Bele Bachem (1916–2005) - Traumballett

Bele Bachem, Dream Ballet, hand-signed, lithograph 1965

Artist: Bele Bachem
Title: Dream Ballet
Condition: very good
Technique: Lithograph
Width: about 63.4 cm ( Sheet size )
Height: about 49.2 cm ( Sheet size )
Framing: unframed
Material: paper
Year: 1965
Signature: Signed in pencil below the depiction on the right
Country: Germany
Period: 1960–1970
Bele Bachem's Dream Ballet is an original lithograph on hand-made paper from 1965, in which the artist presents a dreamlike-fantastic scene with dancing, circus-like figures and poetic elements in a playful, graphic visual language. The sheet was signed in pencil by Bele Bachem below the depiction and appeared in 1965 in the edition of the Griffelkunst Association Hamburg. The composition is typical of Bachem's work from the 1960s, in which she combines figurative fantasy with a clear, linear lithography.

Sheet size approx. 63.4 × 49.2 cm. Image size approx. 50 × 39 cm.

Very good condition; only very light creases at the edges (see illustrations).
Text lower right on the front in pencil: “Bele Bachem”.
Text upper right on the front in pencil: “Scharff lud Z ”.

Bele Bachem (1916–2005) was a German painter, graphic artist and writer. She studied at Cologne Werkstätten-Schulen and developed an independent, fantastical-surreal visual language early on. She became particularly known for her drawings, watercolors and lithographs, in which she combined dream worlds, fairy-tale motifs, circus and stage scenes, as well as humorously ironic figuration. Besides visual art, she also became an author and illustrated numerous own and other texts.

Bele Bachem's works are in public collections and museums, including in Cologne and Bonn, as well as in numerous private collections. Her graphic work of the 1950s and 1960s is regarded as a concise contribution to postwar German graphics, spanning surrealism, fantasy, and poetic figuration.