Walter Dexel

Mosque / - The Expression of Architecture -

1916

Jürgen Möbius (*1939 Großenhain), Tectonic Tension. Oil on hardboard, 47.5 x 60 cm, 49 x 61.5 cm (frame), signed lower right "Möbius" and dated "[19]81". - Upper left corner with a small chip, light scratches and a little rubbed in places. Provisional gallery frame with traces of use. - Archetypes of Painting - About the artwork The form structure in front of the eye is overlapped by the frame. Thus, the frame does not open up a space in which something is presented, but rather shows the seemingly arbitrary section of a comprehensive context that cannot be framed as such. We see forms that stand in a structure of tension with each other, whereby the individual black and brown forms, which continue almost endlessly beyond the frame, already show a tension in themselves, since they are not only forms, but also surfaces - form surfaces, while the light blue surface ground is at the same time forms that appear as surface forms. The formed surfaces and surface forms are nested within each other and form a structure that encompasses all elements. The angular arrangement of the black and brown shaped surfaces gives the structure a tectonic character. The tension is thus heightened to the point of paradox, since the black shape at the front is overlapped by the brown shape at the bottom in the center of the picture, which would be impossible in real space. It is precisely through this "paradox" that Möbius demonstrates that the paradoxical is reality within painting. It is, so to speak, the most original possibility of painting, which distinguishes it from the other arts. In combination with the tectonic formations, Jürgen Möbius creates an archaic primordial painting, which, however, should not be confused with the autonomous color and form cosmos of Suprematism à la Kasimir Malevich. Instead of homogeneous, perfectly colored forms, here the colors are deliberately applied unevenly, and the light blue is mixed with the brown in a manner determined by the brushstroke. At the edges of the surface forms, the uneven application of paint allows the wood of the unprimed hardboard to show through. In this way, Möbius illustrates that we are dealing with a painting that has been created by an act of painting - an act, however, that takes hold of the original principles of painting and thus realizes painting as such. About the artist From 1959 to 1965 Jürgen Möbius studied painting at the University Institute for Art and Work Education in Mainz. He also studied philosophy and art history at the University of Mainz. Afterwards he worked as a freelance artist in Mainz. At first, Möbius created material reliefs and installations, then, around 1974, he turned increasingly to conceptual art and added cinematic means. During this phase he wrote the manifesto-like essay "Principles of Supranatural Landscape" (1979). From 1981 on, Möbius concentrated on painting and searched for artistic ways to "treat intellectual and sensual perception equally in the fusion of representational and abstract pictorial elements" (Wolfgang Zemter). He found