Marek Oberländer, AIX-EN-PROVENCE, 1969

65,0 x 49,5 cm - tempera, paper

signed in ink l.d.: M. Oberlander 1969

p.d.: Aix en Provence

on the reverse, pencil inscription: AIX 1969.



♣ A fee will be added to the auctioned price in addition to other costs, based on the right of the artist and his heirs to receive remuneration in accordance with the Law of February 4, 1994 - on Copyright and Related Rights (droit de suite).

Marek Oberländer (Szczerzec near Lviv 1922 - Nice 1978) served in the Red Army during the war. In 1946-48 he studied at the High School of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Then in 1948-53 he studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. In 1955, together with Elżbieta Grabska, Jan Dziędziora and Jacek Sienicki, he was co-organizer of the National Exhibition of Young Visual Arts, which under the name "Arsenal" entered the legend of Polish contemporary art. One of the symbols of the "Arsenal" attitude and style became Oberländer's painting Stigmatized, shown at this exhibition. In 1956-61, the artist managed a gallery operating under the auspices of cultural and social weeklies, successively: "Po Prostu", "Nowa Kultura" and "Współczesność". In 1963 he left for Sweden, and in 1964 settled in France. He lived in Paris and Nice, where he died prematurely of a heart attack. He donated a selection of the best works from his artistic output to the National Museum in Wroclaw in 1977. In the 1950s, he created figural compositions with historical and martyrological themes, often dedicated, like the aforementioned Stigmatized, to the tragedy of the Holocaust. Over time, he simplified and reduced the forms, while enriching their texture. Although they generally did not cross the threshold of abstraction, Oberländer's "Figures," usually painted and drawn in free-flowing ink, are an original variety of "black," post-arsenal Polish informel. After settling in France, the artist painted more often with oil and gouache, enriching and brightening his palette. In addition to painting, he practiced drawing, printmaking (lithography) and applied graphics (illustration).