Gerard Schäperkötter 1914-2006 - Family

Medium: colors etching on handmade paper
Dating: 1987
Numbered: 24/35
Signed: with a pencil
in very good condition
Family


Gerard Schäperkötter
1914-2006

For Gerard Schäperkötter (1914-2006), the domain hidden behind reality is a rich territory where he, like a treasure hunter, brings forth an autonomous painting art. The images of nature, such as those in the hiding corners of memory, await the painter's hand.
Gerard Schäperkötter has no specific place in the art world. Nor can he be grouped or classified within a school. Yet, since the years following World War II, he has created a body of work in his mental and spiritual development, situated between figuration and abstraction, that is entirely relevant to our time.
A painter never just paints; he paints alone. He creates works of great consequence that make his relationship with the world tangible, both visually and thematically, with a lyrical undertone and in a refined contemplativeness.
The language of form skillfully varies at the boundary between inspiration and handwriting, based on individual grammar. It rearranges what it has found, deepens the color it suspects, and fills the image with more strength than it represents in everyday life. Thus, it finds, phase by phase and according to its own insight and artistic ability, the paintings that matter.

Gerard Schäperkötter was originally a graphic designer and chose free painting in 1914. His approach to the medium was spontaneous and free, leading, after a figurative phase, in the 1960s and 1970s to powerful compositions. These, in their balancing between abstraction and figuration, somewhat resemble the lyrical-abstract art of the Ecole de Paris. The painter created a new reality from his memory and imagination, often working it out in themes such as beaches, walls, or gardens.

From January 16 to February 24, 2013, Museum Jan van der Togt pays tribute to the artist Gerard Schäperkötter, who passed away in 2006. The exhibition features a selection of works he gifted to the municipality of Amstelveen on his 80th birthday.