Erwin Bechtold

ERWIN BECHTOLD (Cologne, 1925 - Ibiza, 2022).
Untitled, 1962.
Mixed media on paper.
Signed and dated.
Presents slight stains, and broken glass.
Measurements: 17 × 17.5 cm; 34 × 49.5 cm (frame).

Erwin Bechtold develops here a composition of great material-gestural intensity, dominated by an almost monochromatic range of whites, blacks and grays. On a surface of dense and eroded texture, the artist introduces nervous black strokes and calligraphic-like signs that burst around a central dark nucleus, generating a strong visual tension.

The piece belongs to Bechtold's informalist stage, prior to the consolidation of his later geometric language. The incisions, glazes and superimpositions reinforce the sensation of depth, while the contrast between the white background and the black center provides a powerful expressive charge.

A German painter based in Ibiza, Bechtold made his individual debut in 1950. He participated in the first Salón de Mayo in Barcelona in 1957, was associated with the groups Dau al Set and El Paso, and belonged to SYN. He has exhibited regularly in Barcelona since 1960. In 1962, Bechtold was elected member of the Deutscher Künstlerbund; in 1983, of the Akademie der Künste in Mannheim and, in 1990, he was awarded the honorary title of Professor of the Land Baden-Württemberg. In Ibiza he has been awarded the Premi Illes Pitiuses (2005) and the Premi Ramon Llull de las Illes Balears (2006). In 2005, the Barcelona Gallery dedicated a retrospective exhibition to him on the occasion of his eightieth anniversary, and three years later a monographic exhibition dedicated to his work was held at the Centro de Arte y Naturaleza in Huesca. He is represented at the Tate Gallery in London, the MoMA and the Guggenheim in New York and the Reina Sofía in Madrid, among other centers and institutions around the world.