SPIES, Werner 1937-

PERSONAL: Born April 1, 1937; son of Anton and Margarete (Kloepfer) Spies; married Monique Chapalain; children: Patrick, Alexandra.

ADDRESSES: Home—31 Ave. de Lattre de Tasigny, F-92340 Bourg-la-Reine, France. Office—Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, 4000 Düsseldorf, Eiskellerstrasse 1, Germany.

CAREER: Educator and author. Currently professor of history of modern art, Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany. Musée Nationale de l'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, German commissaire of "Paris-Berlin-Moscow" exhibition, 1977, director, c. 1997—.

MEMBER: Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung, International Association of Art Critics (German section).

AWARDS, HONORS: International Association of Art Critics Exhibition of the Year Award, 2002; honorary doctorate from Free University Berlin, 2003.

WRITINGS:

(Author of introductory text) Max Ernst, Frottagen, Gerd Hatje (Stuttgart, Germany) 1968, translation by Joseph M. Bernstein published as Max Ernst, H. Abrams (New York, NY), 1968, published as Max Ernst: Frottages, Thames & Hudson (London, England), 1969.

Vasarely, Gerd Hatje (Stuttgart, Germany), 1969, translation by Leonard Nims published under same title, H. Abrams (New York, NY), 1969, published as Victor Vasarely, Thames & Hudson (London, England), 1971, expanded German edition published as Victor Vasarely, M. DuMont Schauberg, 1971, translation by Robert Erich Wolf published under same title, H. Abrams (New York, NY), 1971.

Albers, Gerd Hatje (Stuttgart, Germany), 1970, translation by Herma published under same title, H. Abrams (New York, NY), 1970, published as Joseph Albers, Thames & Hudson (London, England), 1971.

Pablo Picasso: Das Plastiche Werke, Gerd Hatje (Stuttgart, Germany), 1971, translation by J. Maxwell Brownjohn published as Sculpture by Picasso, H. Abrams (New York, NY), 1971, published as Picasso Sculpture, Thames & Hudson (London, England), 1972.

Die Rückkehr der Schönen Gärtnerin: Max Ernst, 1950-1970, H. Abrams (New York, NY), 1972.

(Author of text) Rudolf Hoflehner, Krieauer Kreaturen, A. Schroll, 1971.

Max Ernst: Inventar u. Widerspruch, DuMont Schauberg, 1974.

Max Ernst: Die Arche des Max Ernst, Beyeler (Basel, Germany) 1975.

Catalogue Raisonne Max Ernst, three volumes, Menil Foundation (Houston, TX), 1975-1976.

The Running Fence Project: Christo, H. Abrams (New York, NY), 1977.

Garard Titus-Carmel: Suite narwa, A. Maeght, 1978.

Das Auge am Tatort: 80 Begegnungen mit Kunst u. Kunstlern, Prestel (Munich, Germany), 1979.

Max Klinger, 1857-1920: Printed Graphic: An Exhibition of the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (Stuttgart, Germany), 1981.

Max Ernst, Loplop: Die Selbstdarstellung des Kunstlers, Prestel (Munich, Germany), 1982.

Focus on Art, translation by Luna Carne-Ross and John William Gabriel, Rizzoli (New York, NY), 1982.

(Author of introduction) Christo, Surrounded Islands, documentation and photographs by Wolfgang Volz, DuMont (Cologne, Germany), 1984.

Picasso: Pastelle, Zeichnungen, Aquarelle, Gerd Hatje (Stuttgart, Germany), 1986.

Andy Warhol: Cars, die letzten Bilder, Gerd Hatje (Stuttgart, Germany), 1988.

Max Ernst Collages: The Invention of the Surrealist Universe, translation by John William Gabriel, Abrams (New York, NY), 1991.

Picasso, die Zeit nach Guernica 1937-1973, Gerd Hatje (Stuttgart, Germany), 1993.

(Author of introduction) William A. Camfield, Max Ernst: Dada and the Dawn of Surrealism, Prestel (Munich, Germany), 1993.

Picasso's World of Children, translation by John William Gabriel, Prestel (New York, NY), 1994.

(Contributor, with Walter Jens and Hans A. Neunzig) Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Nicolai (Berlin, Germany), 1994.

Pablo Picasso: Wege zur Skulptur: Die Carnets Paris und Dinard von 1928, Prestel (New York, NY), 1995, translation by John William Gabriel published as Pablo Picasso on the Path to Sculpture: The Paris and Dinard Sketchbooks of 1928 from the Marina Picasso Collection, Prestel (New York, NY), 1995.

(With others) Max Ernst: Sculptures, maisons, paysages, Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, France), Dumont (Cologne, Germany), 1998.

Kunstgeschichten: von Bildern und Kunstlern im 20. Jahrhundert, Dumont (Cologne, Germany), 1998.

Max Ernst: Skulpturen, Hauser, Landschaften, Dumont (Cologne, Germany), 1998.

