Franz Gertsch, born in Mörigen in 1930, is considered one of the most important contemporary Swiss artists. With his hyper-realistic painting and his woodcuts, which are unique both in technique and size, he also acquired an outstanding reputation outside Switzerland. Between his international breakthrough at the documenta 5 in Kassel in 1972, and the presentation of his works at the Biennale in Venice in 1999, a rich pictorial and graphic work emerged, which shows a very particular approach to reality.
Reality to Franz Gertsch means not only a pictorial, but also a conceptual challenge. Even though his starting point is photographs or slide projections, the pictures follow their own inherent logic which aims at an absolute concord of all elements. Unlike the American photo-realistic painters, he uses a brush instead of a spray gun. The purity of the used material is program: From the colours, often made of minerals such as lapis lazuli, azurite and malachite, over binding agents to the canvas or hand-made Japanese paper, everything is chosen carefully and brought to perfect harmony with the work of art. His work assimilates a large part of the European painting tradition - from Jan van Eyck, Albrecht Dürer and Leonardo da Vinci to Caspar David Friedrich and Ferdinand Hodler - without betraying modernity.
The woodcut work of Franz Gertsch is considered absolutely unique. In an unprecedented precision with respect to both cutting and printing and in monumental formats which push the limits of what is feasible in paper production, Gertsch has opened new dimensions for this traditional medium.
This exceptional work has not lacked recognition. Large exhibitions, for instance in the museum of Modern Art in New York, in Kyoto, Berlin, London and other places, bear witness to this esteem. Gertsch is represented in German and American museums. In Switzerland, however, we have seen comparatively little of him so far. The collections of the Kunsthaus Zurich and the Berner Kunstmuseum cannot be regarded as representative. With the museum franz gertsch in Burgdorf, situated not far from his residence and place of work in Rüschegg, his outstanding oeuvre will now be adequately appreciated.
http://www.museum-franzgertsch.ch
The woodcuts of the natural world – landscapes and details – are inspired by places
very familiar to Gertsch, in and around his home. He encourages the viewer to
look closely at that which might otherwise be ignored or marginalised, things that
become remarkable through a process of looking that is not unlike meditation.
Pestwurz (1993), featuring wild flowers from the artist’s garden, is reminiscent of
countless images of similar subject matter by Japanese and Chinese masters, with
the same meditative quality. The images Schwarzwasser I(1990/91) and Diptychon
(Schwarzwasser) (1995) depict rocks and water, two essential elements of the natural
world, similarly carried out through thoughtful observation, the rippling fluid
surfaces beautifully tracing the effects of wind and light.
http://www.ikon-gallery.co.uk gallery pamphlet excerpt