Masterworks

"'The Convalescent Woman' was painted by the German artist Erich Heckel in Berlin, between 1912 and 1913. This was a time of change and anxiety, but it was to be followed by a time of even greater difficulties. Like many paintings from this period, 'The Convalescent Woman' was branded 'degenerate' by the National Socialist regime and was removed from public display in 1937..."

"This painting, from 1955, by Josef Albers makes no attempt to represent anything beyond its obvious components: a flat surface presented vertically on which the artist has painted in three different colours - a deep red, a warm brown, and a glowing dark blue. Where Albers goes further is indicated in his title: 'Homage to the Square: Against Deep Blue'..."

Fritz Winter painted the picture we are looking at now. It is called 'Composition in Blue.' On the whole, it conveys a feeling of optimism and enthusiasm, which ought perhaps to surprise us in view of the hardships Winter had lived through after the Munich exhibition, and then during the war when he was severely wounded and later taken prisoner.

"On the 15th May 1941 Max Beckmann wrote in his diary: 'Sketched 'Actors' at great speed'. And then in the entry for the 12th July 1942 it says: 'Today 'Actors' finished!' The exclamation mark Beckmann added at the end of this statement shows with what satisfaction and relief he reached the end of his work on this picture..."

"Lyonel Feininger would study nature closely, accurately, making repeated sketches until the essential forms had been captured. 'The forms which we find new in nature', he said, 'are newer than anything invented', and patterns he found in nature were renewed and transfigured in his art. His painting 'Bird Cloud' from 1926, is a fine example of this process..."