Eugéne Brands (1913-2002) "Deep night"

About this piece

Beautiful painting by Eugène Brands from 1957. It was the period in which he was mainly inspired by the drawings of his daughter Eugenie. This is also the case with this work, which was painted with oil paint on paper, after which it was mounted on canvas. The spontaneity and purity that he had discovered therein would never disappear from his work. In addition, he was also deeply fascinated by the cosmos and the mystery of an all-encompassing harmony that he felt at the base of the universe. Everything has to flow, this was his personal theme, including in this fascinating work.

The work is signed and dated lower left with "Brands 4.57".
Dimensions: 21 x 30 cm. The work is framed by Heijdenrijk and Geerlings.


Provenance:
- Private collection, the work was bought in 2000 at Galerie Maria Joosten on the Tefaf Maastricht.

Biography:
Eugène Brands (Amsterdam 15 Jan 1913- 15 Jan 2002) was a Dutch painter.

His name is always immediately associated with the Cobra movement, yet he was only associated with it for a short time. He was a very talented painter, who went his own way and was also a very sympathetic person.

In 1946 Eugène Brands took part in the group exhibition 'Jonge schilders' (Young painters) in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Later in 1948 he became a member of the 'Experimentele groep in Holland' (Experimental Group in Holland), his good contacts with the director Sandberg led to the controversial exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam ' Internationale tentoonstelling van experimentele kunst' (International exhibition of experimental art) in November 1949.
In the meantime, the Cobra movement had also been founded by Constant Nieuwenhuijs, Corneille, Karel Appel, Christian Dotremont and Asger Jorn, so this group exhibition was the first public manifestation of the Cobra. Several large works by Eugène Brands were on display.

Due to differences of opinion and mutual quarrels, Eugène Brands left the Cobra movement shortly after the famous joint exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum in 1949,

Brands worked independently, he had a fascination for the cosmos and ancient cultures, he wanted to express those magical elements in his work. In the 1950s he was very fascinated and inspired by the drawings of his daughter Eugenie. The spontaneity and purity of her drawings touched him. For years he was inspired by her drawings and made beautiful small paintings, mostly oil on paper. It was precisely this inspiration for children's drawings that was also a characteristic of the Cobra.

In the sixties his style changed, he started to work more and more abstractly, his use of colour also changed, he started painting large areas of colour,in a cvloudy way, which he continued to do until an old age. From 1993 he only paints gouaches on paper, he found this easier to work with. He also made assemblies. Several volumes of his poetry have also been published.

The 1962 exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum ensures that his name is established for good. In 1967 the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam also organized a retrospective of his work. Eugène Brands was also well known and respected internationally. His work is included in several museum collections, such as the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Museum Breda, Cobra Museum Amstelveen and others.

Literature:
- Catalogus Galerie Mia Joosten, 'Voorjaarstentoonstelling 2000', page 20 en 21, with image of this painting.
(This catalog and the sales documents of the Tefaf are included with the sale.)
- Leo Duppen: 'Eugène Brands 80 jaar', Amstelveen 1993
- Willemijn Stokvis; ' De verborgen wereld van Eugène Brands', Deventer 2010.
- Hans den Hartog Jager & Christian Ouwens; 'Eugène Brands Imaginair', Rotterdam 2013.

Condition

Excellent