Fritz Kohlstädt, Klippen von Bornholm, 1988, Watercolor

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Fritz Kohlstädt (1921 Stuttgart - 2000 Pforzheim), Cliffs of Bornholm, 1988. Watercolor on heavy paper, 56 cm (height) x 78 … Read more Fritz Kohlstädt (1921 Stuttgart - 2000 Pforzheim), Cliffs of Bornholm, 1988. Watercolor on heavy paper, 56 cm (height) x 78 cm (width), signed and dated lower left, signed, dated, and labeled on the reverse.

- In very good colorfast condition




- The abyss of the sea -



Before our eyes stretches the vast, dark, and motionless expanse of the sea, which extends almost to the upper edge of the picture. While in depictions of the sea the sky usually takes up more space than the water, here the water covers most of the picture, with the narrow strip of light blue sky making the dark expanse of water appear even more powerful but also more expansive. The rocky coastline from which we look down on the sea extends into the water, penetrating the dark surface spatially. This ambivalence between flatness and spatiality creates a tension in the image, which is further heightened by the semi-complementary contrast between the dark blue of the water and the reddish brown of the rocks. This tension culminates in the pink stripe of the horizon line, which connects the light blue with the dark blue and at the same time seems to radiate an infinite distance.




About the artist


from 1946 to 1948, Fritz Kohlstädt took drawing lessons from Walter Romberg in Stuttgart, but was otherwise self-taught. His artistic work was influenced by the Expressionist works that became accessible again after the Second World War, whose ideas, fabric and form effects he further developed in his oeuvre. In addition to oil and chalk painting, watercolor was Kohlstädt's preferred artistic medium for his expressive landscape paintings, which were inspired by Maurice de Vlaminck, Edvard Munch, and Emil Nolde.

In 1958, Fritz Kohlstädt and other artists founded the “Sindelfinger Sezession” (“The Twelve”), a splinter group of the Stuttgart Artists' Association. He was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit in 1981 for his artistic work. His works can be found in numerous public collections. See less