Carlos Cruz-Diez

1923 Caracas
2019 Paris


Carlos Cruz-Diez was born on August 17, 1923 in Caracas, Venezuela. There he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1940 until 1945. After his studies, during which he mainly used a realistic style of painting, Cruz-Diez worked as a graphic artist for various companies before taking a position as the art director for the advertising agency McCann-Erickson in Caracas. During this time, he became interested in the effective use of color.
From 1953 to 1955, Cruz-Diez worked as an illustrator for the "El National" newspaper, while also teaching art history at the academy of fine arts in Caracas. In 1955, he went for two years to Barcelona, also traveling to Paris several times. There he studied the theories of the Bauhaus school of architecture and busied himself with scientific theories of color as well as geometric abstractions.
After his return to Venezuela, Cruz-Diez opened the Studio for Visual Art, where he analyzed the interaction of color and kinetic art. At this time, Carlos Cruz-Diez worked as acting director and professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts of Caracas and as professor for typology and graphic design for the School of Journalism at the university in Caracas. In 1960, Cruz-Diez left Venezuela for Paris. There he worked as advisor of the cultural center of Noroit in Arras from 1965 and as lecturer for kinetic techniques at the Ecole Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris from 1972.
Carlos Cruz-Diez was appointed professor and director of the art department of IDEA - Institut International d'Etudes Avancées in Caracas. Cruz-Diez is considered one of the most important artists of Venezuela and has been honored with many awards for his works of concrete art.

Related artists:  Albers, Josef  |  Antes, Horst  |  Bayer, Herbert  |  Bill, Max  |  Bissier, Julius Heinrich  |  Bonalumi, Agostino  |  Calderara, Antonio  |  Dorazio, Piero  |  Fleischmann, Adolf Richard  |  Fontana, Lucio  |  Fruhtrunk, Günter  |  Förg, Günther  |  Gaul, Winfred  |  Geiger, Rupprecht  |  Girke, Raimund  |  Hauser, Erich  |  Kippenberger, Martin  |  Knoebel, Imi  |  Lanskoy, André  |  Luther, Adolf  |  Mack, Heinz  |  Mavignier, Almir da Silva  |  Morellet, François  |  Pfahler, Georg Karl  |  Piene, Otto  |  Roth, Dieter  |  Uecker, Günther  |  Vasarely, Victor