ERNST FUCHS (1930-2015) Nymph

signed and dated ‘Ernst Fuchs 2010’ (lower right) oil on canvas 45 x 76 cm Painted in 2010 Described by his friend Salvador Dalì as «The Dalì of the Germanics», Ernst Fuchs was a co-founder of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism in the 1940s, and an artist famed for colourful works, often with spiritual and religious themes. Born to a Jewish antiques dealer and a Catholic seamstress, as a youth Fuchs was baptised a Catholic to escape the Holocaust, when his father was forced to flee to China. The Scriptures, the Bible, and Jewish mythology were long-standing influences in Fuchs’ practice, but so were Byzantine art, Italian and Renaissance painting, Surrealism, and German Expressionism. Most known for his paintings, drawing and prints, often of female nudes, Fuchs was also a talented sculptor, composer, singer, poet, designer, and architect. This striking nude is a good example of Fuchs’ bold style and strong sense of colour. To add luminosity to his paintings, Fuchs used a “mischtechnik” method of painting, combining egg tempera with oil paint and resin.