Hermann Schütte, White Mask on a Purple Background, 1962, Enamel

Description

Hermann Schütte (1893 Osnabrück - 1973 Hamburg), White mask on a purple ground. Enameled copper plates on wooden ground, 37 … more Hermann Schütte (1893 Osnabrück - 1973 Hamburg), White mask on a purple ground. Enameled copper plates on wooden ground, 37 x 29,5 cm, monogrammed and dated "S[chütte] [19]62" in the lower right corner of the fire, inscribed on the reverse (by someone else's hand?) with "Hermann Schütte", titled as "Mask" and dated "1962".

- upper corner slightly bumped, otherwise in very good condition

Exposé as PDF


- Mystic mask mountain -


to the artwork

In his late work, Hermann Schütte discovered the enamel technique for his artistic work and thus established a genre between painting and sculpture, which at the same time has something architectural through the wall compound-like structure of the background here. But because the 'stone offset' runs vertically, the 'wall' is a 'surreal wall'. It is precisely this fantastic dimension that feeds the mysterious effect of the artwork. The Prussian blue background shows a kinship with the unfathomable depth of Yves Klein's blue. The pronounced craquelé created during the firing also gives the blue an organic vibrancy. It has seemingly contracted on its own. The resulting cracks reveal the brown-red copper underneath, giving the blue a deep ground on which it seems to 'float'.

Above the moving, lively blue ground, which nevertheless appears solid by means of the stone-like structure, a mountain-like formation can be seen, which has two eye slits and a nose and thus - in accordance with the title - reveals itself to be a mask. This mask, however, is not a mask ready to be put on; rather, it too leads a life of its own and thus stands in the tradition of medieval leaf masks, the most prominent example of which can be seen on the postament of the Bamberg Rider (ca. 1230).

Formed like a mountain and provided with its own nose, the mask also exhibits its own organic liveliness through the gray surfaces, which are also vertically aligned and appear to have grown, and which is further intensified by the sand-like ghostly structure of the white surfaces. The fact that the eye openings remain black and are thus blind, but still appear deeper in color than the blue, enhances the mysterious dimension of this enigmatic creature.

The white 'mountain mask' and the blue ground join together to form a pattern-ground relationship that is ornamentally enlivened by the craquelé. The vivid blue ground, reminiscent of Babylonian tiles, and the anthropomorphic mountain mask unfold an archaic, fairy-tale dimension that lends its depth to the mysterious and at the same time spreads as a surface sheen.

with the yellow monogram in complementary contrast to the blue and the year, the artist inscribes himself in this mystery.


About the artist

Hermann Schütte grew up in the time of the avant-garde and - like so many artists - volunteered for the First World War, only to return home as a convinced pacifist after the horrors he had experienced. Seized by literary expressionism, in 1919 he wrote the book "Mensch! God! Ich!" whose cover was illustrated by the spiritus rector of the Worpswede artists' colony, Heinrich Vogeler. After Schütte became friends with Kurt Schwitters, he created sculptures and installations in the spirit of the Dada movement initiated by Schwitters. During the National Socialist era, Schütte retreated into inner emigration, only to return to intensive artistic activity after World War II.

Since 1948, Schütte has participated in a large number of exhibitions, including those at the Hamburg Kunsthalle, Oldenburg, Bremen, Worpswede, Witten, Bad Soden, Düsseldorf and Osnabrück. In 1967, his hometown of Osnabrück dedicated a large monographic exhibition to him, at which 120 of his works provided an overview of his oeuvre.


Selected bibliography

Rabe, Hanns-Gerd (introduction): Hermann Schütte. Oil paintings, enamel paintings, pen and ink drawings. Catalog for the exhibition from October 29 to December 3, 1967, Städtisches Museum Osnabrück, Osnabrück 1967. less