Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze Wols
Born – Berlin, Germany 1913
Died – Paris, France 1951
Wols was born in Germany but lived in France from the mid-1930s onward. His artistic potential was recognized by Moholy-Nagy, who encouraged him to study at the Bauhaus. From 1932 he earned his living as a photographer in Paris. After the Second World War, he produced illustrations for Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, who recognized his talent for producing detailed and obsessive images of the unconscious. His mature work, especially drawings and watercolours from the early 1940s, assimilate Surrealist notions of automatism, a process exploiting the subconscious, and biomorphism, using forms derived from organic shapes. Don Juan is a delicate work from this period. The pinkish colour and spidery lines combine in a small, evocative image that is both fluid and exact. A work rich in associations, the title suggests that we are witness to the mating ritual of tiny creatures observed through a microscope. Wols died aged thirty-eight, the result of a dissolute and poverty-stricken life. Posthumously, his reputation grew and his work influenced the development of French abstract art in the 1950s.
Masterpieces:
- Untitled
- Composition
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About alfred otto wolfgang schulze wols
Wols 1913-1951: Peintures, Aquarelles, Dessins
Wols (Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze); Henri-Pierre Roche
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Art: Over 2,500 Works from Cave to Contemporary
Andrew Graham-Dixon
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The Barnes Foundation: Masterworks
Judith F. Dolkart
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