'Three Figures' by Kurt Craemer, 1954, Mid-Century German Expressionist, Düsseldorf, Venice Biennale

Description

Signer upper right, 'Craemer' for Kurt Craemer (German, 1912-1961) and dated 1954.

Born in Saarbrucken, Craemer first attended the Academy … more Signer upper right, 'Craemer' for Kurt Craemer (German, 1912-1961) and dated 1954.

Born in Saarbrucken, Craemer first attended the Academy of Cologne where he worked under Friedrich Ahlers-Hesterman in 1928. He then traveled to Paris with his teacher, where he was introduced to the work of Henri Matisse. From 1930-33, Craemer lived in Düsseldorf where he continued his studies at the Art Academy under Paul Klee. With the Nazi's ascent to power late that year, Craemer moved to Italy and lived there at the Art colony in Ischia until the end of the war when he moved to Positano.

Throughout the 1950's, Kurt Craemer continued to live in Italy exhibited with success internationally, including at the Venice Biennale (1952, 1958), the Hella Nebelung gallery in Düsseldorf (1953) and the Düsseldorf Art Association (1963). He also exhibited in Switzerland, Germany and Italy and in the United States. Craemer's work, most of which was created in Positano in the late 1940s and 1950s, represents an important chapter in the history of the art of the province of Salerno. In 2012, the centenary of the artist's birth, the city of Positano commemorated Kurt Craemer with a special centenary celebration.

Reference:
Kurt Craemer: Mein Panoptikum , epilogue by Rudolf Hagelstange, Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg, 1965; Kurt Craemer 1912-1961. Dedicated to memory by his friends with reproduction of his pictures and drawings, Ernst Hauswedell & Co, 1963; Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Kurt Craemer (Illustrator), Edgar Johnson (Introduction): The Last Days of Pompeii, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1979; et al. less