'Study in Marigold and Indigo, 1960' by Ruth Francken, Abstract Expressionist, New York, Paris, Oxford

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Signed lower center, 'R. Francken' for Ruth Francken (Czech-American, 1924-2006) and dated 1960.

Born in the historic Jewish Quarter of … Read more Signed lower center, 'R. Francken' for Ruth Francken (Czech-American, 1924-2006) and dated 1960.

Born in the historic Jewish Quarter of Prague during the interwar years, Ruth Francken was brought to Vienna as an infant by her parents who sought greater security. The first of several displacements to come as the shadow of Nazi power continued to spread throughout Europe, this theme of severance, disunity and upheaval would become central themes in Francken’s work as an artist.

In 1937, Francken moved to Paris but, after two years, decided to leave the continent entirely, settling in Oxford where she studied painting under Arthur Segal at the Ruskin School of Art. By 1941, she fled Europe altogether, immigrating to New York where she continued her studies at the Art Students League and gained American citizenship in 1942. Returning to Europe after the war, Francken exhibited at the Biennale in Venice (1952) before settling again in Paris, where her career thrived. She also quickly immersed herself in the avant garde milieu of philosophical activity.

Passionate about both art and philosophy, Francken recounted in her autobiography ‘L'histoire de Ruth’: “The main controversy of the time – abstract art versus representative art – ignored, in my opinion, the real problem. Meaning, consistency, it was said, was an integral part of the vehemence of the pictorial gesture (a vehemence which nonetheless seemed to me to be very affected). I was not convinced by all this. It is well possible that I owed my doubts to my Central European origin in spite of the strong American impregnation which I had undergone after ten years in USA.”

In 1960, Francken received a grant from the Noma Copley Foundation in New York and, in 1964, traveled to Berlin on a fellowship from the Ford Foundation. Her style, which, early in her career, was associated with Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel, moved toward surrealism and pop as she increasingly preferred sculpture as her mode of expression.

Francken’s career thrived during the postwar years as her style shifted away from Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel toward Surrealism and Pop. In 1960, she received a grant from the Noma Copley Foundation in New York and, in 1964, traveled to Berlin on a fellowship from the Ford Foundation.

Reflecting on her thoughts during this time, Francken wrote:
"The problem preyed on my mind incessantly: How to weave intrinsic meaning, the world of intellect and poetry back into my work. And when I think about the matter today, the words of Thomas Bernhard come to my mind: “We can only improve the world by doing away with it”. And while I was intensively concerned with escaping the then prevailing conformity of abstract painting, I was on the way to improve my own painting by actually putting it down for a time. In the years 1964-65 I found myself in Berlin and I turned once more to sculpture and made a series of bronzes. I did not paint again for twenty years."

A fascinating and dynamic individual whose talents spanned visual art as well as philosophy and social critique, Ruth Francken’s oeuvre paints a telling portrait of how the catastrophes of the 20th century left their indelible mark on the painters and thinkers of the time. Francken exhibited widely and with success throughout Europe and Asia, including at the:

Musse de Metz (1991)
Kunsthalle (Dusseldorf, 1961)
In Osaka (1957, 1959)
Salon de Mai (1966, 1968, 1969)
Galleria del Cavllino (Venice, 1963)
Neue Galerie im Alten Kurhaus (1978)
Frank Pearls Gallery (Los Angeles, 1969)
Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris 1971)
Museum Moderner Kunst (Vienna, 1987)
Galerie Eric Dupont (1991, 1995, 1997)

The Tate Modern held a retrospective of the artist's work in 2015. Her work is held in the permanent collections of institutions including the:
Fond National d'Art Contemporain (Paris)
Berlinische Galerie (Berlin)
Boymans van Beuningen Museum (Rotterdam)
Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Musee National d'Art Moderne Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris)
Kunsthalle Nurmberg, Musee d'Art Moderne (Strasbourg)
Musee de Peinture (Grenoble)
Musee des Arts Decoratifs (Paris)
Sprengel Museum (Hannover)

We are pleased to offer this bold colorist abstract, painted when the artist was thirty-six.

Reference:
E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 5, page 661; et al. See less