Erich Buchholz

Collection Herbert & Nannette Rothschild, New York (1956-1966)

Annely Juda Fine Art, London

Galerie Gmurzynzka, Cologne

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Michael Ilk, Erich Buchholz, Catalogue raisonné 1891-1972, Neustadt, 2013, no. A75, n.p., illustrated

New York, Rose Fried Gallery, Erich Buchholz- 1917-2930/ 1950-1955, 1956

Providence, Museum of Art, Herbert and Nannette Rothschild Collection, 1966, no. 26, illustrated

London, Annely Juda Fine Art, The Non-Objective World 1914-1939, 1978

Cologne, Galerie Stolz, Pioniere des deutschen Konstruktivismus, 1984

Berlin, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin-Moskau, Moskau-Berlin 1900 - 1950, 1995 

Im Anfang war das Quadrat, which translates to In the beginning was the square, challenges human vision with a dynamic, unresolved composition which aims at raising a revolutionary consciousness by activating one’s sensory perception of their environment. Simple motifs such as the line and the square operate in an elaborate interplay of polarities, in which the static and the dynamic are in tension. The composition of square and rectangular shapes is executed in the artist's colour palette reduced to primary colours - primarily black, red and gold.

Passionate about the form and its potential for movement and expression, polish born artist Erich Buchholz was at the forefront of avant-garde art in the early years of the Weimar Republic, and especially an actor of the multifaceted and volatile Berlin art scene. He aligned himself with the group loosely designed as "dynamic constructivism" which stood in opposition to the "technical naturalism" of Russian Constructivism and the rigid adherence to horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines found in De Stijl. Buchholz's approach was indeed marked by the fusion of elements from different art styles, including Constructivism and Expressionism, the use of abstract geometric forms and vibrant colours, and the sense of movement these associations create.

Buchholz had to interrupt his artistic activity twice, first in 1925, in the face of economic hardship and, from 1933, after the National Socialist party forbade him from painting. The production of the present work spans thirty-one years.