inspiration on his study trips to Thailand and Sri Lanka. "The pure painting of Jürgen Möbius flows through us as a timeless expression of memory and energy, ploughing our perception and bringing us the happiness of seeing authentic, immovable form. - Philippe Büttner Selection of solo exhibitions 1969 Galerie Würzner, Düsseldorf / Galerie Gurlitt, Mainz 1972 Städtische Galerie, Mainz 1973 Galerie Schloss Ringenberg Rathaus, Kleve 1974 Röderhausmuseum, Wuppertal 1976 Galerie Glasing, Osnabrück / Städtische Galerie, Herne 1977, 1997, 2004 Märkisches Museum, Witten 1979 Studio M, Bamberg / Staatstheater, Darmstadt 1980 Galerie Stolànovà, Wiesbaden / Mittelrheinmuseum, Koblenz 1982 Galerie Dornhöfer, Mainz 1984 Galerie Neumühle, Schlangenbad 1985 Landesmuseum, Mainz / Kunstverein, Ludwigshafen / Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden 1986 Museum, Bochum / Galerie der Stadt Iserlohn 1987, 1990 Galerie Klaus Kiefer, Essen 1987, 2000 Galerie Ulrike Buschlinger, Wiesbaden 1988 Kunsthalle Darmstadt 1988, 1992, 1996, 1999 Galerie Leonhard, Basel 1992, 2002 Galerie Zulauf, Freisheim 1994 Galerie Remy, Vallendar 1995 Sendezentrum des Zweiten Deutschen Fernsehens, Mainz 2001 Collegium oecumenicum, Bamberg / MVB Forum für Kultur und Wirtschaft, Mainz 2006 Adam Gallery, London Selection of group exhibitions 1969 ‘International Graphic Arts’, Galerie Dalléas Bordeaux, Paris 1975 ‘Deutscher Künstler-Bund’, Dortmund 1979 ‘Man and man’s Images’, Märkisches Museum Witten 1980 ‘Love-Dokuments of our Time’, Art Hall Darmstadt and Art Association Hannover 1982 ‘Work - Progress – Position’, Nassau Art Association Wiesbaden 1983 ‘Principle Hope – Utopic Aspects in Art and Culture of the 20th Century’, Museum Bochum 1986 ‘Selfportraits’, Gallery Klaus Kiefer Essen 1987 ‘The Dying and Death’, Gallery Klaus Kiefer Essen 1989 ‘Where are You, Revolution – Freedom, Liberty, Egality, Fraternity to-day’, Museum Bochum 1990 ‘Flight – a Problem within the Memory of Man’, Kunsthalle Darmstadt ‘Art and War 1939 – 89’, House of Cultures Berlin 1991 ‘Material and Form’, Pillnitz Castle Dresden and Pfalz Gallery Kaiserslautern 1995 20 Years Exhibitions, Chrämerhuus Langenthal, Schweiz 1998 ‘Works on Paper’, Klaus Kiefer Gallery Essen 2000 ‘Acquisitions 1900 – 2000’, Mittelrhein-Museum Koblenz 2001 ‘Strange Pictures’, Klaus Kiefer Gallery Essen 2002 ‘10 Years Buschlinger Gallery’, Buschlinger Gallery Wiesbaden 2004 ‘Eternal Space – Pictures and Sculptures’, Dome of Bamberg 2005 Art Fair Chicago, Adam Gallery, London Selected Bibliography Mittelrheinisches Landesmuseum (Hrsg.): Jürgen Möbius - Neue Bilder, Mainz 1985. Kunstverein Darmstadt (Hrsg.): Jürgen Möbius. Bilder 1985 - 1988. Kunsthalle Darmstadt, 26. Juni - 14. August 1988. Red. Dorit Marhenke, Lyrik Marcus Schiltenwolf, Düsseldorf 1988. Gabriele Prusko (Hrsg.): Jürgen Möbius. Mit Texten von Philippe Büttner und Ralph Mieritz, Basel 1992. Wolfgang Zemter (Hrsg.): Jürgen Möbius - Aktuelle Arbeiten. Märkisches Museum der Stadt Witten, Bönen 1999. Wolfgang Zemter (Hrsg.): Jürgen Möbius. Flieger in meinem Zimmer und Beruhigte Zone, Bönen 2004. Dama Gallery...

