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Artist information: Ulrich Schwanecke (1939 – 2006) was born in Halberstadt, Germany and came to South Africa in 1952 as a mining recruit. A prolific artist, Schwanecke painted continuously, even whilst studying and later during full-time employment. His first exhibition in Johannesburg was held in 1963 and his first solo exhibition followed in Germany in 1973. His works are included in many public and private collections. Shwanecke is better known for his landscape paintings, portraits by the artist such as this one are more rare and unusual.
During his initial training, Schwanecke painted in oils as well as watercolour, but soon favoured the spontaneous and direct qualities of the latter medium. To express his experiences of dry and spacious landscape scenes, he developed unique methods of handling watercolour. He managed to convey the extreme dryness of the desert by employing a medium based on water – on fluidity, spontaneity, and translucence.
Schwanecke has described his own technique as a marriage between control and happy abandon. In the words of Frieda Harmsen, “he attempts to evoke a sense of desolation, but not despair. His desert scenes – dry and lifeless – are lonely, but serene.” This is in essence, an expression of Ulrich Schwanecke’s positive outlook on life, and his playful enjoyment of the creative process.
Schwanecke is represented in several South African and foreign collections, including:
Ann Bryant Gallery, East London; Arts Association SWA/Namibia Collection; Pretoria Art Museum; Rand Afrikaans University; University of South Africa; Willem Annandale Art Gallery, Lichtenburg; William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley
References:
The Dictionary of South African Painters and Sculptors - Grania Ogilvie
SMAC Gallery
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