About the work
There is no technique, no material that seems to respond to the colour chromaticisms of Heinz Mack like pastel. Nearly free of binders, the dusty pigments adhere to the rough subsurface of the handmade paper in this form of “dry painting”. The finest nuances and nearly smooth transitions can be achieved with a graphic style or by rubbing with the finger or a wiper. The beauty of the open pigments presents itself in brilliant colour effects or a delicate, powdery colouring.
However, the ability of an artist is also demonstrated in pastel, as it, being an alla prima direct technique, does not allow for correction and already demands a tribute for even the slightest false stroke.
Heinz Mack’s mastery of his medium is evident in the sheet from 1992 with its light, practised manner of application. In a loose style, the hues are woven together in a rich scale of both vigorous and luminous colourfulness, the warm orange and light shades of turquoise and green accompany the broad centre column, which develops from turquoise to deep dark blue.
With non-representational works like this, Heinz Mack complements the history of the pastel – starting from its beginnings in the 15th century through the delicately coloured portraits of Rosalba Carriera and Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, its flowering in Symbolism and Impressionism with Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt or Odilon Redon to the present day – with another highlight.
Text authored and provided by Dr. Doris Hansmann, Art historian
Studies of art history, theater, film and television, English and Romance Languages at the University of Cologne, doctorated in 1994. Research assistant at the Art Museum Düsseldorf. Lecturer and project manager at Wienand Verlag, Cologne. Freelance work as an author, editor and book producer for publishers and museums in Germany and abroad. From 2011 chief editor at Wienand Verlag, from 2019 to 2021 senior editor at DCV, Dr. Cantz’sche Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin. Numerous publications on the art of the 20th and 21st centuries.
