ALL FROM THE BEGINNING. One hundred years of Franz Radziwill in Dangast / ALLES AUF ANFANG. Hundert Jahre Franz Radziwill in Dangast
After initial successes in Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin, the painter Franz Radziwill (1895-1983) bought an old fisherman’s house in Dangast on 18 February 1923 – an idiosyncratic decision for the province. In the midst of inflation, a lucky sale of two paintings for US dollars enabled him to purchase the property. The house, which Radziwill extended and enlarged with his own hands in the course of his life, was to become the centre of his life from then on. Today it is regarded as a walk-in walled artist’s biography – in its own way unique in Germany. Radziwill is inseparably linked with the artists’ village of Dangast. The exhibition “Alles auf Anfang” looks back to the year 1923, which established this connection 100 years ago.
It was in Dangast that the painter’s most radical stylistic change took place around 1923: Radziwill came as an expressionist, applied the bright colours with rapid gesture and invented expressive forms. In Dangast, he turned away from this painting style – and discovered wide space and detail. Like the Old Masters, from then on he reproduced every detail, only always maintaining the intensity of colour. This precise painting style was to become a distinguishing feature of his major work.
The exhibition illustrates Radziwill’s break with style around 1923 with over 50 exhibits from the period 1919 to 1925, including more than 20 paintings as well as dozens of watercolours, drawings, painted postcards, artist’s books and prints. They show the development of the early work in the various genres.
We look forward to your visit! Registrations are welcome by telephone during the opening hours of the Künstlerhaus.
