Becoming Gustav Metzger: Uncovering The Early Years, 1945-59

This large expressionist oil, Eroica, Funeral March, depicts ‘a movement of Beethoven’s fifth [sic] symphony’ which, in Metzger’s own words was ‘influenced by Kandinsky and his concern with music’.  Interestingly, he recalls that ‘Bomberg didn’t like this painting—he said, you are more genuine than Kandinsky [and] I can see what he meant, I was really putting everything in’. It was also included in Metzger’s 1960 Temple Gallery retrospective, where Bomberg’s significant influence can be seen not only in the content and structure of Metzger’s selection, but also in his accompanying biographical statement: ‘Today when Action Painting and Abstract Expressionism are taught at leading art schools, it is important to realize that in 1945 David Bomberg’s class at Borough Polytechnic was the only school in England where ideas and forms that had points of contact with the New York School were consistently developed and practised. In the work of this class Metzger took a leading part’.