Heinz Trkes, Four Blue Figures, 1973, Signed Watercolor for sale at Pamono

Description

Heinz Trkes

Hamborn 1913 – 1997 Berlin

Four blue figures, 1973

Watercolor on light cardboard

Signed and dated on the lower left

Titled and dated on the reverse

Size: 30 x 40 cm

Authenticity is confirmed in writing.

Born on 15.9.1913 in Hamborn/Rhine. After graduating from the School of Arts and Crafts, he becomes a student of Johannes Itten in Krefeld until 1936. Afterwards he lives from textile designs. In 1937 he met Kandinsky in Paris. Trke’s first solo exhibition took place at the Nierendorf Gallery in Berlin in 1938. It was closed by the Nazis and led to his expulsion from the Reichskulturkammer and a ban on exhibiting. He then moves to Zurich with the aim of emigrating to the Dutch Indies. The Second World War thwarts his plans and he returns to Germany. In 1940 he studies with Georg Muche in Krefeld, but drops out because he is drafted into the anti-aircraft forces in Berlin. After the war, Trkes and friends founded the Gerd Rosen Gallery, the first private art gallery in Germany after the war, and became its artistic director until 1946. In the years that followed, he produced numerous “cosmonautic pictures”. After a one-semester stay as a lecturer at the State College of Architecture and Art in Weimar, Trkes returned to Berlin for the time being, followed by important solo exhibitions and participation in exhibitions of German art. In 1950 he went briefly to Paris, where he became friends with Wols and Paul Celan and joined the Rixes group around Matta, Serpan, Riopelle, Zanartu and others. He regularly surrounded himself with Andr Breton, Pert, Duchamp, Toyen and Max Ernst in Paris. In 1951 he emigrated to Ibiza. There he created island pictures with a topographical character. from then on, Trke’s works can be found at all important exhibitions of German post-war art, the painter is honored several times with awards and various museums organize solo exhibitions with him. from 1956 to 1958 he was head of the department of free graphics at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg and devoted himself primarily to lithographs and etchings. The stay on the Greek island of Aegina reduces the strong colorfulness in Trke’s previous paintings, the moods of his works become more quiet. In 1962 he began teaching at the Staatliche Akademie der bildenden Knste in Stuttgart, before accepting a call to teach at the Hochschule der Knste in Berlin in 1965 (until 1978). from 1966 he devotes himself again to stronger colors, which, due to his countless travels in all parts of the world, are strongly combined with folkloristic elements. In 1972 he again changes his painting style. Now it is small-format two-color pictures that determine his work. Later he additionally experimented with gold colors, Chinese inks and enamel. In the 1970s-1980s, renowned museums and galleries organized solo exhibitions with the painter. His late work is dominated by cheerful small-format pictures, which once again bundle his entire drawing and painting experience and express a great formal freedom. Heinz Trkes died on 22.4.1997 in Berlin.