simon belong to?+

  It is difficult to assign Mario Simon to a single movement. However, the New York School is a possibility. The New York School is a broad term for the Western art world's shift to New York City after World War II, continuing through the 1960s. A 1965 exhibition first used the name, featuring Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko. Paintings by New York School artists were large and abstract. They emphasised bold brushstrokes; critic Harold Rosenberg called these works "action painting". Subjective and gestural, they addressed human impulse and desires. Some artists developed abstract symbolism, using non-figurative forms to suggest real-world appearances. Mark Tobey's work, influenced by Cubism and the Bahai faith, used white lines against dark backgrounds to symbolise unity and movement. Rothko, Still, and Newman worked in large formats, using abstract blocks of colour to evoke space.
• What techniques or materials did Mario Simon use?+

  Due to a lack of specific information about Mario Simon's techniques, I can only offer general information about artistic techniques. Throughout art history, artists have employed diverse materials and methods. Fresco, for example, involves applying pigments to wet plaster, sometimes incorporating coloured molten metals. Panel painting benefited from refined techniques, with artists like Simone Martini even using tools of goldsmiths to create embossed disks and engraved rays on gold surfaces. In glasswork, sandblasting can be used to create reliefs on flashed glass, where a thin layer of colour is removed to reveal the glass underneath. Opaque glass can be used to create wall-mounted glass pictures. Oil painting techniques vary widely. Some artists favour soft brushes and fluid oil mediums for smooth surfaces, while others use coarse hog's hair brushes and palette knives for different effects. Resin casting allows for layering of colours, manipulating light through varying degrees of opacity and transparency. The casting process involves a transparent frame and careful analysis of colour balance.
• What was Mario Simon known for?+

  It is difficult to summarise Mario Simon's artistic focus, as information about him is not widely available. However, based on the provided texts, we can discuss the artistic movements of the time. After World War II, the centre of the Western art world moved from Paris to New York. This period saw the emergence of Abstract Expressionism, where artists aimed to express their state of mind through mostly abstract works. Clement Greenberg advocated for strict formalism, emphasising visual elements over subject matter. Abstract Expressionism had two main branches: gestural abstraction and chromatic abstraction. Gestural abstraction relied on energetic pigment application, while chromatic abstraction focused on the emotional impact of colour. Later, Post-Painterly Abstraction emerged, rejecting the passion of action painting in favour of flatness. Hard-edge painting and color-field painting were variants of this. Minimalism, mainly a sculptural movement, sought purity of form, often reducing works to basic geometric shapes. Op Art aimed to create optical illusions using geometric forms. Pop Art, originating in England, found success in the United States by incorporating popular culture.
• When did Mario Simon live and work?+

  Mario Sironi was born on 12 May 1885 in Sassari, Sardinia. His maternal grandfather, Ignazio Villa, was an architect and inventor. In 1906, his engineer father relocated the family to Rome. After studies at technical college, Sironi enrolled in engineering at the University of Rome in 1902. He abandoned these studies after a neurasthenic illness. The next year, he began at the Scuola Libera del Nudo, befriending Balla, Boccioni, and Severini. In 1908, he shared a flat in Paris with Boccioni, who became a close friend and artistic mentor. In 1910, he travelled to Frankfurt. Richard Wagner, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche were formative influences. Sironi moved to Milan in late 1914 or early 1915. During the First World War, he served at the Front with Filippo Marinetti, Antonio Sant’Elia, and Boccioni. Sironi died on 13 August 1961. The Venice Biennale held a retrospective of his work the following year.
• Where can I see Mario Simon's work?+

  It is difficult to pinpoint specific locations for viewing Mario Simon's work, as available art historical references do not mention him. However, many major museums internationally hold collections of Art Deco and Byzantine works; these may be useful places to start. In the United States, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art (Winter Park, Florida), the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond), and the Wolfsonian (Miami Beach, Florida) all hold relevant collections. In the UK, one might try the Victoria & Albert Museum (London), the National Museums of Scotland (Edinburgh), the Manchester Art Gallery, the Geffrye Museum (London), the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, and the Bakelite Museum. Other museums with relevant collections include the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto) and the Israel Museum (Jerusalem).
• Where was Mario Simon from?+

