Jasia Reichardt (born 1933) is a British

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogu ...

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

, art gallery director, teacher and prolific writer, specialist in the emergence of

computer art Computer art is any art in which computers play a role in production or display of the artwork. Such art can be an image, sound, animation, video, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, video game, website, algorithm, performance or gallery installation. Many tradit ...

. In 1968 she was curator of the landmark ''

Cybernetic Serendipity Cybernetic Serendipity was an exhibition of cybernetic art curated by Jasia Reichardt, shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, England, from 2 August to 20 October 1968, and then toured across the United States. Two stops in the Un ...

'' exhibition at

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the I ...

. She is generally known for her work on experimental art. After the deaths of Franciszka and

Stefan Themerson Stefan Themerson (25 January 1910 – 6 September 1988) was a Polish writer of children's literature, poet and inventor of Semantic Poetry, novelist, script writer filmmaker, composer and philosopher. He wrote in at least three languages. Wit ...

she catalogued their archive and looks after their legacy. Her own self-description reads: Jasia Reichardt writes, lectures and organises events about subjects which deal with the relationship of art to other areas of human activity such as architecture, science, technology. She was assistant director of the ICA, director of the

Whitechapel Art Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the ...

, and tutor at the AA. She has written books on art, computers, robots and the future.

Childhood

Jasia Reichardt was born to Maryla and Seweryn Chaykin in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

, Poland, in 1933. Her mother was an illustrator and pianist and her father an architect and engineer. An assimilated middle-class Jewish family, they were overwhelmed by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week af ...

in 1939 and were incarcerated among the capital's Jewish population in the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...

. Jasia survived there for a while with her mother and grandmother who tried to shield her from the unfolding horror. In 1942 she was smuggled out, but both her parents were murdered in

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...

. She was subsequently hidden under an assumed identity by a series of Poles, spending time in a convent, until she was able to join her mother's sister, Franciszka Themerson, and her husband, Stefan Themerson, in London in 1946. She attended

Dartington Hall Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "on ...

school. and then went to study production at the

Old Vic Theatre The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...

School in London.

Career

In the 1950s she was assistant editor of Art News and Review, for which she wrote numerous reviews, as well as exhibition introductions for various galleries of contemporary art. In the early 1960s she was the general editor of the "Art in Progress" series published by Methuen. She organised various exhibitions of new art, and in 1963 – 1971 was assistant director of the ICA In 1968, she organised the ground-breaking ''

'' exhibition, and edited the special issue of ''

Studio International ''Studio International'' is an international illustrated contemporary art magazine, formerly published in hard copy in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Ki ...

'', which replaced the catalogue.Jasia Reichardt (ed) (November 1968). ''Cybernetic Serendipity, the computer and the arts''. ''Studio International'' Special Issue 905''
London, Studio International
/ref> The same year, she curated ''Fluorescent Chrysanthemum'', an exhibition of contemporary experimental Japanese art.Jasia Reichardt (ed) (November 1968). ''Cybernetic Serendipity, the computer and the arts''. ''Studio International'' Special Issue 905''
London, Studio International
/ref> Other exhibitions followed, including Play Orbit of objects to play with by British artists. From 1974 to 1976 Reichardt was director of the

.Jasia Reichardt archive of concrete and sound poetry, 1959-1977
Getty Research Institute. Accessed January 2014. Between 1989 and 1998 she was one of the directors of ''Artec'' biennale in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

. In 1998 she curated ''Electronically Yours'', an exhibition of electronic portraiture at the

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography The is an art museum concentrating on photography. As the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, it was founded by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and is in Meguro-ku, a short walk from Ebisu station in southwest Tokyo. The museum al ...

. Apart from writing and organising exhibitions, she broadcast on the arts programme, "Critics’ Forum" for the BBC, 1965 – 1977. She collaborated with artists and continued to focus on the intersection of the arts and science on which she wrote a monthly column in the ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...

''. After 1990, she collaborated on various projects with Nick Wadley, until his death in 2017. She has taught at the Architectural Association and other colleges. After 1988, she organised the archive of Franciszka and

; the 3 volume catalogue of the archive was published in 2020 and distributed by

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

. She served on numerous committees; belonged to a number of professional organisations, gave lectures at conferences, and received several distinctions.

Personal life

Jasia Reichardt was married first to Tony Richards (later Reichardt), art dealer and collector, and secondly to art historian and artist Nick Wadley.

Exhibitions organised by JR

in London unless otherwise indicated * ''Image in Progress'' (first exhibition of Pop Art in London),

Grabowski Gallery The Grabowski Gallery was an avant-garde art gallery opened in 1959 in London's Chelsea by Mateusz Grabowski, anticipating the Swinging Sixties. It hosted some of the earliest shows of the rising pop art movement and was the first venue in Lond ...

