![Franz Gertsch Der grosse Spielmann [Detail], 1966 Dispersion auf Leinwand / Dispersion on canvas 170 x 220 cm Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf (Dauerleihgabe Kunstsammlung Kanton Bern) © Franz Gertsch AG](/sites/default/files/styles/slide/public/museums/2715/temporary-exhibition/mfg_franz-gertsch_der_grosse_spielmann_1966_300.jpg?itok=plQqEhqy "Franz Gertsch Der grosse Spielmann [Detail], 1966 Dispersion auf Leinwand / Dispersion on canvas 170 x 220 cm Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf (Dauerleihgabe Kunstsammlung Kanton Bern) © Franz Gertsch AG")
The exhibition in room 1 of the Museum Franz Gertsch comprises paintings, collages, a linocut, and drawings Franz Gertsch created between 1965 and 1969. The museum is happy to have been entrusted with the works “Der grosse Spielmann” (=The Big Musician) and “O mein Papa” (=Oh My Papa) (both 1966) from the art collections of the Canton and the City of Bern, as well as “Paar” (=Couple) (1968) from the municipality of Bolligen on permanent loan. For the first time, these works can now be presented in the context of other pieces from this period.
Franz Gertsch started to develop a motivic interest in circus artists and musicians, but also in couples and family scenes in the mid-1960s. In 1963 Gertsch embarked on a second marriage with Maria Gertsch-Meer. The couple and their four children, who were born in 1963, 1965, 1966, and 1968, lived in a small flat in Bern.
The collages and paintings after collages Gertsch produced during this time are informed by formal reductions and a restrained colour palette. Muscular male and female circus artists are the protagonists in pictures with titles such as “Artistenfamilie” (=Family of Circus Artists) or “Pyramidaler Auftritt” (=Pyramidal Performance). It is unclear whether works featuring father-mother-child constellations, such as “Familie bei Nacht” (Family at Night), “Trompetennachwuchs” (=Trumpeter Offspring) or “O mein Papa” (Oh My Papa), also belong to the world of performers and musicians. The recurring male figure seems sturdy and is often depicted with a dark moustache, the child (Gertsch’s daughter Renate, who was born in 1959 during his first marriage to Denise Gertsch or a son he chose not to identify) is repeatedly referred to as Harlekina or Harlekin and portrayed in a diamond-patterned shirt or dress. In some pictures the mother figure is also wearing this outfit.
Autobiography and fiction merge in a pictorial whole. Elements such as the white iron bedstead Franz Gertsch sketched in a holiday home or the golden trumpet he bought second-hand resurface in variations.
“Familie bei Nacht”, which can be found in the front part of the exhibition room, already features an intertwined couple, a theme Franz Gertsch derived from Gustave Courbet’s (1819–1877) “Le Sommeil” (=The Sleepers) (1866). In 1967 the artist won the contest to create murals for the new school building in Langenthal with a similar design. Due to a scandal – both the teaching staff and the people of Langenthal deemed the motifs of a reclining and a standing couple indecent and inappropriate for a school – the paintings were never implemented. Nonetheless, the artist used variations on the theme of the reclining couple in several works, some of which are on display in the back of the room. This area is dedicated to the subject of couples in Franz Gertsch’s oeuvre: he used stencils to create figures of sitting and reclining men and women, predominately in the primary colours red, blue, and yellow.
Further paintings and woodcuts by the artist are presented in the annex.
The exhibition was curated by Anna Wesle.
The collages and paintings after collages Gertsch produced during this time are informed by formal reductions and a restrained colour palette. Muscular male and female circus artists are the protagonists in pictures with titles such as “Artistenfamilie” (=Family of Circus Artists) or “Pyramidaler Auftritt” (=Pyramidal Performance). It is unclear whether works featuring father-mother-child constellations, such as “Familie bei Nacht” (Family at Night), “Trompetennachwuchs” (=Trumpeter Offspring) or “O mein Papa” (Oh My Papa), also belong to the world of performers and musicians. The recurring male figure seems sturdy and is often depicted with a dark moustache, the child (Gertsch’s daughter Renate, who was born in 1959 during his first marriage to Denise Gertsch or a son he chose not to identify) is repeatedly referred to as Harlekina or Harlekin and portrayed in a diamond-patterned shirt or dress. In some pictures the mother figure is also wearing this outfit.
Autobiography and fiction merge in a pictorial whole. Elements such as the white iron bedstead Franz Gertsch sketched in a holiday home or the golden trumpet he bought second-hand resurface in variations.
“Familie bei Nacht”, which can be found in the front part of the exhibition room, already features an intertwined couple, a theme Franz Gertsch derived from Gustave Courbet’s (1819–1877) “Le Sommeil” (=The Sleepers) (1866). In 1967 the artist won the contest to create murals for the new school building in Langenthal with a similar design. Due to a scandal – both the teaching staff and the people of Langenthal deemed the motifs of a reclining and a standing couple indecent and inappropriate for a school – the paintings were never implemented. Nonetheless, the artist used variations on the theme of the reclining couple in several works, some of which are on display in the back of the room. This area is dedicated to the subject of couples in Franz Gertsch’s oeuvre: he used stencils to create figures of sitting and reclining men and women, predominately in the primary colours red, blue, and yellow.
Further paintings and woodcuts by the artist are presented in the annex.
The exhibition was curated by Anna Wesle.
