Pierre Restany

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Pierre Restany (born 24 June 1930, died 29 May 2003), was a French art critic, has incarnated one of the last figures of the militant critic and a passionate supporter of movements of neo-vanguard, a "companion of road" of young artists, a shining essayist.

He has created a legacy for the invention of the term "Nouveau Realisme," which in 1960 united a group of French and Italian artists, as the European answer to the American New Dada and Pop Art. Between the numerous protagonists of the movement, Restany maintained a strong tie with Yves Klein, creator of the extraordinary "Klein-blue" of intense spiritual charge defined by Restany as a "phenomenon of pure contemplation." The dissolution of the borders between art and life, the art-like experience, the art as utopia was the flags of the French critic. Restany had entered in intense relationships with Italy that made him considered it its second native land. The creed of the Nouveau Realisme is diffused thanks to the collaboration in Milan with Guido Le Noci, director of the Studio Apollinaire. In Italy he directed for years a lively bulletin, “D’Ars Agency”.