This first volume in a catalogue raisonné of Tuymans’s paintings surveys nearly 200 works from the vital early years of his career

Credited with a key role in the revival of painting in the 1990s, Belgian artist Luc Tuymans (b. 1958) continues to produce subtle, and at times unsettling, works that engage with history, technology, and everyday life. This first volume in a catalogue raisonné of Tuymans’s paintings surveys nearly 200 works that were vital to his artistic development. The years 1978 to 1994 witnessed the maturation of his signature method of painting from preexisting imagery—such as magazine images, Polaroids, and television footage—as well as his first solo exhibition. Also dating from this period are many of his seminal canvases, along with ten poignant portraits of the ailing human body and the enigmatic series Superstition that comprised his first works exhibited in the United States.
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The catalogue features an introductory essay by Eva Meyer-Hermann and an illustrated chronology with archival images and installation shots of the works in this volume. It also includes brilliant new photography of each of the paintings. This publication is a testament to Tuymans’s persistent assertion of the relevance and importance of painting—a conviction that he maintains even in today’s digital world, when his work continues to be a touchstone for artists and scholars.