works
Roland Topor
The foot kiss, 1975
ink and color pencil on paper
29,5 x 21 cm / 60 x 52 cm framed
Roland Topor
Oh la la, 1973
color pencil on paper
24 x 32 cm / 55 x 63 cm framed
Roland Topor
L’aventurier, ca. 1975
pencil on paper
27 x 21 cm / 47 x 39 cm framed
Roland Topor
Le livre interdit, 1977
ink and acrylic on canvas
70 x 58 cm
Roland Topor
L’homme et la mort, 1985
pen and colored pencil on paper
32 x 24 cm / 53 x 41 cm framed
Roland Topor
Le cercueil sera trop petit, 1978
pen and colored pencil on paper
32 x 50 cm / 50 x 65 cm framed
Roland Topor
A l’index, ca.1990
pastel on paper
91,5 x 65 cm
Roland Topor
Scène d’atelier, 1981
pen and colored pencil on paper
23,5 x 31 cm / 40 x 48,5 cm framed
Roland Topor
Tape à l’oeil, 1983
spray paint on paper
65 x 91,5 cm
Roland Topor
En soi-même, 1996
acrylic on canvas
130 x 97 cm
Roland Topor
sans titre, 1976
ink and coloured pencil on paper
31 x 44 cm
Roland Topor
Naples, 1996
acrylic on canvas
97 x 130 cm
biography
Roland Topor was born in 1938 and died in1997, in Paris tenth district. His work is rich and diverse and protean. An illustrator, a writer, a multitalented artist, he was published in French and foreign papers : Bizarre, Hara-Kiri, Elle, The New York Times, Le Canard enchaîné, Libération, Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and so on. He wrote books, he illustrated the works of more than a hundred writers, among them Boris Vian, Marcel Aymé, Félix Fénéon, Tolstoï, Georges Sand, Pierre Benoît… He conceived the scenery and dresses of several plays and operas for Liget, Penderecki, Savary, and others. He wrote film scenarios, plays, songs, tales, novels, and short stories. He acted in William Klein’s, Raoul Ruiz’s, Volker Schlöndorff’s films. He made animated cartoon films such as Fantastic Planet. He took part in many radio and television creations. Among others, he is the author of the programme for children Téléchat, and the co-author of Merci Bernard and Palace. The creator of Panic Movement with Fernando Arrabal, Jacques Sternberg and Alejandro Jodorowsky, Topor had links with several movements and “artist families”, such as Cobra, the Situationist International and Flexus. His drawings and paintings have been shown many times and are owned by several private and institutional collections, among them: Pompidou Centre, Strasbourg museums, the Stedelijk Museum, Warsaw Fine Arts museum, Munich Stadtmuseum, and others in Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, the United States…
Numerous posthumous solo exhibitions paid tribute to his art at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris in 1999, the Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg in 2004, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in 2017, and the Folkwang Museum in Essen, Germany in 2018, among others.
In 2022, Eric Troncy curated the "Oh la la" exhibition at the Consortium Museum in Dijon, and the Festival du Dessin held in Arles devoted an exhibition to him in 2023.
Solo exhibitions
2023
2022
2019
2018
Panoptikum Roland Topor. Folkwang Museum, Essen, curated by Tobias Burg (from Folkwang museum).
2017
Le Monde selon Topor, curated by Alexandre Devaux and Cécile Chicha-Castex
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
3 X Topor. Galeria Miejska BWA, Bydgoszcz, Pologne. curated by Marek Zieliński & Alexandre Devaux.
2014
Roland Topor, génie connu et méconnu, Galerie Anne Barrault, Paris. curated by Alexandre Devaux.
2004
Topor, dessins paniques. Musée d’Art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg.
Curated by Thérèse Willer and Christian Derouet
1999
Topor rit encore. Maison européenne de la photographie. curated by Patrick Roegiers.
1995
Toporanapoli. Institut français de Naples à Naples, Italie. curated by Laurent Gervereau.
Roland Topor, affiches de théâtre. Fondation Mercedes-Benz, Paris.
Roland Topor plakaty. Centrum Sztuki Studio, Varsovie, Pologne
1987
Topor, Drawings and prints. The Open museum à Tefen, Israël.
