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Karl Waldmann, a constructivism enigma
Probably born in the penultimate decade of the 19th century in Dresden and died in 1958 in the USSR (in a working camp), Karl Waldamm was one of constructivism's last discoveries and surely a very important one.
It is only after the fall of the Berlin Wall that people rediscovered him through 50 of his works.
After extensive research, his works were traced in Italy, Belgium, France, Ukraine and the US. There were 800 works dating from 1915 to the 50’s, most of which are collages or photomontages.
Formally Waldman’s art is very heteroclite, as it has never confounded itself with a unique movement. His early pieces are abstract but soon after, his other works turn to echo constructivism, Dadaism and even surrealism.
The forms derived from constructivism, with a destruction of the classical image, VERB! in a dynamic vision. But the state of mind of the photomontages is close to the Dadaists by the will of integration of the social facts of his time in an acid and politic vision.
Inclined towards the absurd and the unbearable policies of such people as Hitler or Stalin, his art gave his époque a dressing-down with his exacerbating sensibility and the ironic glance he had on his time. For that, he was compared to other artists such as Schwitters, Heartfield, Haussmann, but also Rodchenko and Maiakowski or even the Dadaists.
Unfortunately, we do not know any information about his life or his personality, and we cannot trace him in the art revues from his time.
It is possible he may have refused to exhibit for mental reasons (but also for his own security during the years when Nazis were governing under the stalinized censorship).
Another hypothesis is that he was not a “pure” artist but had a job as his principal activity, as an architect for example, and spared his free time to his artistic creations.
For now, nothing has been discovered about his life or his confrontation to the art of his time. Nevertheless, this artist possesses an undeniable potential for whoever wants to study him.
That’s why people who have information on Waldmann or those interested (college teachers or PhD students) can relate to Pascal Polar.
Galerie Pascal Polar
108 ch de charleroi
1060 Bruxelles
tel: 32/2/5378136
fax: 32/2/5378161
gsm: 32/477/252692
Open wed. untill Sat. And on request
email : ppolar@skynet.be
http://www.pascalpolar.be
Maxime Olivier
(17.5.2005)
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