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Lot Essay
A perfect rectangular relief comprised of 225 smaller squares, Jan Schoonhoven’s R74-6 is mesmerising in its unassuming elegance. The movement of light across the papier-mâché intersections and planes creates a rhythmic sequence, which critic Roberta Smith described as a sensation that achieves ‘both a quietly stunning variety and a sense of timelessness through utmost simplicity’ (R. Smith, ‘Jan Schoonhoven at David Zwirner’, The New York Times, February 12, 2015, p. C30). Through his restricted geometric formula of horizontal and vertical marks, Schoonhoven produced a poetics of line and form, embodied in the present work’s intricate, almost ethereal lattice of white.
Together with Armando, Henk Peeters and Jan Henderikse, Schoonhoven founded the Dutch Nul Group in 1961. Nul represented an anti-bohemian movement against artistic uniqueness and authenticity by advocating for repetition, seriality, and monochromaticity. Their artworks were not to be interpretative or creative bursts of expression, but matters of objective fact. Dutch Nul was closely aligned with the influential German ZERO group, whose ethos Schoonhoven found inspiring: ‘The need to avoid preference for particular places and points in the work of art is essential to ZERO and necessary to provide an isolated reality… ZERO is first and foremost a new concept of reality, in which the individual role of the artist is kept to a minimum’ (J. Schoohoven, quoted in De nieuwe stijl, werk van de internationale avant-garde, deel 1, Amsterdam, 1965, pp. 118, 123). Schoonhoven was perhaps the most ardent follower of his own group’s maxims, evidenced not only by this work’s neutral white tone and structured grid, but also by its title: R signifies relief, 74, the year of its creation, and 6, the number in the series in that year. R74-6 is a meticulously executed demonstration of Dutch Nul’s ideal and Schoonhoven’s unique interpretation of it.
Together with Armando, Henk Peeters and Jan Henderikse, Schoonhoven founded the Dutch Nul Group in 1961. Nul represented an anti-bohemian movement against artistic uniqueness and authenticity by advocating for repetition, seriality, and monochromaticity. Their artworks were not to be interpretative or creative bursts of expression, but matters of objective fact. Dutch Nul was closely aligned with the influential German ZERO group, whose ethos Schoonhoven found inspiring: ‘The need to avoid preference for particular places and points in the work of art is essential to ZERO and necessary to provide an isolated reality… ZERO is first and foremost a new concept of reality, in which the individual role of the artist is kept to a minimum’ (J. Schoohoven, quoted in De nieuwe stijl, werk van de internationale avant-garde, deel 1, Amsterdam, 1965, pp. 118, 123). Schoonhoven was perhaps the most ardent follower of his own group’s maxims, evidenced not only by this work’s neutral white tone and structured grid, but also by its title: R signifies relief, 74, the year of its creation, and 6, the number in the series in that year. R74-6 is a meticulously executed demonstration of Dutch Nul’s ideal and Schoonhoven’s unique interpretation of it.