(With Hans Kung and Berthold Leibinger) Auf sicherem Fundament: Festschrift für Erwin Teufel, Anstalt (Stuttgart, Germany), 1999.

Picasso beim Stierkampf, photographs by Hubertus Hierl, Dumont (Cologne, Germany), 2002.

editor

Pour Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Gerd Hatje (Stuttgart, Germany), 1964.

(With Justus Muller Hofstede) Festschrift für Eduard Trier zum 60. Geburtstag, Mann (Berlin, Germany), 1981.

Pablo Picasso: Eine Ausstellung zum hundertsten Geburtstag: Werke aus der Sammlung Marina Picasso: Katalog, Prestel (Munich, Germany), 1981.

(And author of introduction) Max Ernst: A Retrospective, essays by Karin von Maur, Tate Gallery/Prestel (Munich, Germany), 1991.

(And author of introduction) Fernando Botero: Paintings and Drawings, with six short stories by the artist, Prestel (Munich, Germany), 1992.

Richard Lindner: Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings, compiled by Claudia Loyall, Prestel (New York, NY), 1999.

Picasso sculpteur, Centre Pompidou (Paris, France), 2000, published as Pablo Picasso: The Sculptures, Gerd Hatje (Stuttgart, Germany), 2000.

La Revolution surealiste (exhibition catalogue), Centre Pompidou (Paris, France), 2002.

Spies's books have also been published in the Netherlands, France, and Japan.

SIDELIGHTS: The twentieth-century artistic movement known as Surrealism, which encompassed such artists as Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, and Joan Miró, is the focus of art critic, museum curator, and art historian Werner Spies. In particular, Spies produces studies on the art of Ernst and Pablo Picasso; although the latter artist, in the opinion of New York Review of Books reviewer James Fenton, is not "typical" of the movement. "Typical Surrealists," Fenton went on to note, "are the creators of those images by which the movement is remembered." Turning to other artists of the early twentieth century, Spies's studies of Pablo Picasso include Pablo Picasso: The Sculptures, a look at the three-dimensional art of the man more widely known for his paintings. Indeed, Spies refers to Picasso as a "well-kept secret" as a sculptor, both as an innovator and as an influence on future artists. In a Library Journal review of Pablo Picasso: The Sculptures, Doug McClemont praised Spies as someone whose "scholarship … is impeccable, drawing attention to the artist's highly experimental works."

Spies, who serves as director of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, France, has played an instrumental role in uniting the art worlds of France and his native Germany, staging a two-part exhibit in 1977 that, through its focus on illustrating the progression of Modernism throughout Europe, became the first to coordinate the efforts of museum officials in Paris, Berlin, and Moscow.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Apollo, January, 1987, review of Max Ernst Frottages, p. 75.

Artforum International, January, 2002, Brooks Adams "The Surrealist Revolution: Centre Georges Pompidou," p. 63.

Art in America, March, 1989, review of Andy Warhol: Cars, p. 25.

Burlington, March, 1976; January, 1984, review of Picasso: Das Plastiche Werk, p. 59; April, 1996, review of Pablo Picasso on the Path to Sculpture, p. 264.

Choice, January, 1983, review of Focus on Art, p. 698; October, 1983, review of Max Ernst: Loplop, p. 265; July, 1991, review of Max Ernst: A Retrospective, p. 1773; December, 1994, review of Picasso's World of Children, p. 589; March, 2001, review of Pablo Picasso: The Sculptures, p. 1255.

Express, July, 1978.

Figaro, July, 1978.

Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung, May 17, 1975.

Library Journal, August, 1983, review of Max Ernst: Loplop, p. 1473; April 1, 1991, review of Max Ernst Collages, p. 120; November 1, 1994, review of Picasso's World of Children, p. 72; December, 2000, Doug McClemont, review of Pablo Picasso: The Sculpture, p. 114.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, October 9, 1983, review of Max Ernst: Loplop, p. 8.

Neue Zürcher Zeitung, December 6, 1975; August, 1978.

New York Review of Books, May 23, 2002, James Fenton, "Shock Absorbed," pp. 37-39.

Observer (London, England), January 27, 1991, review of Max Ernst Collages: The Invention of the Surrealist Universe, p. 59.

Point, July, 1978.

Publishers Weekly, September 17, 1982, review of Focus on Art, p. 113; June 3, 1983, review of Max Ernst: Loplop, p. 68; February 22, 1991, review of Max Ernst Collages, p. 207.

San Francisco Review of Books, number 4, 1991, review of Max Ernst Collages, p. 47.

Spiegel, December, 1974.

Süddeutsche Zeitung, September, 1975.

Times Literary Supplement, June 26, 1969; March 23, 1984, review of Max Ernst: Loplop, p. 303; December 20, 1991, review of Max Ernst Collages, p. 17.

Welt, February 13, 1975.

Wilson Library Bulletin, June, 1991, review of Max Ernst: A Retrospective, p. 119.

Zeit, July, 1978.*