, 1962 * ''The Inner Image'' (between painting and sculpture), Grabowski Gallery, 1964 * ''Art in Britain 1930-40'' (A tribute to

Sir Herbert Read Sir Herbert Edward Read, (; 4 December 1893 – 12 June 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read ...

), Marlborough Fine Art and New London Gallery, 1965 * ''Between Poetry and Painting'', ICA, 1965 * ''London Under Forty'', Galleria Milano, Milan, 1966 * ''Essays in Narrative'', Zwemmer Gallery, London, 1966 * ''Ventures'', (experimental works in three dimensions), Arts Council touring exhibition, 1967 * ''

'', ICA, 1968, also in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

* ''Fluorescent Chrysanthemum'' (new Japanese art, music and films), ICA, 1968–69, and

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

* ''Play Orbit'' (playthings by artists), ICA, 1969–70 * ''Ten Sitting Rooms'' (created by artists), ICA, 1970 * ''Time, Words and the Camera'' (photoworks by British artists), Künstlerhaus, Graz, 1976–77 * ''Electronically Yours'', Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 1988 * '' Yolanda Sonnabend, House of Memory'', Galeria Stara, Lublin, 2001 * ''Nearly Human'', Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art II, Gdańsk, 2015 * ''

Nick Nick may refer to: * Nick (given name) * A cricket term for a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat * British slang for being arrested * British slang for a police station * British slang for stealing * Short for nickname Place ...

in Europe'', 12 Star Gallery, London, 2018 * ''

in Gdańsk'', Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art II, Gdańsk, 2019 * ''Fluorescent Chrysanthemum Remembered'', Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art I, Gdańsk, 2019

Bibliography

Articles in regular magazine series: * Monthly column.

Architectural Design Building design refers to the broadly based architectural, engineering and technical applications to the design of buildings. All building projects require the services of a building designer, typically a licensed architect. Smaller, less complica ...

. 1963-79 * Column on modern art.

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

, 1960–63 * 'Developments in Style.'

The London Magazine ''The London Magazine'' is the title of six different publications that have appeared in succession since 1732. All six have focused on the arts, literature and miscellaneous topics. 1732–1785 ''The London Magazine, or, Gentleman's Monthly I ...

, 1962–64 * Column on art in London. Art d'aujourd'hui, 1962–66 * 'Comment.'

, 1965–69 * 'Art at large,' on the connections between art and science.

, 1971–74 * Monthly column.

Building Design Building design refers to the broadly based architectural, engineering and technical applications to the design of buildings. All building projects require the services of a building designer, typically a licensed architect. Smaller, less complica ...

, 1982–88 * Contributor to Artefactum, 1984–86 * Contributor to Cedal, Puerto Rico, 1986 Books written by: * ''

Victor Pasmore Edwin John Victor Pasmore, CH, CBE (3 December 190823 January 1998) was a British artist. He pioneered the development of abstract art in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s. Early life Pasmore was born in Chelsham, Surrey, on 3 December 1908. He ...

''. Art in Progress series. London: Methuen & Co 1962. ASIN: B0000CLE70 * ''

Yaacov Agam Yaacov Agam ( he, יעקב אגם) (born 11 May 1928) is an Israeli sculptor and experimental artist widely known for his contributions to optical and kinetic art. Biography Yaacov Gibstein (later Agam) was born in Israel, which, at that time ...

''. Art in Progress series. London: Methuen. 1966. ASIN: B0006BSCLM * ''The Computer in Art''. London: Studio Vista. 1971 * ''Robots: Fact, Fiction, and Prediction''.

Thames & Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

. 1978 * '' Magdalena Abakanowicz''. New York:

Abbeville Press Abbeville Publishing Group is an independent book publishing company specializing in fine art and illustrated books. Based in New York City, Abbeville publishes approximately 40 titles each year and has a catalogue of over 700 titles on art, ar ...

. 1982. ISBN 0896593231. * ''Fifteen Journeys from Warsaw to London''. London: Dalkey Archive Press. 2012. Books edited by: * Series of 13 monographs on living artists 'Art in Progress', Methuen, 1962–66 * Hausmann, Raoul and Schwitters, Kurt; ed. Jasia Reichardt. ''PIN'', Gaberbocchus Press (1962); Anabas-Verlag, Giessen. 1986 * ''Cybernetics, art, and ideas''. Studio Vista. 1971 * ''Stefan Themerson - Collected Poems'', Gaberbocchus Press/

Uitgeverij De Harmonie De Harmonie is a Dutch publishing company best known today as the publisher of the Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wiza ...

, Amsterdam, 1997 * ''Stefan Themerson – Wiersze Wybrane 1939 – 1945'', Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego,

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popu ...

