1/9 Unosunove Arte Contemporanea
The Suitcases of Mr. O.F. Elaborazione della storia e dell'opera del pittore e scultore Otto Freundlich nato il 10 giugno 1878 in Polonia e morto nel 1943 nel campo di concentramento di Lublin-Majdanek.
Biography of Painter and Sculptor Otto Freundlich*, Authored by Himself
“I was born on June 10th 1878 in Stolp (Pomerania). As a child I used to draw a lot, but
upon starting school the talent disappeared. I became a merchants apprentice, and then a
clerk, but after abandoning this occupation, I began studying art history in Munich. While
being an art history student in Florence, I took up sculpture and painting. I was then
twenty-seven years old. After two years of independent practice, I developed a style of
painting applying colorful, clear, and purely constructive surfaces, without any naturalistic
or impressionistic elements, a technique to which I have remained faithful since 1908. My
first abstract pictures date from the year 1911. In 1908 I created various sculptures: a male
mask (bronze); a female bust (bronze); in 1910 a mask made of plaster. All these sculptures
are placed in private collections.
In 1908 I came to Paris for the first time. I found a studio in Montmartre (the Bateau
Lavoir), in the same atelier building where Picasso then lived. I exhibited my pictures at
Galerie Sagot on Rue Laffitte. At the invitation of Kunst-Kring in Amsterdam, I participated
in an exhibition there, together with all the Parisian avant-garde artists in 1912. In 1912 I
also exhibited at the Cologne Sonderbund, and that same year I made two large heads of
plaster. In 1918-19 I created a 2x3 meter mosaic for a private collection, and in 1924 a
church window. I regularly exhibited with the Berlin-based Novembergruppe. After
returning to Paris in 1924, I took part in the Salons of the Indépendants and the
Musicalistes, and abroad I participated in exhibitions at museums in Amsterdam, Den
Haag, Zürich, Basel; in London: Guggenheim Gallery and Burlington Gallery. On the
occasion of my sixtieth birthday in 1938, the picture Triptychon was signed over from
Jeanne Bucher in Paris to the Jeu de Paume Museum. In 1929 my first monumental and
non-figurative sculpture arose, in 1933 another non-figurative and monumental sculpture
in plaster, and in 1934 an architectural sculpture, which followed the execution of an
architectural relief. In 1938 I realized a (three-part) mosaic Hommage au peuple de
couleur. From 1932 to 1934, I participated in the exhibitions and publications of
Abstraction-Création.
Publications: Genius (Sculptures, 1910), and in 1919, a portfolio with eight engravings
(Kairos Verlag). Kunstblatt: 1931. Contributor to A–Z in Cologne and to Die Aktion. In
Germany, the sculptures of mine that were previously in the museum of Hamburg, have
been displayed at the exhibition Entartete Kunst (1937-1938) in Berlin and Munich, and
depicted in the Stürmer. My studio Le Mur (Academy of Art) is situated in Rue Henri-
Barbusse 38 in Paris, (formerly Rue Denfert-Rochereau), I had to leave it twice, in 1939 and
in 1940, as I was interned.”
Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet 1941.
sign. Otto Freundlich.
*Otto Freundlich, b. 1878 in Stolp (now Słupsk, Poland); d. 1943 in Lublin-Majdanek concentration camp.
Per-Oskar Leu (1980, Oslo, Norvegia) vive e lavora a New York. Attualmente, partecipa
all’Independent Study Program del Whitney Museum of American Art, NY. Ha studiato
alla National Academy of Fine art (Oslo), alla Glasgow School of Art e si laurea nel 2009
alla Städelschule (Frankfurt am Main). Tra le mostre precedenti: When it stops dripping
from the ceiling, Kadist art Foundation, Paris (2012), Crisis and Critique, 155
Freeman/Triple Canopy, New York (2012), The English: Are They Human?, Commercial
Road Project, Cura/London Metropolitan University, London (2012), Vox Clamantis in
Deserto, unosolo (1/9unosunove project room), Rome, (2010), Frieze Projects, London
(2009).
Si ringrazia per la collaborazione la Reale Ambasciata di Norvegia a Roma.
La mostra partecipa a www.art2nightsroma.org
Opening Lunedì 24 Settembre 2012 ore 19.00
galleria 1/9unosunove
via degli Specchi, 20 (Palazzo Santacroce) Roma
orari di apertura:
Martedì – Venerdì dalle 11.00 alle 19.00,
Sabato dalle 15.00 alle 19.00 (o su appuntamento)