herman de vries (1931) - Atropa belladonna

Herman de Vries (1931)
Atropa belladonna, 1999
Plant (Atropa belladonna) and colored pencil on paper
140 × 100 cm.
Signed and dated on the front

Provenance
collection Rainer & Barbara Pliess, Sulzheim (acquired directly from the artist)

The plant is surrounded by its common names indicating its properties in various European languages

Condition: Very good. The pressed plant has aged and browned. Framed in a natural-colored wooden frame.

Catalogue: Online catalogue, 1999, collages. (https://www.hermandevries.org/digital-catalogue/catalogue-1999.php)

Illustrated in: Mel Gooding, Herman de Vries. Chance and Change, Thames and Hudson, London 2006, page 13.

In addition to the earth imprints, pressed plants also constitute an important working material for the artist. In the present work, Herman de Vries used a branch of Atropa belladonna, which with its psychoactive effect also points to his intensive engagement with mind-altering plants. Around the plant, common names of this plant in various languages are recorded, indicating its effects.

Biography
Herman de Vries was born in 1931 in Alkmaar, Netherlands.
After training at the Reichsgartenbauschule in Hoorn, he first worked as a landscape gardener before beginning to work as an artist in 1953. His early works—white pictures, collages and objects—are related to the artist groups NUL and ZERO.
In 1962 de Vries began developing the method of “random-objectivation,” through which he investigates reality in his works. During the 1970s, de Vries increasingly turned to nature, for example working with natural materials such as pressed plants or earth.
For the Sculpture Projects Münster he created in 1997 a so-called sanctuarium, a piece of nature protected from human access.
Herman de Vries has lived since 1970 in Eschenau, Lower Franconia.

Shipping
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