LISTED AMERICAN GERMAN ARTIST GUIDO PETER BRINK ABSTRACT WATERCOLOR SIGNED 1962  

LISTED AMERICAN GERMAN ARTIST GUIDO PETER BRINK ABSTRACT WATERCOLOR SIGNED 1962 NR

 

THIS IS A COLORFUL BURST OF ORANGE, YELLOW, BLUE AND GREEN DONE IN WATERCOLOR OR GOUACHE, PAINTED IN 1962 ON PAPER AND PENCIL SIGNED G. B. 62 IN THE LOWER RIGHT CORNER.  THE PAINTING IS GLUED AT THE TOP TO A HEAVY PAPER (TAPED TO THE MAT) ON WHICH THE ARTIST WROTE A NOTE. THE NOTE IS VERY BLURRY, BUT READS AS FOLLOWS:

All good wishes for a happy season to you both and your children Ellie & Guido Brink

 

GUIDO PETER BRINK  (1913 - 2002 BORN  IN DUSSELDORF, GERMANY

HE IS LISTED ON ASKART, ARTNET,HAS SCULPTURES AT THE SMITHSONIAN, AUCTION RECORDS, AND HAS SEVERAL OTHER SITES AND EXTENSIVE RECORDS ON THE INTERNET THAT YOU CAN EXPLORE. 

 

ALTHOUGH I AM UNABLE TO FIND ACTUAL PRICES REALIZED.  SOME OF HIS LARGER SCULPTURE PIECES WERE ESTIMATED IN 2008 TO SELL BETWEEN $6,000 AND $9,000 AND WATERCOLORS BETWEEN $3,000 TO $4,000. 

 

SIZE OF ARTWORK: 6 X 4 INCHES

SIZE OF HEAVY PAPER UNFOLDED: APP. 7 X 10 ½ INCHES

SIZE OF MAT: 11 X 6 5/8 INCHES

SIZE OF FRAME: APP. 11 ¾ X 7 ¼ INCHES

WEIGHT ON MY POSTAL SCALE BEFORE PACKING: 14 OUNCES

 

I FOUND THIS PAIR OF PAINTINGS IN A LOCAL GOODWILL AND TOOK THEM APART TO CLEAN BECAUSE THE GLASS WAS SO DIRTY AND THE BACKING WAS TORN AND THE ARTWORKS WERE LOOSE AND ABOUT TO FALL OUT.  WHEN I CLEANED THEM UP, I DISCOVERED THE NOTATIONS HIDDEN BEHIND THE MATTING AND EVENTUALLY TRACKED THEM DOWN TO GUIDO BRINK ON THE INTERNET. 

 

I FOUND THIS INFORMATION ON THE ON THE MARQUETE EDU INTERNET WEBSITE WITH SAMPLES OF HIS SIGNATURE AND WORKS OF ART.  THE FOLLOWING IS A BIOGRAPHY WRITTEN BY CURTIS L. CARTER:

Guido Brink

By Curtis L. Carter

Guido Brink grew up in Düsseldorf, Germany between World War I and

World War II. He lived through multiple crises of European culture centering

in both these catastrophic eras. Economic and political instability

on the Continent and the rise of Fascist and Communist ideologies presented a

new challenge to world order. From the perspective of twentieth century developments in the arts, Brink was born into a time of pivotal changes in the art world embodied in Dada, German Expressionism, Neue Sachlichkeit, and Surrealism. Dada’s anti-art theme and Surrealism’s retreat into the inner world of dreams, though prominent forces during Brink’s early life, did not notably affect his artistic development.

Brink vividly recalls his experience as a young art student compelled by Hitler,

along with other art students, to view the famous 1937 exhibition of “Degenerate

Art,” organized at the former Munich Architectural Institute. Contrary to Hitler’s

intentions, the young artists were excited by the so-called degenerate art and

would in time develop new directions in their own work inspired by the modern

art of the condemned artists. Perhaps then too young to consider joining the generationof exiled artists who fled Hitler’s regime, Brink was conscripted into the

German army. As a German soldier, he witnessed the invasion and eventual

retreat of the German army from the Russian front. Memories of the battle of

Stalingrad appear repeatedly in his paintings, as in War and Peace: (Encirclement

of Stalingrad), 1965.

