DOI Heft:
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DOI Artikel:Piotrowski, Piotr: Totalitarianism and Modernism: the "thaw" and informel painting in central Europe, 1955 - 1965
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28185#0126
124
PIOTR PIOTROWSKI
friends, East Berlin artists - is a triptych, referring, according to an in-
teresting analysis of Karin Thomas, to the tradition of Beckmann.4 * * * The
scene is located in the atelier of the Academy at Paris Square, Berlin,
which is made explicit by a view of the nearby Brandenburg Gâte. In the
foreground, the fîrst figure on the left is the painter himself, holding a
2. Harald Metzkes, Die Freunde, 1957 [private collection]
huge saw as if he were holding a double bass, an instrument associated
with jazz rnusic, very popular among the East German bohemia yet con-
sidered décadent by the authorities. Right next to Metzkes we can see
Manfred Bôttcher, who later became a legendary figure of the inde-
pendent art of the GDR, and the sculptor Werner Stôtzner, separated
from Bôttcher by a sitting waitress. Perhaps the most interesting is the
fifth figure, somewhat distanced from the rest of the group - Ernst
Schroeder, wearing fashionable clothes, with a cigarette in his hand,
legendary not only because of his art, but also because of his original life-
style. This distance, writes Karin Thomas, is ostentatious, since
Schroeder’s position among the other artists was quite spécifie. He would
often visit Paris (which explains his chic suit) and he must hâve been fa-
miliar with the latest trends appearing in that still unquestionable capi-
4 K. Thomas, Krise und Ich-Findung im künstlerischen Psychogramm Freundesbild
und Selbstportàt, (in:) Deutschlandbilder. Kunst aus einem geteilten Land, E. Gillen
(Hrsg), Berlin: Berliner Festspiele GmbH, Museumspâdagogischen Dienst, Dumont 1997,
545-547.
PIOTR PIOTROWSKI
friends, East Berlin artists - is a triptych, referring, according to an in-
teresting analysis of Karin Thomas, to the tradition of Beckmann.4 * * * The
scene is located in the atelier of the Academy at Paris Square, Berlin,
which is made explicit by a view of the nearby Brandenburg Gâte. In the
foreground, the fîrst figure on the left is the painter himself, holding a
2. Harald Metzkes, Die Freunde, 1957 [private collection]
huge saw as if he were holding a double bass, an instrument associated
with jazz rnusic, very popular among the East German bohemia yet con-
sidered décadent by the authorities. Right next to Metzkes we can see
Manfred Bôttcher, who later became a legendary figure of the inde-
pendent art of the GDR, and the sculptor Werner Stôtzner, separated
from Bôttcher by a sitting waitress. Perhaps the most interesting is the
fifth figure, somewhat distanced from the rest of the group - Ernst
Schroeder, wearing fashionable clothes, with a cigarette in his hand,
legendary not only because of his art, but also because of his original life-
style. This distance, writes Karin Thomas, is ostentatious, since
Schroeder’s position among the other artists was quite spécifie. He would
often visit Paris (which explains his chic suit) and he must hâve been fa-
miliar with the latest trends appearing in that still unquestionable capi-
4 K. Thomas, Krise und Ich-Findung im künstlerischen Psychogramm Freundesbild
und Selbstportàt, (in:) Deutschlandbilder. Kunst aus einem geteilten Land, E. Gillen
(Hrsg), Berlin: Berliner Festspiele GmbH, Museumspâdagogischen Dienst, Dumont 1997,
545-547.