Rudolf Ortner (1912-1997), Blue and white square with triangle, 1993

Rudolf Ortner(1912 Nuremberg - 1997 Munich), Blue and white square with triangle , 1993. Opaque oil paint and India ink on woodchip, 42 cm x 30 cm, titled “Blau-weiß Quadrat mit Dreieck” and “B-93-117” verso, signed “Ortner”, dated “17-10-93” and with name stamp.

- with old traces of mounting on the reverse, otherwise in good condition

- Rough Smoothness -

Here, the Bauhaus artist Rudolf Ortner further develops the constructivist-minimalist formal language of the Bauhaus in a thoroughly ironic way. The triangle and two squares are layered shapes, with the rear white shape creating the closest spatial effect while the front black shape sinks into the background. This spatial fluctuation causes the layered shapes to form an exciting structure in which the blue square is embedded.

Instead of using smooth paper, which allows the shapes to stand out, Ortner uses woodchip wallpaper, which has its own texture and refers to the legacy of the Bauhaus. The wood chips give the shapes a diffuse, dark aura, making the Bauhaus's abstract formal structures appear as material bodies.

About the artist

Rudolf Ortner studied at the Bauhaus from 1932 to 1933, first in Dessau and then in Berlin. His teachers included Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig Hilberseimer, Wassily Kandinsky, and Josef Albers. Following the forced dissolution of the Bauhaus, Ortner attended the University of Architecture and Fine Arts in Weimar, completing his studies in 1936. Ortner then worked as a freelance architect until he was drafted into the army in 1939. After World War II, Ortner returned to Weimar in 1946 and became director of the State School of Engineering in Gotha from 1948 until he moved to West Germany in 1951. From 1952 on, Ortner worked as a freelance architect and built numerous sports facilities. Ortner was also a professor at the Technical University of Munich, the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and the University of Augsburg. However, in 1976, he dissolved his architectural practice to devote himself entirely to art.