Introduction of the artist:

Franz GERTSCH (Switzerland)

Born in 1930, Morigen, Switzerland. Lives in Ruschegg, Switzerland. Selected solo exhibitions: 2011 Franz Gertsch. Seasons. Works 1983 to 2011, Kunsthaus Zurich/ 2006 Woodcuts, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK / 2005 Franz Gertsch. The Retrospective, museum franz gertsch and Kunstmuseum Bern / 2004 Franz Gertsch, Gagosian Gallery, New York / Selected group exhibitions: 2008 Europop, Kunsthaus Zurich/ 2008 Kunst nach 1970 aus der Albertina Museum, Albertina Museum, Vienne / 2007 The painting of Modern Life, Hayward, London / 2003 the 50th Venice Biennale / 2002 L'immagine ritrovata, Museo Cantonale d'Arte, Lugano, Switzerland / 2000 The memory of painting, Aargauer Kunsthau, Aarau, Switzerland / 1972 Documenta 5, Kassel, Germany.

Introduction of works:

Top of the sea, woodcut (2 plates), 144×125.5cm, 1990

Grass ‘Prospect’, woodcut (2 plates), 268×183cm each, 2007

Butterbur ‘Prospect’, woodcut (2 plates), 268×183cm each, 2005

Silvia I, egg tempera on unprimed cotton canvas, 290×280cm, 1998

Silvia III, Mixed technique (egg tempera and resin-oil paint) on unprimed cotton canvas, 315×290cm, 2004

Swiss artist Franz Gertsch (b. 1930) makes paintings and woodcut prints. The latter, large-scale and extremely fine in their execution, are characterised by an extraordinarily meditative quality, a kind of everyday classicism that encourages a slower, deeper apprehension of the visual world. They assert the importance of process whereby a message is embodied in the medium itself. The viewer is engaged by sheer concentration, applied both to the subject and the object of the artist’s practice.

Gertsch’s earlier works often depicted figures in the street and in various interiors. The later woodcuts, like the later paintings, differentiate instead between human subjects, figures depicted in isolation, and unpopulated bits of landscape. These are relatively unremarkable corners of the natural world, and yet through the care with which they have been rendered, we understand that they are worthy of intense scrutiny.

There is a Zen-like meditation suggested by Gertsch’s style. The landscapes, especially the images of blades of grass and wildflowers, are reminiscent of countless images of the same subjects by Japanese and Chinese masters. Images of water are articulated by a rippling surface, simply, wonderfully, tracing the effects of wind and light. The traditional medium of woodcut is particularly appropriate for Gertsch, given the nature of his subjects, archetypal somehow and yet very particular. His technique, involving a choice of different woods for different subjects, handmade pigments, and a Japanese paper made from mulberry and linen fibre, could not be more exacting and in tune with the essentialism he espouses.