Raymond Hains, 78; French Artist Known for Shredded Posters

Raymond Hains, 78, a French artist of the New Realism movement best known for his shredded posters, died Oct. 28 in Paris of unstated causes.

Hains joined fellow artists Yves Klein, Jean Tinguely and Arman in 1960 to found the movement as Europe’s response to Pop Art. The group practiced what has been described as “poetic recycling” of everyday objects.

“We have lost one of the key artists of the last 50 years, the creator of a personal mythology who knew how to mine with great daring, and also great humor, the depths of images and language, of form and verb,” French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres said in a statement.

Hains, who divided his time between Paris and Nice on the French Riviera, created elaborate visual and verbal games that earned him the nickname “king of the metaphysical pun.”