, 2004 * Kurt Schwitters: ''Three Stories'', Tate Publishing, 2010 * ''Unposted Letters fFranciszka and Stefan Themerson'', Gaberbocchus & De Harmonie, Amsterdam, 2013 * ''The Themerson Archive Catalogue'', MIT, 2020 Books contributed to: * "Multiples" in ''The Year’s Art'', Penguin Books, 1974 * "Op Art" in ''Concepts of Modern Art'', Penguin Books, 1974 * "Art and Cybernetics" in Le Temps et la Cybernetique, Micromégas, 1975 * "After Malraux" in ''360 degrees around Katsuhiro Yamaguchi'', Rikuyo-sha Publishing Inc., 1981 * "Die Paradoxe mechanijsche Lebens" in ''Wunschmaschine Welterfindung'', Springer, Vienna, 1966 * "In the beginning", ''White Heat Cold Logic'', MIT, 2009 * "A meeting with Borges", with ''Borges, My Work in Prose'', Obscure Publications, 2010 * "Borges", with ''Borges, My life in Books'', Obscure Publications, 2010 Texts in exhibition catalogues include: * ''Janina Baranowska''. London:

. 1962. ASIN: B00MAPQH32 * ''

Marc Vaux Marc Vaux (born 29 November 1932, Swindon) is a British artist who rose to prominence in the 1960s. His work was included in the seminal Situation exhibition of 1960 alongside Robyn Denny, William Turnbull and Bernard Cohen among others. This e ...

/ Tess Jaray''. London: Grabowski Gallery. 1963. ASIN: B0016702SG * ''Peter Schmidt'' - Autobiographical Mono Prints. London: Lisson Gallery. 1970. ASIN: B00C3YNUP8 * ''

Paul Van Hoeydonck Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

Space Sculpture''. London: Annely Juda Fine Art. 1973. ASIN: B001E0DNUY * Folon, Jean-Michel; Reichardt, Jasia. '' FOLON'' "Catalogue of an exhibition organised by the Belgian Ministry of French Culture and held at the

Gallery 21 April - 29 May 1977". 1977. London: Institute of Contemporary Arts Gallery. 1977. ASIN: B0010LNM3A * '' Margaret Priest. Recent Drawings''. London: Waddington Fine Art. 1980. ASIN: B002GE5TB8 * ''

Liliane Lijn Dr Liliane Lijn D.Litt. (born 1939) is an American-born artist who was the first woman artist to work with kinetic text (''Poem Machines''), exploring both light and text as early as 1962; and in addition, she is in all likelihood the first woman ...

: Imagine the Goddess''. London: Fischer Fine Art exhibition catalogue. 1987 * '' Karl Gerstner, First London Exhibition''.

Marlborough Fine Art Marlborough Fine Art was founded in London in 1946 by Frank Lloyd and Harry Fischer. In 1963, a gallery was opened as Marlborough-Gerson in Manhattan, New York, at the Fuller Building on Madison Avenue and 57th Street, which later relocated i ...

(London) Ltd. 1999. ISBN 978-0900955785 * '' Andrew Logan, an Adventure in Art''.

Museum of Modern Art, Oxford Modern Art Oxford is an art gallery established in 1965 in Oxford, England. From 1965 to 2002, it was called The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. The gallery presents exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. It has a national and international ...

. 1999. ISBN 978-0905836737 * ''Uncanny Valley: Recent Sculptures by Tim Lewis''.

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

: National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside. 2004. ASIN: B00LXOO5V2 * '' Piero Fogliati - The Poet of Light''.

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, 2004. * ''Swinging London - The Grabowski Collection''.

Museum of Art in Łódź Muzeum Sztuki, or the Museum of Art in Łódź, is a museum of modern and contemporary art in Łódź, Poland, whose main goal is to research and display avant-garde art, as well as progressive artistic interventions. The institution is housed in ...

(Łódź: Muzeum Sztuki). 2007 Journals and magazines contributed to: ''AA files, Ambit, Architectural Review, Art Monthly, Art International, Art News, Arte Oggi, Arts, Arts Review, Artscribe, Arts Review, Billedkunst, Bonhams magazine, The British Journal of Aesthetics, Cambridge Opinion, Cimaise, Connoisseur, The Creative Holography Index, Domus, Eye, Image Roche, The Independent, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, Konteksty, Das Kunstwerk, Kwartalnik Literacki, Leonardo, Marmo, Metro, Museumjournaal, Opus, Pagina, Pa`renthesis, Penrose Annual, Pix 1, Progressive Architecture, Quadrum, The Royal Academy Magazine, RSA Journal, Skira Annuel, Studio International, Sunday Times, Typographica, L'Uomo e l'Arte, Vytvarne Umeni, Zodiac'', and others

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reichardt, Jasia 1933 births Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School British women curators British curators Art museum people British art historians Women art historians British digital artists Women digital artists New media artists Living people British critics Warsaw Ghetto inmates Postmodernists Mass media theorists Cultural historians Polish translators Translators from Polish Polish–English translators 20th-century Polish women writers 21st-century Polish women writers