Schumacher, Emil

Description:

Hagen, 1912 - San José/Ibiza, 1999
36 x 45 cm, R.
"Dynamische Komposition", 1954. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated in oil lower left, and inscribed with the artist's address on the reverse of the strecher.
The artwork is listed under inventory number 0/3.734 in the inventory register of the Emil Schumacher Foundation, compiled by Dr. Ulrich Schumacher. We thank Mr. Rouven Lotz, Emil Schumacher Museum, for his scholarly advice.
Germann Auktionshaus AG, Zurich, auction 14 December 1976.
Kunsthandel Brigitte Büdenhölzer, Emmendingen.
Collection Monika and Horst Bülow, Leonberg, acquired there in 1987.
Exhibition:
"Westfälische Kunst 1954", Landesmuseum Münster, Münster 1954, no. 211.
"Emil Schumacher", Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster 1962, cat. no. 10.
The painting "Dynamische Komposition" from 1954 belongs to the early key works of Emil Schumacher and marks the moment of his breakthrough into gestural abstraction. Carried by a dense painterly matter, a powerful composition unfolds in yellows, reds, and greens, interwoven with black and white accents into a multi-layered network. At once constructive and spontaneous, the work testifies to the tense balance between order and freedom that defined Schumacher’s painting in the 1950s.
At this time, Schumacher had definitively freed himself from figuration and, as a member of the artist group "Junger Westen", became one of the protagonists of German Informel. Colour no longer appears as a means of representation but becomes pure energy, the material of gesture. "Dynamische Komposition" vividly illustrates this artistic turning point and foreshadows Schumacher’s path to international recognition.
Of particular note is that the painting is registered under inventory number 0/3.734 in the catalogue of the Emil Schumacher Foundation, compiled by Dr. Ulrich Schumacher. This situates the work securely within the artist’s oeuvre and its authoritative inventory - an important mark of quality for collectors.
Shortly after the creation of this work, Schumacher’s international career began with exhibitions at home and abroad; in 1959 followed the invitation to documenta II in Kassel. Today, his works are represented in major museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and Tate, London.
With its chromatic intensity, its vivid structure, and its secure provenance, "Dynamische Komposition" represents a work of museum quality - a highlight of any collection of German postwar modernism.