Eileen Agar

Countenance

Oil on board Image size: 5 3/4 x 7 inches (14.5 x 17.75 cm) As can be seen in this painting, Surrealism served as a source of inspiration for Bergner, though he did not consider himself a surrealist but a lover of stories, and indeed narrative elements appear frequently in his work. He uses the “displacement” element, as the Surrealists did, and that is detaching the figures, objects or landscapes from the logical context and into a poetical-magical climate. Nissim Aloni noted in 1983 He paints as though to install stabilizers against the turbulence of the dream, and perhaps these stabilizers serve him in time as a touchstone'. The Artist Yosl Bergner was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1920 and grew up in Warsaw, Poland. With rampant anti-Semitism in Europe, the Freeland League for Jewish Territorial Colonization was formed in the United States in July 1935, to search for a potential Jewish homeland. Soon afterwards a pastoral firm in Australia offered the League about 16,500 square kilometres (6,400 sq mi) in the Kimberleys, stretching from the north of Western Australia into the Northern Territory. As history showed, the plans went nowhere. But for a time, the Australian idea was at least worth considering. Bergner's father, Melech Ravitch, became involved in a serious investigation of the Kimberley Plan. In this way the Bergner family moved to Australia. Yosl emigrated to Australia in 1937 and studied in the National Gallery School in Melbourne. During World War II he served for four and a half years in the Australian Army, and later continued his studies at the Art School. In Melbourne from 1937–48, Bergner befriended many of the local artists who now epitomize modern Australian art: Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker...

Graphite on paper, signed and dated '13 Feb (19)19' bottom left Image size: 13 x 8 1/4 inches (33 x 21 cm) This is a portrait of a German airman that was done by the artist at the start of 1919. The artwork has been created on the reverse of a document from Adlershof, a German Air Park. This exact document is from the 'Airman Replacement Department' and is a request form for replacement parts for aircrafts - it asks the writer to specify the type and number of aircrafts, the type of engine and details of its propellers. Adlershof is a place with a long and famous history. Germany's first motorised aircraft took off from here at the beginning of the 20th century and the Wright brothers moved their company to the airfield in 1909 shortly after it was opened. In 1912 German Experimental Institute for Aviation was established and made the location it's headquarters. Indeed, pre-war it was often known as 'The cradle of German Aviation'. During the war the War ministry used the site for extensive military production and it is particularly well known for a series of competitions between various aviation firms' fighter aircraft designs that were held in 1918 and 1919. Even after the War had ended, work continued at Adlershof with the final flight competition being held between February and May 1919 (when this portrait was created). Eventually, the signing of the Versailles Treaty ended all military aircraft work for Germany and led to the dissolution of the Luffstreikrafte in May 1920. Karl Ludwig Nagel...

Anita Roy Chowdhury - Untitled Mixed Media on Paper 22 x 30 inches, 2004 (Unframed & Delivered) Style : Her works manifest human figures, nude or draped in different poses and postu...

Weymouth Harbour, Dorset. Original harbour painting. Mixed Media on board (Gesso, acrylic and acrylic inks). Image Size. 51cm x 38cm. Framed size. 75cm x 57cm x 4cm. Sold framed – Be...