Her preferred medium was the linoleum block print, which suited her strong sense of design.
She studied at the animal painting academy of Hans von Hayek, where students painted landscapes and animals on farms near Dachau.
She was inspired by a trip to Africa, and later by trips to the zoo. Most of her African compositions are based on her deep knowledge of animal anatomy, with poses that could never be taken directly from photography.
She often used the linoleum reduction process, where the same plate is used several times for progressively darker ink runs. With each color run, more and more of the block is cut away.
Even for a simple subject, this process requires careful planning, and since you destroy the plate, you can't go back and print more.
Her birds, fish, and insect subjects, show striking color combinations. Her art is well known to lino-cut artists, but not as well known as it should be to painters and other artists.
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Wikipedia (in German) Norbertine Bresslern-Roth
These are absolutely gorgeous! What a fantastic coupling of strong design sense and animal anatomy. I'm glad you introduced me to this artist, thank you! :)
ReplyDeleteFabulous art, James. Thank you so much for turning me on to this genius.
ReplyDeleteHere's a really cool video about a retrospective exhibition of her work:
https://youtu.be/p6scSRxz0UM
You don't need to speak German to understand what a powerhouse Norbertine was.
These are wonderful! thanks so much for bringing her to our attention!
ReplyDelete