(born Alkmaar in 1931)
‘V 70–19 TB – random objectivation’, 1970, titled, dated, inscribed and signed hermandevries on the reverse, wooden relief, in white, 60 x 60 x 9 cm, (PS)

Provenance:
Private Collection, North Rhine Westphalia

The artist then continued without interruption to develop his white homogeneous structures: the focus was then on objectivation, which was entirely determined by chance, whilst the artist as a person remained absent. In 1962 he created his first ‘random-objectivations’, on which he continued to work until 1975.

The present wooden relief from 1970 is a paramount example of the ‘random-objectivations’ series. De Vries’s sources are either punch cards or numerical series chosen at random from the book ‘Statistical tables for biological, agricultural and medical research’ edited by Fisher and Yates. Based on those codes, he developed a programme that would, for example, assign a specific value to every number, that is, an x/y coordinate system that permits the deciphering of the heights, lengths and arrangement of the wooden cuboid. Combined with the omission of colour, this leads to an architectural lightness that infuses the relief with a harmonious and balanced effect.

Herman de Vries created his first white collages in 1958. ‘As a result of an increasing drastic reduction of means’ his works ‘became white and empty – empty also in terms of content.’(1)
From 1960 onwards, together with the five artists Armando, Kees van Bohemen, Jan Henderikse, Henk Peeters and Jan Schoonhoven he belonged to the Netherlandish group called ‘nul’, which had close ties with the German ZERO group. This association lead to the publication of the journal nul=0, a journal for a new conception of art in 1961, which de Vries published in collaboration with others at first, and subsequently on his own. The artistic starting point is the new beginning, the zero point, the search for an objective art that is shorn of emotional value.
As De Vries stated in an interview in 1984, ‘The white pictures I created at that time are the actual turning point, the beginning of everything that would come later, to which I [...] would constantly return as a reference. It was the most important time for me personally.’(2)

(1) Alexander Baier, Interview ‘nackt fühlt man sich freier’, 1984, in ‘Herman de Vries. To be. Texte, Textarbeiten, Textbilder’, Verlag Cantz, Ostfildern 1995, pp. 100–104.
(2) Ibid.

Provenance:
Private Collection, North Rhine Westphalia

The artist then continued without interruption to develop his white homogeneous structures: the focus was then on objectivation, which was entirely determined by chance, whilst the artist as a person remained absent. In 1962 he created his first ‘random-objectivations’, on which he continued to work until 1975.

The present wooden relief from 1970 is a paramount example of the ‘random-objectivations’ series. De Vries’s sources are either punch cards or numerical series chosen at random from the book ‘Statistical tables for biological, agricultural and medical research’ edited by Fisher and Yates. Based on those codes, he developed a programme that would, for example, assign a specific value to every number, that is, an x/y coordinate system that permits the deciphering of the heights, lengths and arrangement of the wooden cuboid. Combined with the omission of colour, this leads to an architectural lightness that infuses the relief with a harmonious and balanced effect.

Herman de Vries created his first white collages in 1958. ‘As a result of an increasing drastic reduction of means’ his works ‘became white and empty – empty also in terms of content.’(1)
From 1960 onwards, together with the five artists Armando, Kees van Bohemen, Jan Henderikse, Henk Peeters and Jan Schoonhoven he belonged to the Netherlandish group called ‘nul’, which had close ties with the German ZERO group. This association lead to the publication of the journal nul=0, a journal for a new conception of art in 1961, which de Vries published in collaboration with others at first, and subsequently on his own. The artistic starting point is the new beginning, the zero point, the search for an objective art that is shorn of emotional value.
As De Vries stated in an interview in 1984, ‘The white pictures I created at that time are the actual turning point, the beginning of everything that would come later, to which I [...] would constantly return as a reference. It was the most important time for me personally.’(2)
(1) Alexander Baier, Interview ‘nackt fühlt man sich freier’, 1984, in ‘Herman de Vries. To be. Texte, Textarbeiten, Textbilder’, Verlag Cantz, Ostfildern 1995, pp. 100–104.
(2) Ibid.