Confrontation with the uncompromising. A surprising reunion with classical modernism in Groningen | Looking at art with Eric Bos

Can abstract art move? If we take CoBrA’s paintings for example, we encounter all kinds of things, but no sensitivity or poetry. The direct, total freedom, anarchy, that is. The confrontation with the uncompromising.

Many paintings in the new exhibition at art dealership Peter ter Braak in Groningen are reminiscent of this radical turn in modern art history. To the time, the 1960s, when classical modernism emerged. Lyrical expressionism and abstraction.

A surprising reunion with a style that still looks fresh and amazing upon closer inspection. This cannot always be said of much CoBrA art, brightly colored and wildly painted compositions, in which it is only about paint, color and emotion.

The exhibition features work by Fred Sieger, Roelof Frankot and Willy Boers, Hans Jansen, Jan Stekelenburg, Dora Tuynman and Dick Zwiers. But we immediately walk towards an abstract canvas that demands our attention: Abstract composition a cloudy, drawing-like oil painting, by Roelof Frankot (1911-1984), born in Meppel, who started working more and more abstractly from realism in his early days in the 1960s and showed the best of his skills.

A wild man throwing paint?

An image of the painting suggests a flat composition. In reality, firm layers of pasty paint appear to have been applied to a layered surface with a palette knife directly from the tube, following the violent movements of the painting hand.

The classic image of the modern artist who, like Karel Appel, threw his paint on the canvas like a wild man, seems to come true here. But if we look closely and follow the structure of all the layers, it appears to have all been done very carefully.

The violent paint movements, the pasty ‘valleys’ and ‘ridges’, were only part of the process. A lot of time was spent on this and this ultimately contributed to the quality. When you look, you obviously do not see a recognizable, figurative image, but there is plenty of movement, but it is also an expression of a powerful, artistic personality in all its drive and sensitivity.

Poetry that we do not immediately understand

Sensitivity? Yes, that is what this painting also radiates, a subdued form of poetry despite or because of the abstract style in a language that we do not immediately understand, but which does become tangible. Upon closer inspection you even get the strong feeling that a figurative representation is hidden beneath this abstract composition. An encapsulated emotion.

It is a form of abstraction that does not, as with CoBrA, have the need to impress you or confront you with something, but on the contrary almost invites you to step inside, to the intentions and feelings of the maker.

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