SALZMANN
FRANKLIN BOWLES GALLERIES NEW YORK | SAN FRANCISCO
GOTTFRIED SALZMANN A DISTANT PERSPECTIVE
A DISTANT PERSPECTIVE
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ottfried Salzmann established himself as a premier watercolorist in the 1960s while studying in Vienna and Paris. He quickly gained an international reputation which culminated in a major retrospective at the prestigious Salzburg Museum in Austria in 2013. In 2001, the most celebrated watercolor competition in Europe, which is underwritten and judged by members of the British Royal Watercolour Society, changed their rules. After more than 200 years of rigidly upholding the antiquated notions of “pure” watercolor painting, the committee voted that a piece could contain elements of collage — and that first year such a piece won a prize. These societies which govern the standards of watercolor painting are highly influential. When the European Federation of Watercolor Society was first formed in 1996, Gottfried Salzmann was one of a handful of artists that were immediately made honorary members. In the 19th century, watercolor had a high standing in art circles, particularly in England and Austria. In the 20th century, however, watercolor had fallen out of favor and thus Gottfried Salzmann adamantly sought recognition for his talent as a watercolorist. He strove to unite modern art theories with the neglected field of watercolor. Although he excelled as a pure watercolorist, he also sought points of contact to relate it to drawing, printing, photography and painting. Similarly, photography occupied a subordinate position in the realm of fine art because of photography’s mechanical nature and reproducibility. Salzmann, however, presciently embraced photography’s promise as a medium of nuanced expression and artistic manipulation.
US Flag, I watercolor 24 x 18.5 in, 60 x 47 cm 2015
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Salzmann gained significant recognition during the 1970s. Wolfgang Graninger, a modest man who taught music in Salzburg, was an early admirer. He bought his first Salzmann painting in 1971, ultimately building a collection of 200 works which he later bequeathed to the Albertina museum in 1982. Founded in July of 1976, the Albertina in Vienna is one of the most important collections in the world. It houses over one million works, cover-
ing six centuries of art history from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance to the present. In his forward for the 2006 book, Gottfried Salzmann, Klaus Schroder, the curator of the Albertina, stated: For the Albertina, the collection of Salzmann watercolors owned by the museum is one of our most important treasures. Following the line from Albrecht Dürer, Rudolf Van Alt and the later Paul Klee, Salzmann establishes himself as a rightful heir and successor.... Other admirers included Agnes and Karlheinz Essl, founders of the Essl Museum, Austria’s largest private collection of contemporary art. With over six thousand works of art, the Essl Collection provides an excellent overview of Austrian painting since 1945. Paintings by Gottfried Salzmann were represented in the Essl collection since its inception. Gottfried was recommended to Franklin Bowles Galleries by both a renowned European painter and a prominent European gallery; his reputation was widespread. Throughout his career, Gottfried Salzmann has continued to evolve. His thorough understanding of watercolor, an extremely sensitive and volatile medium, has conditioned him to use other mediums with ease and sophistication. In many ways, technical exploration has served as a driving force in his artistic trajectory. Variety is a creative catalyst for Salzmann; he refuses to be limited to a single medium and he often combines disparate techniques and mediums to make his arresting paintings. Salzmann has taken on elements of numerous modern styles including abstract expressionism, optical art and color field painting. He addresses the world of consumption and the detritus of civilization — a subject elevated through the American Pop Art movement — through collage. He practiced and exhibited his photography during the early 1970s and later used his dark room-developed photographs as a base layer for further accretions and alterations. Salzmann’s work with collage and other mixed media is so compelling because he preserves the personal intimacy with his materials and the presence of the artist’s hand. The work is warm and felt: there is never any doubt as to his physical participation in its creation.
What may go unnoticed in Salzmann’s work is his ability to abstract his land and cityscapes while still couching them in reality. In his most recent work, he uses paint to dissolve landscapes while rebuilding them by adding a layer of delineated structures. He specializes in recording visual phenomenological events that, although present everywhere, are actually perceived by few — often due to the unusual angle of observation. An explorer of spatial dimensions, he revels in unusual perspectives, specifically the distance and scale of a bird’s eye view. A landscape seen from a rooftop exhibits an intricate, woven, abstract pattern that can only be perceived at such a vantage point. As we reflect on the prolific career of this artist, we see exceptional talent, desire and drive. Salzmann’s technical brilliance with watercolor has not gotten in the way of his insatiable experimental curiosity. For Salzmann to remain relevant and true to his inner vision, he continuously reignites his practice through new learning, new methods, new subjects, new media, and new techniques; he lives in a perpetual state of creative innovation. Critics, curators, and the public have championed Salzmann. Salzmann, who is now widely recognized as an influential contemporary artist, is situated ideally between the poles of tradition and innovation within this newest collection. The work in this exhibition highlights the range of imagination and quality of execution that the artist has diligently honed over the span of his prodigious career. In his work one can see how image, time, light, and space are juxtaposed on a single surface — the perfect alchemy of emotion, perception and form. His works are beautiful and timeless, their genesis both mechanical and handmade, their forms both representational and abstract. I look forward to seeing you at Gottfried Salzmann’s reception in New York this fall.
Franklin Bowles 3
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facing page:
Hans Guck in die luft in New York, I watercolor 19 x 24 in, 47.5 x 60.5 cm 2016
From Helicopter, III watercolor 18.5 x 30 in, 47 x 76 cm 2016
From Helicopter, IV watercolor 55 x 73 in, 22 x 29 cm 2016
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US Flag, III watercolor 24 x 19 in, 60 x 47.5 cm 2015
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US Flag, IX watercolor 19 x 15 in, 48 x 30 cm 2016
US Flag, VI watercolor 19 x 15 in, 48 x 30 cm 2015
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NY Reflection watercolor 19 x 15 in, 48 x 30 cm 2015
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NY at Night, I watercolor 20 x 15 in, 50 x 36 cm 2015
NY at Night, II watercolor 19 x 15 in, 48 x 30 cm 2016
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US Flag, II watercolor 24 x 19 in, 61 x 47.5 cm 2015
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NY in Blue watercolor, paper on canvas 24 x19 in, 60 x 48 cm 2016
NY Cloudy watercolor 30 x 20 in, 76 x 51 cm 2010
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Hans Guck in die luft in New York, II watercolor 24 x 19 in, 61 x 48 cm 2016
facing page:
NY en BoĂŽte, I photograph and mixed media 22 x 28 in, 56 x 72 cm 2015
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Riverside, I watercolor 42.5 x 29 in 108 x 74 cm 2016
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From Helicopter, V watercolor 24 x 11 in, 60 x 27 cm 2016
Du toit watercolor 18.5 x 12 in, 47 x 31 cm 2016
From Helicopter, VI watercolor 25 x 8 in, 64 x 21 cm 2016
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left:
Hudson River watercolor 36 x 22 in, 92 x 56 cm 2016
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US Flag, IV watercolor 19 x 13 in, 49 x 34 cm 2015
Red Accents watercolor 20 x 25.5 in, 50 x 65 cm 2015
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Reduit 80F watercolor and collage 30 x 23 in, 77 x 58 cm 1978
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East River watercolor 43 x 29 in, 109 x 73 cm 2015
From Helicopter, I watercolor 42.5 x 29 in, 108 x 74 cm 2015
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Flight AF 6207, I watercolor 19 x 15 in, 48 x 30 cm 2015
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Flight AF 6207, IV watercolor 6 x 10 in, 16 x 25 cm 2015
Flight AF 6207, III watercolor 9 x 15 in, 24 x 30 cm 2015
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AllĂŠe lithographic ink on lithograph 20 x 15 in, 33 x 38 cm 1987
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1: Green Sky watercolor 31 x 22 in, 78 x 57 cm 1973 2
2: Yellow-purple Sky watercolor 22 x 31 in, 57 x 79 cm 3: Ciel Menacent watercolor 19 x 22 in, 40 x 57 cm
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lithographic ink on lithograph:
22 Allée photograph and mixed media:
2 US Flag, I 10 US Flag, II 6 US Flag, III 16 US Flag, IV 7 US Flag, VI 7 US Flag, IX 23 Yellow-purple Sky
13 NY en Boîte, I watercolor:
23 Ciel Menacent 15 Du toit 19 East River 19 From Helicopter, I 5 From Helicopter, III 20 Flight AF 6207, I 21 Flight AF 6207, III 21 Flight AF 6207, IV 5 From Helicopter, IV 15 From Helicopter, V 15 From Helicopter, VI 23 Green Sky 4 Hans Guck in die luft in New York, I 12 Hans Guck in die luft in New York, II 16 Hudson River 9 NY at Night, I 9 NY at Night, II 11 NY Cloudy 8 NY Reflection 17 Red Accents 14 Riverside, I
watercolor and collage :
18 Reduit 80F watercolor on photograph:
24 Green Street watercolor, paper on canvas:
11 NY in Blue
FALL 2016 project managers:
Stacey Bellis Ken Amorino
INDEX photographer:
Jean Louis Losi
catalog design:
Susan Tsuchiya
Front cover: From Helicopter, II (detail) Inside back cover: Flight AF 6207, II (detail) Back cover: US Flages, V III (detail)
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Green Street watercolor on photograph 29.5 x 20 in, 75 x 51 cm 2015
NEW YORK 431 West Broadway New York NY 10012 212.226.1616 / 800.926.9537
SAN FRANCISCO 765 Beach Street San Francisco CA 94109 349 Geary Street San Francisco CA 94102 415.441.8008 / 800.926.9535
www.franklinbowlesgallery.com $25