Witbruinblauw

Beschrijving

Signed, titled, dated Aug. 1965 and numbered 7 on the reverse
Signed and dated '65 on the lower right turnover edge. Painted mixed media relief on burlap over panel.
Provenance:
- BAT Artventure Collection / The Peter Stuyvesant Collection, Zevenaar
- Auction Sotheby's, Amsterdam, The BAT Artventure Collection fka The Peter Stuyvesant Collection, Part Three, 4 October 2011, lot 33
- Private collection
- Auction Christie's, Amsterdam, 3-4 November 2015, lot 220 (incl. copy of invoice)
- Private collection, the Netherlands
Note:
The Dutch-Belgian artist Bram Bogart primarily belonged to the abstract art movement. Pivotal in his oeuvre is the exploration in how the ‘script’ of a painting or the ‘non-repetitive element of rhythmical brush strokes’ could reveal abstract meaning. Since Bogart was trained as a house painter, he was very experienced in preparing his own paint, using a mix of oil-based paint and water-soluble. As a young, figurative painter Bogart went through an Expressionist period, in particular inspired by Permeke (1886-1952) and Van Gogh (1853-1890). In the 1950s, Bogart became the most progressive member of the Informal Group (Art Informel). These avant-garde artists opposed rules and formality in art and tried to capture spontaneity in their action painting and dripping work. After experiments with simple geometric motifs and Japanese calligraphy followed a turning point when Bogart came to use his cement-like material, composed of linseed oil, dyes and species. This technique moved him towards his characteristic pure Abstract Expressionist language, in which he came to extremely minimalist paintings consisting of only a few, usually clear, areas of colour. In paintings such as Witbruinblauw a gestural script is embedded in the compact and thickly painted surface. This highly impasto is the outcome of physical activity having been pushed, drawn, or pulled across the canvas.
Throughout his life Bogart exhibited extensively in Europe, including a solo exhibition at Cobra Museum of Modern Art, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, BOZAR Brussels and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Bogart is currently represented by White Cube, London.

"I consider the dripping of the material over the edge of the panel as very important, in order to break the stiffness of the square." - Bram Bogart.