  Lucien Simon was born in Paris in 1861. He began exhibiting his work at the Salon in 1885. Simon first visited Brittany in 1890, and his work was influenced by Charles Cottet's interpretations of the region. In 1895, Simon met Cottet at Petit’s gallery. Together with Dauchez, Menard, Lobre, Meunier, Gay Milcendea, and Prinet, Simon became part of a group known as the new ‘dark’ school of painting during the 1890s. Simon married the sister of the Breton artist Dauchez, which encouraged his visits to Brittany. In 1893, at the Societe Nationale, he displayed a Breton painting, Mass at Pergue (Finistere), alongside two Parisian interior scenes. This established a pattern in his work for the following decade, balancing Breton subjects with Parisian themes. Throughout his career, Simon also painted fashionable Parisian genre scenes, in addition to his Breton work.
• Who did Mario Simon influence?+

  Monet's art served as a confrontational source of inspiration for other artists. Olga Wisinger-Florian, a student of Schindler, found Monet's garden pictures and flower depictions a recurrent challenge. Her garden and flower pictures resonate with Monet's compositions; however, she maintained her own distinctive style. This is apparent in her flower beds and paths angled into the pictures, the close-up views of flowers, and the characterisation of objects through contrasting tones. For example, Monet's use of colour in depicting gravel in *Main Path through the Garden at Giverny* (Une allée du jardin de Monet, Giverny) is echoed in her *Pergola at Mentone* (1908), *Falling Leaves* (ca. 1895), and *Praterallee in the Fall* (ca. 1900). Monet's pictures of meadows and fields strewn with corn poppies inspired not only French and American painters but also many Central European artists, including the Hungarian Pál Szinyei Merse and the Czech Antonin Chittussi. Olga Wisinger-Florian's *Flowering Poppies* (1895/1900) is like an Austrian response.
• Who influenced Mario Simon?+

  It is difficult to determine Mario Simon's influences with certainty from the passages provided. However, some potential influences can be inferred from the material. One passage mentions Morris Louis, an American painter who developed a colouristic style after being influenced by Abstract Expressionism. Louis's friendship with Noland, and their reciprocal influence on each other's work, may be relevant. Another passage discusses August Macke, who was introduced to French Impressionism and Gauguin during a trip to Paris in 1907. Macke also met Marc in 1909 and worked on the Blauer Reiter exhibition. His exposure to Delaunay led him to become a German Orphist, known for brightly coloured paintings. Magnasco was trained in Milan and Genoa. His development was affected by the Genoan tradition, Lombardian traces of Morazzone and Crespi, and the Neapolitan "macchia" manner. Jacques Callot also seems to have influenced his work. These artists, movements and traditions may have had some effect on Simon's artistic development, though further information would be needed to confirm this.
• Who was Mario Simon?+

  Information on an artist called Mario Merz is available; however, there is no information for an artist called Mario Simon. Mario Merz (1925-2003) was an Italian artist associated with the Arte Povera movement. His work often incorporated neon lights, organic materials, and the Fibonacci sequence. Merz created installations using materials such as clay, glass, and branches. A recurring motif in his work was the igloo, which he saw as a symbol of a basic, habitable space. These igloos were often constructed from metal frames covered with various materials. His first solo exhibition was in 1954 at the Galleria La Bussola in Turin. Subsequent exhibitions of his work were held internationally, including shows at the Kunsthaus Zurich in 1985; the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal in 1987; and the Anthony d'Offay Gallery in London in 1988.
• Why are Mario Simon's works important today?+

  Mario Simon's works are important because of their connection to Latin American conceptualism, which aimed to merge art with political and social activism. His art reflects a desire to affect society, moving beyond formalist concerns. Simon's practice is linked to Simón Rodríguez, a figure who believed in the power of visual communication to clarify ideas and promote social change. Rodríguez, seeing himself as a preacher rather than an artist, used unconventional writing and layout to convey his messages effectively. Simon's work, like that of other Latin American conceptualists, can be seen as part of a tradition where artists act as teachers, addressing social issues and contributing to the construction of culture. This approach contrasts with mainstream art, which often focuses on the aesthetic qualities of the object. Simon's work, by prioritising clarity and social impact over artistic status, challenges the notion of art as a self-contained aesthetic pursuit.