Johnny Friedlaender
Encyclopedia
Aquatint
Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching.Intaglio printmaking makes marks on the matrix that are capable of holding ink. The inked plate is passed through a printing press together with a sheet of paper, resulting in a transfer of the ink to the paper...
etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
is a technically difficult artistic process, of which Friedlaender has been a pioneer.
Early years
Gotthard Johnny Friedlaender was born in Pless (Pszczyna)Pszczyna
Pszczyna is a town in southern Poland with 26,827 inhabitants within the immediate gmina rising to 50,121 inhabitants in the powiat, which includes the town of Pszczyna, itself, Brzeźce , Czarków , Ćwiklice , Jankowice , Łąka , Piasek , Poręba , Rudołtowice , Studzionka , Studzienice , Wisła...
, Prussian Silesia, as the son of a pharmacist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
. He was graduated from the Breslau (Wrocław) high school in 1922 and then attended the Academy of Arts (Akademie der Bildenden Kunste) in Breslau, where he studied under Otto Mueller
Otto Mueller
Otto Mueller or Müller was a German painter and printmaker of the Die Brücke expressionist movement.-Life and work:...
. He graduated from the Academy as a master student in 1928. In 1930 he moved to Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
where he held exhibitions at the J. Sandel Gallery and at the Dresden Art Museum. He was in Berlin for part of 1933, and then journeyed to Paris. After two years in a Nazi concentration camp, he emigrated to Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, where he settled in Ostrava
Ostrava
Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the second largest urban agglomeration after Prague. Located close to the Polish border, it is also the administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region and of the Municipality with Extended Competence. Ostrava was candidate for the...
, where he held the first one man show of his etchings.
Re-entry to Paris
In 1936 Friedlaender journeyed to Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Austria, France and Belgium. At the Hague he held a successful exhibition of etchings and watercolours. He fled to Paris in 1937 as a political refugee of the NaziNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
regime with his young wife, who was an actress. In that year he held an exhibition of his etchings which included the works: L ‘Equipe and Matieres et Formes. From 1939 to 1943 he was interned in a series of concentration camps, but survived against poor odds.
After freedom in 1944 Friedlaender began a series of twelve etchings entitled Images du Malheur with Sagile as his publisher. In the same year he received a commission to illustrate four books by Freres Tharaud of the French Academy. In 1945 he performed work for several newspapers including Cavalcade and Carrefour. In the year 1947 he produced the work Reves Cosmiques and in that same year he became a member of the Salon de Mai, which position he held until 1969. In the year 1948 he began a friendship with the painter Nicolas de Stael
Nicolas de Staël
Nicolas de Staël was a painter known for his use of a thick impasto and his highly abstract landscape painting...
and held his first exhibition in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
at Galerie Birch. The following year he showed for the first time in Galerie La Hune in Paris. After living in Paris for 13 years, Friedlaender became a French citizen in 1950.
Friedlaender expanded his geographic scope in 1951 and exhibited in Tokyo in a modern art show. In the same year he was a participant in the XI Trienale in Milan, Italy. By 1953 he had produced works for a one man show at the Museum of Neuchâtel and exhibited at the Galerie Moers in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, the II Camino Gallery in Rome, in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and in Paris. He was a participant of the French Italian Art Conference in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, Italy that same year.
International recognition
Friedlaender accepted an international art award in 1957, becoming the recipient of the Biennial Kakamura Prize in Tokyo. In 1959 he received a teaching post awarded by UNESCOUNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
. By 1968 Friedlaender was travelling to Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to hold exhibitions. That year he also purchased a home in the Burgundy region of France. 1971 was another year of diverse international travel including shows in Bern, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Paris, Krefeld
Krefeld
Krefeld , also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its centre lying just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine...
and again New York. In the latter city he exhibited paintings at the Far Gallery, a venue becoming well known for its patronage of important twentieth century artists.
From his atelier in Paris Friedlaender instructed younger artists who themselves went on to become noteworthy, among them Arthur Luiz Piza. Brigitte Coudrain. Rene Carcan
René Carcan
René Carcan was a prominent Belgian engraver and sculptor, who studied under Léon Devos, Jacques Maes and Johnny Friedlaender...
, Andreas Nottebohm
Andreas Nottebohm
Andreas Nottebohm, born in 1944, is an American/German artist whose work is associated with Op Art, visionary art, and Space Art. He is considered one of the key innovators of Metal Painting. "These raw yet refined paintings on aluminum lend themselves to rich multi-layered metaphors capable of...
, Graciela Rodo Boulanger
Graciela Rodo Boulanger
Graciela Rodo Aparicio is a Bolivian painter.Her love of art was influenced by her mother, a concert pianist, and her father, a businessman and art connoisseur. She studied music and art throughout childhood, giving her first piano recital at age 15, and her first art exhibitions in Vienna and...
. Like Friedlaender, these students were expert in the lithographic and etching arts.
1978 brought a retrospective of Friedlaender's works at the Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. He was awarded the Lovis Corinth Prize in Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
three years later. On his 75th birthday, Friedlaender was given a retrospective in the Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
Art Museum. On his 80th birthday he held a retrospective exhibition in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
at the municipal council offices. Friedlaender died in Paris at the age of 89.
Selected works
- Enigme handsigned edition of 150 (1991)
- Jeux, handsigned edition of 150
- Sonnette für Orpheus, handsigned edition of 135
- Radierungen 1949-1989: Eine Auswahl, colour album published by Peerlings Gallery
Further reading
- Johnny Friedlaender: oeuvre, 1961-1965, Touchstone Publ., New York, 1967