Martin Bloch
Svendborg Harbour, Denmark, 1934
oil on canvas on board
69 x 79 cm
(lower right): Martin Bloch
© Martin Bloch Trust
Photo: Bridgeman images
This claustrophobic depiction of boats in a crowded harbour, a classic symbol of exile, was painted during the artist’s brief stay in Denmark after he fled Nazi Germany in 1934....
This claustrophobic depiction of boats in a crowded harbour, a classic symbol of exile, was painted during the artist’s brief stay in Denmark after he fled Nazi Germany in 1934. Despite the traumatic experience of flight, it is full of energy and colour. Drawing on his German expressionist roots, Bloch pares down form into simple shapes and conveys emotion through the use of heightened purples, greens and mustard yellows. The compression of the perspective into a single, suffocating plane jams the boats against the harbour and creates a distinct uneasiness. This is one of three works by Bloch in the Ben Uri Collection.
Provenance
purchasedExhibitions
Martin Bloch 1883-1954: Memorial Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings;The Modern and the New: An Examination of the Permanent Collection alongside New Works by Invited British, European and American Jewish Artists;Out of Chaos TourLiterature
Rachel Dickson and Sarah MacDougall, eds., 'Out of Chaos: Ben Uri; 100 Years in London' (London: Ben Uri Gallery, 2015) pp. 78-79.; Walter Schwabe and Julia Weiner, eds., Jewish Artists: the Ben Uri Collection - Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture (London: Ben Uri Art Society in association with Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 1994), p. 25.1
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