Olie op doek 127 x 101.5 cm, gesigneerd rechtsonder en gedateerd '74
Annotation on the stretcher on the reverse:
'Two Times'.
Annotation on the reverse:
'New York 1975'.
Provenace:
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
With thick brushstrokes in bright, primary colors, Karel Appel (1921-2006) painted this powerful work. The directness with which he applied the paint to the canvas radiates its energy. With color blocks that clash with each other, Appel created tension and liveliness. Between abstraction and recognition, a play emerges that keeps you looking. The figure at the bottom center is – although somewhat distorted and sketchy – clearly recognizable as a human. Man or woman? Appel deliberately left that open. The two figures at the top are more reminiscent of animals. All three figures have a playful rawness. Karel Appel painted this expressive work in New York. On the back of the linen, he wrote his name and ‘New York 1975’ in large letters. On the stretcher, there is a sticker from Gallery Martha Jackson. Martha Jackson was a progressive gallerist and has been of great importance to the international reputation of Appel.
From the beginning, she believed in Appel's expressive work and created several exhibitions with his work. Karel Appel is among the great innovators of twentieth-century Dutch art. In 1948 he was a co-founder of the rebellious Cobra movement, which broke with academic rules and embraced experimentation. Appel found his inspiration in primitive art, outsider art, and children's drawings. Not for the form, but for the freedom and openness they convey. His work appears spontaneous and wild, but it is carefully constructed. Behind every seemingly impetuous stroke lies a sharp composition.
Karel Appel (1921–2006) is one of the most influential Dutch painters of the second half of the twentieth century. During the war years—between 1940 and 1943—Appel studied at the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam, together with Constant and Corneille, among others. In 1948, Karel Appel was closely involved in the founding of Cobra, named after the three cities from which the artists, poets, and writers ...
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