While he was a student at the Academy of Fine Art in Düsseldorf from 1934 to

1939, Brink was a peer with the most gifted young artists in Europe. Among his

colleagues at the Academy in Düsseldorf were Joseph Beuys, whose subsequent

contributions to European post-war art influenced generations of conceptual

artists, as well as Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Hoehme, who are known for their

innovative experiments with painting. He returned to his studies in Paris in 1952

at the Academie de Paris where he encountered the anti-cubist Informel art of Jean

Dubuffet and Jean Fautrier. Shortly thereafter, Brink left Europe permanently to

immigrate to the United States in search of new opportunities. Thus, he chose not

to address the aesthetic and political issues of post-war artists who remained in

Europe. Perhaps his sense of liberation from the culture of his past is best

expressed in the painting Apocalyptic Symbols, 1955-56, a strongly expressive

work notably influenced by the American Abstract Expressionists.

His arrival in the United States coincided with both the McCarthy era and the

cold-war era, a time which positioned the Soviet Union against the United States

and much of Western Europe. Artists and intellectuals in America during this period worked under the threat of political intimidation, and being known as an

abstract painter was enough to attract charges of being un-American or a communist sympathizer. Artists’ decisions as to how to proceed were complex.

Painters like Marc Rothko argued that abstraction provided liberation from subject

matter. Realists argued that abstraction meant disengagement from the concerns

of society. Whether to focus on the inner or the outer world, and whether

to show hope or despair at the conditions manifesting themselves in both internal

and external worlds presented other choices. How to proceed with implementing

such choices—to reproduce, to analyze, or to express one’s insights—

required further deliberations. Brink chose abstraction over representation, hope

over despair, and expression over reproduction or analysis. He incorporates symbolsthat have meaning in his inner life such as those inspired by the Bible. But

he also reflects the outer world as he draws upon images of war and technology.

He typically avoids political themes, preferring instead the more universal themes

of suffering and caring.

It is difficult to locate precisely the roots of Brink’s aesthetic in a single source.

There are, however, traces of anguish and struggle in his work reminiscent of the

era of the German Expressionists and Neue Sachlichkeit artists such as Otto Dix

and Georg Grosz who laid bare in their art the personal and societal anguish of

the twenties. However, with Brink the angst seems mainly personal rather than

societal in its origins. With respect to narrative themes, he returns again and

again to the Bible. Biblical themes are reflected more than once in the paintings

chosen for the Haggerty exhibition: Job, 1998; Jacob Wrestling with the Angel,

1991; Canticle of the Three Youths in the Furnace, 1966; The Crown of Thorns, 1958; and in the triptych, Golgotha, 1996. Brink’s interest in technology, fully articulated in his sculptures, on occasion asserts itself in his paintings, most notably when the humanoid figures so prominent in his sculptures creep into the painting compositions.

Whatever his sources, he is never short of ideas.

Brink’s paintings are skillfully executed and show great attention to technical

detail in dealing with their painterly materials. Even when using broad, gestural

strokes, the execution is clean and decisive. His palette is extensive, and includes

vibrant reds, yellows, and greens, as well as somber dark blues and blacks. At

times, he utilizes a soft palette consisting in part of muted whites, fleshtones,

muted cranberry red, and pastels. Brink’s compositions are generally tight as

opposed to loose in structure. His shapes are typically organic abstractions with

an occasional figurative component—a helmeted head, a humanoid element—but

rarely more.

In Milwaukee from 1953, Brink joined an established community of artists centered at the Layton School and what became the art department of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He aligned himself with the Layton School in 1955, where he joined such colleagues as Edmund Lewandowski and the legendary Karl Priebe and quickly became a respected member of the Milwaukee artists’ community.

His frequent showings in national venues as well as a strong presence in

the Midwest attests to his success as a fine artist. With this Haggerty exhibition,

Brink joins a group of prominent senior Milwaukee artists who have shown at the

Haggerty Museum over the past several years. These include Fred Berman, Joseph

Friebert, and the late Karl Priebe. As he celebrates his 89th birthday, Brink

remains dedicated to the practice of his art and welcomes a stimulating intellectual

challenge. His fifty years of work and his visible presence in the art community

including the founding of the Milwaukee School of the Arts (now the

Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design) rank him among the leading artists working in Wisconsin during the second half of the twentieth century.

 

You can find more information on the artist on the marquete edu website.