Louis Cane was a highly celebrated painter, sculptor, theoretician, writer, and latterly, designer and furniture-maker. Born in 1943 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean, he trained at the École Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs, Nice, and the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. His first works from the mid 1960’s were entitled “painted papers” followed by the “stamped works” of 1968-69 involving unconventional uses of art materials and processes. He was given his first one-man show in 1969 at the Galerie Givaudan in Paris. Then in the early 1970’s he participated in the radical “Supports-Surface” group, a minimalist form of Art Provera, and held further solo exhibitions in 1971 at the Galerie Daniel Templeton and Galerie Yvon Lambert; the same year also saw him co-found the influential review “Peinture - Cahiers Théoriques” a voice for that group which he continued to direct. He also embarked on a new series of free-form “floor-wall” canvases, hung without stretchers often reaching from floor to ceiling.
Though Cane’s early work had been almost entirely abstract, several visits to Italy during the mid 1970’s renewed his fascination with works of the Renaissance masters, especially Cimabue, Giotto and Raphael, and he began to re-introduce figurative elements to his work. In 1978 he then embarked on a series of sculptural works inspired by the female form in a style of Baroque expressionism.
Having established an international reputation, Cane exhibited extensively around the world including major museum shows: 1973 Institute of Contemporary Art, London; 1975 Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; 1976 Louisiana Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Contemporary Art Motreal; 1977 Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris; Leo Castelli Gallery, New York; Galleria Spagnoli, Florence; 1978 Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Galleria del Milione, Milan; 1979 Museum of Modern Art, Strasburg; Art in Progress Gallery, Dusseldorf; 1983 Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris; 1986 Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Nice; 1989 Gallery Okada, Tokyo; 1997 Centre George Pompidou, Paris; 1998 Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris.
In his later years Cane demonstrated a strong affinity for the decorative arts, such as his tabernacle for the new cathedral at Evry and his distinctive furniture designs.
The artist’s work is now represented in Modern Art museums worldwide including: the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris; Takaoka Museum of Modern Art, Japan; Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal.