Johnny Friedlaender
Composition, 1963, 1963
This beautiful etching and aquatint is immediately identifiable as an excellent example of the …
Although Johnny Friedlaender pursued watercolor and oil painting throughout his career, describing himself as a “painter who engraves,” his artistic legacy centers on color printmaking, techniques of which he pioneered. His early black-and-white prints drew heavily on Surrealism and Expressionism, executing phantasmorgic visions of animals and human figures, as in Cheval (1940), an aquatint etching of a horse leaping up towards the moon. Friedlaender’s abstracted portrayals of nature as a majestic, mystical force have been likened to Caspar David Friedrich’s transcendent landscapes, which he admired. As his style matured, Freidlaender rejected the gestural abandon of Expressionism, fully embracing a precise style of abstraction instead. He became known for musically oriented compositions of delicate forms and symbols in a harmonious palette.
This beautiful etching and aquatint is immediately identifiable as an excellent example of the work of Johnny Friedlaender (1912-1992). Friedlaender was a leading 20th-century artist, whose works have been exhibited in Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, Japan and the United States. He has been influential upon …
Although Johnny Friedlaender pursued watercolor and oil painting throughout his career, describing himself as a “painter who engraves,” his artistic legacy centers on color printmaking, techniques of which he pioneered. His early black-and-white prints drew heavily on Surrealism and Expressionism, executing phantasmorgic visions of animals and human figures, as in Cheval (1940), an aquatint etching of a horse leaping up towards the moon. Friedlaender’s abstracted portrayals of nature as a majestic, mystical force have been likened to Caspar David Friedrich’s transcendent landscapes, which he admired. As his style matured, Freidlaender rejected the gestural abandon of Expressionism, fully embracing a precise style of abstraction instead. He became known for musically oriented compositions of delicate forms and symbols in a harmonious palette.
