Lot 771 D

Ralph Fleck's painterly approach is reminiscent of the work of a photographer: in small series he treats a theme with the aim of capturing the essence of his pictorial object as intensively and unaltered as possible within the two-dimensionality and sectionality available to his medium.
The six large-format paintings of alpine panoramas offered for sale illustrate this excerpt-like character particularly impressively. Contrary to what perhaps was expected, the painter does not make full use of the pictorial space for the spectacular views of the high mountain range but allows the representation to run over the edges of the picture. The resulting blur and the exposed canvas edges are suggestive of the diffuse exposure of early photographs.
Each picture opens up an individual view of a gloomily soaring panorama of the Alps from a bird's-eye view. Black, white, brown and grey dominate in the palette, sometimes mixed with a little blue; the restrained colour tones correspond with the warm brown tone of the unpainted canvas. The style of the brushwork is in harmony with the character of that depicted: softly merging brushstrokes build a flat, low cloud cover, powerfully applied strokes sculpturally form the karstic rugged rock formations of the high mountains.