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Artists from A-Z Jean Pfaff

*1945
  • Untitled (1978/2000)
    Untitled
    Artist: Jean Pfaff Dating: 1978/2000 Type: Painting Material: Synthetic resin on wood, 3 parts Measures: 144 x 111 cm Acces / purchase date: Unbekannt Inventory number: 5711 A Copyright: © Jean Pfaff
During his studies, Jean Pfaff intensively explored colour theories; in his early works, he applied his research on spectral colours. His early paintings were still prepared using drawings and collages, such as the multi-part paintings on wooden panels for the 1977 exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Basel, which were indebted to Constructivism and shaped canvas. These dark panels were preceded by an interest in Minimal Art and Conceptual Art. The paintings of the early 1980s are more strongly defined by colour, painted in subtle layers: canvases with large monochrome areas of colour, often reddish brown, bordered by short stripes or bars of other colours. In 1986, Pfaff's unique lithographs were exhibited in detail in an exhibition at the ETH Zurich's Graphic Collection; the Basel Museum of Contemporary Art showed collaged watercolours and object-like canvases layered into so-called sandwich pictures. In the following years, monochrome paintings in enamel paint on handmade paper were presented in blocks. The Pinturas of 1992 – painted boards and slats joined together to form larger surfaces – oscillate between object and image. The dark gaps between the individual elements stand out as black lines against the richly coloured surfaces.

Marco Obrist: «Jean Pfaff». In: SIKART Lexikon zur Kunst in der Schweiz, 2018 (erstmals publiziert 1998).