His work is unique in Austrian art, both in terms of content and regarding his technique of collage and frottage. In 1997, Kunsthandel Hieke hosted a solo exhibition of this artist, which was very popular not just with connoisseurs of abstract painting.
Verlon first worked as a writer, and then as a bookseller and publisher in Vienna. He emigrated to Palestine in 1933, where he founded a publishing house and was actively involved, both politically and in publishing, in the quest to liberate Austria, e.g. by founding the “Free Austrian Movement”. He returned to Vienna in 1946, where he published the magazine “Erbe und Zukunft [Heritage and Future]” until 1948. He lived in Paris from 1961 to 1971. In 1963, he founded the group "Imago” with A. Berni. From 1971 onwards, Verlon again mainly lived in Vienna.
Becoming closely involved with Dadaism and meeting artists such as Marcel Janko, Hans Richter, Jean Arp, Raoul Hausmann and Richard Huelsenbeck resulted in the first basic monograph of Dadaism, "Dada - Monograph of a Movement".
In 1958, he assumes the name André Verlon for his artistic work, exclusively dedicating himself to painting thereafter. His work focuses on the technique of collage and frottage, rarely used in painting. Only Max Ernst previously used the Surrealist technique of frottage. Verlon is viewed as a philosophical-moralist artist, whose work primarily deals with the “Situation of Man in the World”. His themes relate to the destiny of people in an environment of technology, war, life and death.
More than 60 solo exhibitions have been held in Europe and the USA since 1958. The Austrian Gallery, Belvedere, held solo exhibitions of this artist in 1976 and 1986, and in 1984, the Museum of Modern Art, Palais Liechtenstein, Vienna also presented the artist’s work.
Exhibitions (selection):
1961 Art of Assemblage, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1962 The Dallas Museum of Contemporary Arts
1962 San Francisco Museum of Art
1962 Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
1962 Brook Street Gallery, London
1962 D‘Arcy Galleries, New York
1963 Galerie Arditti, Paris
1963 Galleria Arturo Schwarz, Milano
1963 Galleria Penelope, Roma
1972 Collages, Museum of Modern Art, Haifa
1976 und 1986 Belvedere, Wien
1984 MMK Palais Liechtenstein, Wien
1997 und 2017 Personale Kunstandel Hieke
Works at (selection):
Belvedere, Vienna
Museum of Modern Art, Vienna
Albertina, Vienna
Georgia Museum of Arts, Athens, USA
Duling Gallery of Art, Knoxville, USA
Collection des Beaux Arts de la Ville, Paris
Tate Collection, London
