PARIS, FRANCE.-French artist Raymond Hains, 78, died at his home in Paris. He was one of the last members of the of the French Nouveaux Réalistes group of artists. The French Ministry of Culture confirmed his death. He was famous for his “décollages” which were layered, torn and weathered posters found and removed form public display and then exhibited in museums and galleries. He collaborated his friend Jacques Villeglé on these works from 1949 to 1961.

Raymond Hains was born in St. Brieuc, France on November 9, 1926. He began to enrolled sculpture at the School of Fine Art in Rennes, and later studied photography and made Hypnagogic Photographs. He had his first exhibition at the Colette Allendy Gallery in Paris in 1948. He founded the Nouveaux Réalistes I 1960 together with critic Pierre Restany and artists Yves Klein, Jean Tinguely and Mr. Villeglé, among others.

In 1961 he was represented at the exhibition Bewogen Beweging, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, also shown at Stockholm and Humblebaek, and at at The Art of Assemblage, Museum of Modern Art, New York, later shown at Dallas and San Francisco. He distanced himself from "Nouveau Réalisme" in 1963. In 1964 he was represented at the Venice Biennale. His torn posters were shown at the Galleria Apollinaire, Milan, in 1965. Between 1968 and 1971 he lived in Venice. He showed three very enlarged books of matches at the documenta "4" in Kassel. He returned to Paris in 1971.