Karel Appel ^©  

(1921 - 2006)

Inscription on the reverse: Sticking im gras
Inscription on the revese: 0474/75

Provenance:
Sant'Erasmo Club d'Arte, Milan;

Centro d'Arte La Barcaccia, Naples, as stated by the stamp on the reverse

Artwork registered and the Archivio Karel Appel, curated by Myriam Yared with the number P75-072, as stated by the certificate

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Karel Appel (Amsterdam, 1921 - Zurich, 2006) is one of the protagonists of post-war Dutch and European painting. Trained at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, in 1948 he created the "cobra" group with Constant, Corneille, Asger Jorn and Pierre Alechinsky. The group, which brings together artists from Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam, proposes a reinterpretation of expressionism in an informal and ironic key, based on primary colors, bright and pasty brushstrokes that give life to distorted human figures and primitive and grotesque subjects, of which the lively oil, mixed media and collage on paper on masonite of 1975 presented here is a perfect example.

Appel’s style is distinguished by compositions inspired by children’s art, the works of Paul Klee and those of Joan Mirò. His painting is realized in a spontaneous expressionism with abstract characteristics and will represent a turning point in the most formal European geometric art of the time. Since the sixties, Appel has exhibited at the largest European and American museums, becoming increasingly known, to such an extent that a film will also be shot on him: "La réalité de Karel Appel" (1962), directed by Jan Vrijman. (Taken from "Il Gruppo cobra", Scia Letteraria, 29 April 2019).