Klaus Fußmann, Gladioli, 1983, Color Etching

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Klaus Fußmann (*1938 Velbert), Gladioli, 1983. Color etching, WVZ 116.5, 14.5 cm x 18.5 cm (image), 20 cm x 21 … Read more Klaus Fußmann (*1938 Velbert), Gladioli, 1983. Color etching, WVZ 116.5, 14.5 cm x 18.5 cm (image), 20 cm x 21 cm (sheet size), signed “Fuß[mann]” in pencil lower right and dated (?) lower left. One of ten copies.
- Crease to the lower left corner of the sheet margin, otherwise in excellent condition



- The figurativeness of abstraction -


This intensely colored etching is a rare piece from the beginning of Fußmann's series of flower etchings. This sheet is a variant of Gladioli from 1983, of which only ten copies were produced. In this variant, the black plate, which gives the flower an additional structure, was omitted. However, the flower is not incomplete without it; rather, the artist has made it much more than a color abstraction that shines on its own. Thus, Fußmann created a piece characteristic of his artistic thinking — both abstract and figurative — which displays intense pictorial tension due to this ambivalence.



About the artist


from 1957 to 1961, he attended the Folkwang School in Essen. Then, from 1962 to 1966, he studied under Helmut Lotz at the Berlin University of the Arts. In 1972, he participated in Werner Haftmann's contemporary art exhibition at the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, which brought him international recognition. from 1974 to 2005, he was a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts. His students included Yadegar Asisi, Ilja Heinig, Till Warwas, Christopher Lehmpfuhl, and Günther Reger. Fußmann increasingly focused on painting flowers and landscapes, reviving artistic genres that had been neglected in postwar art in the Federal Republic. In doing so, he made a significant contribution to the revitalization of painting.
During his many study trips to India, Australia, New Zealand, the Galapagos Islands, and Germany, he found constant artistic inspiration.
As a critic and theorist, Fußmann wrote several works on art: Die verschwundene Malerei (1984), Essays zur zeitgenössischen Kunst (1985), and Die Schuld der Moderne. Essays on Postmodernism (1991), and Wahn der Malerei (2005). See less