Martin Noël
1956 Berlin - 2010 Bonn
German painter, illustrator & graphic designer
„Die erste Linie kann jeder nachmachen — die zweite liegt im Gedankengut des Künstlers.“ Martin Noël
A focus of his work was linocuts and woodcuts, which he shaped with his unmistakable formal structure. In his woodcuts, the relationship between line and surface is of central importance.
The FAZ wrote in an obituary about his work that the artist's eye always found the overlooked: "His drawings tell of a rare ability to empathize with the effect of lines, circles, surfaces and all forms of visibility. His attention was drawn to the cracks in the walls and the bizarre pattern of a shattered window pane." For example, the cracks in the floor tiles caused by the 1993 bombing of the New York World Trade Center inspired him to create the finely detailed images in his "New York Lines" series.
"In the New York Lines series, the line is sometimes more contour and emphasizes the formal aspects, at other times more shape and builds up surfaces." Annie Bardon
"Martin Noël was one of the formative innovators of the long-neglected art of linocut and woodcut, which he enriched with his unmistakable formal inventions. Characteristic of his works, which are mostly in series and often large-format, is their strict, almost archaic-looking formal language. At the heart of his work is the relationship between line and surface, which Noël explored in ever new dialectical movements. At first glance, the line in his work appears to be formless, as if it emerged in a spontaneous creative process. In fact, however, it is the result of an ongoing visual exploration and analysis of the everyday and the artist's perceived surroundings." Prof. Dr. Stephan Berg, Director of the Kunstmuseum Bonn
"Be it the cracks in the floor of the World Trade Center in New York after the first bomb attack in 1993 or the cracks in the walls of the houses in Venice or the shadows of the flowers that he discovered on his trips to Gomera and put on paper as sketches. He later cut these lines into the wood of a printing block and produced his series in the tradition of Albrecht Dürer. In doing so, he printed in a very special color scheme that was occasionally inspired by the color theory of Le Corbusier. Noël always produced small editions; the larger prints are mostly unique pieces, characterized by a strong and colourful structuring of the oil paints on the sheet." Dr. Wenzel Jacob, Estate Martin Noël
Linocut in two colors on cardboard on panel
Handmade aristframe with shadow gap
Signed, numbered & dated
Size 97 x 56 cm
Provenance | Gallery Germany, Private Collection Germany, Private Collection Denmark
Differential taxation according to § 25a UStG. No taxes included. | Differenzbesteuerung nach § 25a UStG. Kunstgegenstände und Sammlungsstücke, Sonderregelung.
