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The present
approach to the
descriptive catalogue, wilfully restricted to his oil paintings, has a
two-fold objective : to index them and to shed new light on the major
role played by his oil paintings in the work of Johnny Friedlaender.
In 1929, at the age of
seventeen, Friedlaender is admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in
Breslau, to study painting in the “Meisterklasse” (master class) of
Otto Müller, a member of the “Die Brücke” Expressionist Movement, and
with Carlos Mense. Both are also engravers.
From 1933,
with
the rise of
Nazism, Friedlaender is constantly in danger and soon forced into
hiding. Life becomes precarious. Nonetheless, he manages to survive
practically without any income.
Once
Europe is liberated, he
can again work freely, and gradually climbs the ladder of success.
Parallel to
his
printing and
watercolouring work, he brilliantly resumes his first love : painting,
in 1966.
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