About this lot

Description

§ § Théo Kerg (Luxembourgian 1909-1993)

Blue abstract
signed 'Théo Kerg' (lower right)
oil on canvas
54 x 45cm

Footnote:

A diminutive wedge of land, cradled between France and Germany, Théo Kerg’s native Luxembourg was instrumental in shaping the character of his work, which demonstrates a confluence of both French and German contemporary art and culture.

Born in 1909, Kerg left Luxembourg in 1929 to study at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, the Sorbonne and the Institut d'art et d'archéologie, before moving to Düsseldorf to study under Paul Klee and Oskar Moll at the Kunstakademie. In addition to having held in excess of 150 solo exhibitions and participating in over 350 group exhibitions, Kerg is also credited with pioneering the Tactilism movement. With unsettling sentience, Kerg’s tactilist canvases are in dialogue with environmental variables, such as lighting and atmospheric changes; expanding, contracting, and devouring themselves. These works, dating from the 1960s and 1970s, are in a constant state of flux.

Rendered in a patchwork palette of blues and greens, the present lot is likely to date from the early 1950s.

Condition report: With an overall light layer of dirt, most evident to the paler passages of paint on the lower right hand side. There appears to be a small abrasion in the top right corner with resultant loss, and a similar abrasion at the centre of the right hand edge. There are a few small accretions on the right hand side and some very minor fine cracks to the paint layer. The varnish appears to have been applied unevenly, leaving some areas glossy and other areas matte, in some very small areas the varnish has yellowed. Otherwise in good, presentable condition.

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