Turning point, “Etüde 4/63”

Details

Exhibition:

Günter Fruhtrunk, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund 1963, cat. no. 32, on the reverse with the label;

Günter Fruhtrunk, Galerie Gunar, Düsseldorf 1964;

Günter Fruhtrunk (1923-1982), Lorenzelli Arte, Milan 1989, on the reverse with the stamp and label;

Art Frankfurt, 1990, on the reverse with the label;

Provenance:

Galerie Wassermann, Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn, on the reverse with the stamp;

Private collection, Munich.

Description

– Günter Fruhtrunk is the leading representative of concrete art in early West Germany

– Large-format, extremely typical composition of the characteristic motif of stripes with vibrating lines in bright blue

– Created during the important Paris years, recently honoured with an exhibition at the Lenbachhaus Munich (November 2023 – April 2024)

The increasing complexity of the compositions is characteristic of the Paris years. Fruhtrunk’s aspiration is nothing less than an art that should be free from the artist’s personal or interpretative demands. He created pictorial structures that set the tone for his overall later work: Complex compositions imbued with clarity that radiate beauty and tranquillity due to their harmonious inner order. “Wendepunkt, “Etüde 4/63” is a particularly harmonious example of this creative balance. An almost identical, smaller-format work entitled “Wendepunkt. Etude II” was shown in the exhibition “Günter Fruhtrunk. The Paris Years (1954-1967)” at the Lenbachhaus in Munich until the end of April this year. It bears the number 37 in the catalogue. The works have small punctures in the back of the canvas: they are the result of fine nails set into the canvas, to which threads are attached from the centre. They help the artist to define exact vanishing lines for the perspective of the compositions. In the “Wendepunkt” works, the virtual centre point focuses on complex turns of the two horizontal registers, resulting in a composition that is both exciting and completely balanced.