Franz Radziwill

The painter Franz Radziwill (1895–1983) developed a unique pictorial language, whose characteristics include an unmistakable handling of surface. Radziwill positions figures and objects in rhythmically positioned fields of color with avant-garde aspirations. In the course of the New Objectivity, Radziwill emphasizes planarity by applying depictions parallel to each other in the picture. In his late work, he frequently combines spatial representations and planar design.  Starting in 1950, he has integrated chessboard patterns and grid structures into his image spaces. This allows an alternative spatiality and the two-dimensionality of the surface as the carrier of paint to become perceptible. With this pictorial concept, Radziwill links modernism with tradition.