Max Clarenbach (1880 Neuss - Cologne 1952), Evening. Etching, 18 x 41 cm (platemark), 33.5 x 57 cm (frame), inscribed "Abend" in pencil at lower left, signed and dated "M. Clarenbach. 28.III.[19]09". Framed and mounted under glass. - Somewhat browned and slightly foxed. About the artwork The horizontally elongated etching depicts the panoramic view of a small town as seen from the other side of the river. There are gabled houses on the left and a mighty church spire on the right. The bourgeois houses and the large religious building indicate the urban character. These buildings are rendered in dark tones to emphasise the lighter row of houses in the centre of the picture, closer to the water. The chiaroscuro contrast creates two parallel planes that open up a space for the imagination of what the city could be. The imagination is stimulated by the almost entirely dark, barely recognisable buildings, while the arm of the river leading into the city further stimulates the imagination. However, as the silhouette of the city as a whole is reflected in the water, the parallel planes are perceived as a band of houses that stretches across the entire horizontality of the etching and seems to continue beyond the borders of the picture. The reflection has almost the same intensity as the houses themselves, so that the band of buildings merges with their reflection to form the dominant formal unit of the picture. Only the parallel horizontal hatching creates the convincing impression of seeing water, demonstrating Max Clarenbach's mastery of the etching needle. The water is completely motionless, the reflection unclouded by the slightest movement of the waves, creating a symmetry within the formal unity of the cityscape and its reflection that goes beyond the motif of a mere cityscape. A pictorial order is established that integrates everything in the picture and has a metaphysical character as a structure of order that transcends the individual things. This pictorial order is not only relevant in the pictorial world, but the picture itself reveals the order of the reality it depicts. Revealing the metaphysical order of reality in the structures of its visibility is what drives Clarenbach as an artist and motivates him to return to the same circle of motifs. The symmetry described is at the same time inherent an asymmetry that is a reflection on art: While the real cityscape is cut off at the top of the picture, two chimneys and above all the church tower are not visible, the reflection illustrates reality in its entirety. The reflection occupies a much larger space in the picture than reality itself. Since antiquity, art has been understood primarily as a reflection of reality, but here Clarenbach makes it clear that art is not a mere appearance, which can at best be a reflection of reality, but that art has the potential to reveal reality itself. The revealed structure of order is by no means purely formalistic; it appears at the same time as the mood of the landscape. The picture is filled with an almost sacred silence. Nothing in the picture evokes a sound, and there is complete stillness. There are no people in Clarenbach's landscape paintings to bring action into the picture. Not even we ourselves are assigned a viewing position in the picture, so that we do not become thematic subjects of action. Clarenbach also refrains from depicting technical achievements. The absence of man and technology creates an atmosphere of timelessness. Even if the specific date proves that Clarenbach is depicting something that happened before his eyes, without the date we would not be able to say which decade, or even which century, we are in. The motionless stillness, then, does not result in time being frozen in the picture, but rather in a timeless eternity that is nevertheless, as the title "Abend" (evening), added by Clarenbach himself, makes clear, a phenomenon of transition. The landscape of the stalls is about to be completely plunged into darkness, the buildings behind it only faintly discernible. The slightly darkened state of the sheet is in keeping with this transitional quality, which also lends the scene a sepia quality that underlines its timelessness. And yet the depiction is tied to a very specific time. Clarenbach dates the picture to the evening of 28 March 1909, which does not refer to the making of the etching, but to the capture of the landscape's essence in the landscape itself. If the real landscape is thus in a state of transition, and therefore something ephemeral, art reveals its true nature in that reality, subject to the flow of phenomena, is transferred to an eternal moment, subject to a supra-temporal structure of order - revealed by art. Despite this supratemporality, the picture also shows the harbingers of night as the coming darkening of the world, which gives the picture a deeply melancholy quality, enhanced by the browning of the leaf. It is the philosophical content and the lyrical-melancholic effect of the graphic that give it its enchanting power. Once we are immersed in the image, it literally takes a jerk to disengage from it. This etching, so characteristic of Max Clarenbach's art, is - not least because of its dimensions - a major work in his graphic oeuvre. About the artist Born into poverty and orphaned at an early age, the artistically gifted young Max Clarenbach was discovered by Andreas Achenbach and admitted to the Düsseldorf Art Academy at the age of 13. "Completely penniless, I worked for an uncle in a cardboard factory in the evenings to pay for my studies.” - Max Clarenbach At the academy he studied under Arthur Kampf, among others, and in 1897 was accepted into Eugen Dücker...

Maurer, Leonard (AmCerican, 1912-1976). CITYSCAPE, Etching and aquatint, 1967. Signed, titled, dated, and inscribed "Artist's Proof," all in pencil. 8 1/2 x 6 3/4 inches (plate), fra...

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