1986-1985
Topor, Tod und Teufel. Stadtmuseum de Münich / Musée des Beaux-arts de Paris. Curated by Gina Kehayoff and Christoph Stölzl
1984
Roland Topor, Piccolo Blitz. Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Suède.
1979
Tekeningen en grafiek van Roland Topor. Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Anvers, Belgique.
1975
Topor, Panic. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Pays-Bas. curated by Ad Petersen.
Group exhibitions
2021
2020
2019
2018
mon enfant peut en faire autant, galerie anne barrault
Sens contre-sens, Fondation Fernet-Branca, Saint-Louis
2017
Festival FIFIGROT curated by Alexandre Devaux, Toulouse
Drawing Now, le salon du dessin contemporain, Carreau du temple, Paris
2016
La famille Topor, curated by Alexandre Devaux, Musée Municipal de la Ville de Sosnowiec – Palais de Schoen, Pologne
TOPOR, MORELLET, SPOERRI : La Volonté de Distance, curated by Alexandre Devaux, galerie anne barrault, Paris, France
TOPOR – SPOERRI – MORELLET, curated by Alexandre Devaux et Barbara Räderscheidt, Ausstellungshaus Spoerri, Hadersdorf-Kammern, Autriche
2013
Citadelles en Suspens, Galerie Anne Barrault, Paris. curated by Pacôme Thiellement.
Bibliography
2022
Topor, les chefs-d’œuvre II, Les Cahiers dessinés.
2019
Topor, les chefs-d’œuvre, Les Cahiers dessinés.
Portrait en pied de Suzanne, Les Nouvelles éditions Wombat.
2017
Le Monde selon Topor, Les Cahiers dessinés/Bibliothèque nationale de France.
2016
Topor, Voyageur du livre, tome 2, Les Cahiers dessinés
Topor, Théâtre Panique (deux volumes), + Joko fête son anniversaire, Nouvelles éditions Wombat.
2015
Topor, Voyageur du livre, tome 1, Les Cahiers dessinés
2014
Topor, Dessinateur de presse, Les Cahiers dessinés/ La plus belle paire de seins du monde, Nouvelles éditions Wombat
estate
Gallery anne barrault begins her story with Roland Topor in 2013, with the group
exhibition Citadelles en Suspens proposed by the essayist Pacôme Thiellement.
In 2014, at the gallery, Alexandre Devaux presents the first solo exhibition of
Roland Topor, entitled génie connu et méconnu, which gathers a set of works, most of
them unknown.
Since then, Alexandre Devaux and Nicolas Topor have been essential key figures
who accompany the gallery and its staff in their task of representing Roland
Topor’s works.
In 2017, Alexandre Devaux is the co-curator of Le Monde selon Topor, the great
exhibition at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Since 2014 he has published six
books dedicated to Topor.
In 2016, at the gallery, he brings together TOPOR, MORELLET, SPOERRI, and
exhibits some of their works in La Volonté de distance, thus revealing a deep kinship
of mind between these artists.
It is when Anne Barrault meets Daniel Spoerri, whom she has collaborated with
ever since.
In 2018, the group exhibition Mon enfant peut en faire autant (my own child could do
as well) highlights the link between Roland Topor and his son.
In 2019, the group exhibition “Topor n’est pas mort” shows the works of 21 artists,
and proves that his genius still instills into contemporary creation, and that this
richness goes on spreading.
Thank you to Nicolas Topor for trusting us, and Alexandre Devaux for his work
dedicated to Roland Topor.
exhibitions
books & prints
Texts: Laurence Engel, Frédéric Pajak, Alexandre Devaux, Céline Chicha-Castex, Bertrand Tillier and Philippe Garnier
les cahiers dessinés and BnF Editions
2017
22 x 28 cm
240 pages
42 €
Robert Filliou, Daniel Spoerri, Roland Topor
galerie anne barrault / Panique Publishers
2017
45 €
Foreword of Jacques Vallet and texts of Alexandre Devaux
les cahiers dessinés
2014
17,5 x 23,5 cm
368 pages
35 €