GERTSCH, FRANZ
* 8.3.1930 Mörigen
Franz Gertsch is an important Swiss painter and wood engraver as well as an exponent of photorealism. He grew up first on Lake Biel and later in Bern. From 1947 to 1950 he attended the Max von Mühlenen school of painting, then studied with Hans Schwarzenbach in Bern until 1952. In the mid-1960s he was decisively influenced by Pop Art. He travelled to Scotland in 1961, 1963 and 1965 and to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in the Camargue around 1964 — 1965. In the period 1964 —1969 he created two-dimensional collages based on photographs, using coloured paper.
In 1967 he was awarded the Louise Aeschlimann Scholarship, and in 1971 the Swiss Federal Art Scholarship. One year later he took part in documenta 5 in Kassel and in 1978, 1979 and 2003 in the Venice Biennale. He rejected most of his works created before 1969 as being largely invalid, and they do not appear in the later catalogues raisonnés. In 1969 Gertsch painted "Huaa...!", the first large-format photorealistic picture based on the projection of a 35mm slide. While the original was a film scene from an illustrated magazine, he soon moved on to slides he had taken himself, which he transferred to cotton cloth using a pointillist technique over a period of months, sometimes up to a year; initially in dispersion, later mainly in acrylic. This was followed by paintings based on his own photographs of family members and friends from the Swiss art scene. With his series on Luciano Castelli ("Marina makes up Luciano"), as well as "Medici", Gertsch achieved his international breakthrough. From 1978 Gertsch moved on to individual portraits, creating woodcuts almost exclusively between 1986 and 1994. In 1987 he travelled to Japan. After experimenting with polychrome, he confined himself to monochrome prints. He also used mineral colours, with each print of the same motif having a different hue and thus acquiring the character of a single sheet (e.g. Natascha IV 1987). In the late 1980s water, which had already inspired Gertsch in his earlier marine paintings of 1972, again became a major theme. In 1995 he returned to painting, this time on paper. In his endeavour to free his painterly style from any personal expression — quite in contrast to his choice of motif — Gertsch developed an objective pointillist process based on a slide projection, which is ultimately based on Georges Seurat's doctrine of optical colour mixing from the 1880s.In autumn 2002, the Franz Gertsch Museum, financed by the entrepreneur Willy Michel, was opened in Burgdorf. In 2005, the first Franz Gertsch retrospective was launched. The exhibition venues were the Franz Gertsch Museum and the Kunstmuseum Bern. Since 2006, Gertsch has been an honorary citizen of his home municipality of Rüschegg. On the occasion of his 75th birthday, retrospectives of his work were shown in numerous cities.Works from our auctions
Works by this artist from our auctions
Following are some examples of works by this artist from our past and future auctions.We are always accepting consignments for our auctions. Share in our success – contact us today for a no-obligations auction estimate.
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 150 000 / 250 000 | (€ 154 640 / 257 730)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 1 000 / 1 500 | (€ 1 030 / 1 550)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 120 000 / 180 000 | (€ 123 710 / 185 570)
Sold for CHF 168 500 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 40 000 / 60 000 | (€ 41 240 / 61 860)
Sold for CHF 79 600 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 40 000 / 50 000 | (€ 41 240 / 51 550)
Sold for CHF 63 740 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 30 000 / 50 000 | (€ 30 930 / 51 550)
Sold for CHF 36 900 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 15 000 / 25 000 | (€ 15 460 / 25 770)
Sold for CHF 21 600 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 10 000 / 15 000 | (€ 10 310 / 15 460)
Sold for CHF 14 940 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 12 000 / 16 000 | (€ 12 370 / 16 490)
Sold for CHF 14 400 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 4 000 / 6 000 | (€ 4 120 / 6 190)
Sold for CHF 10 625 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 4 000 / 6 000 | (€ 4 120 / 6 190)
Sold for CHF 10 625 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 10 000 / 15 000 | (€ 10 310 / 15 460)
Sold for CHF 10 200 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 4 000 / 5 000 | (€ 4 120 / 5 150)
Sold for CHF 9 375 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 4 000 / 6 000 | (€ 4 120 / 6 190)
Sold for CHF 8 750 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 5 000 / 7 000 | (€ 5 150 / 7 220)
Sold for CHF 7 750 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 5 000 / 7 000 | (€ 5 150 / 7 220)
Sold for CHF 6 875 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 4 000 / 5 000 | (€ 4 120 / 5 150)
Sold for CHF 6 875 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 4 500 / 5 500 | (€ 4 640 / 5 670)
Sold for CHF 6 875 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 5 000 / 7 000 | (€ 5 150 / 7 220)
Sold for CHF 6 600 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 4 000 / 5 000 | (€ 4 120 / 5 150)
Sold for CHF 6 250 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 4 000 / 5 000 | (€ 4 120 / 5 150)
Sold for CHF 6 250 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 2 000 / 3 000 | (€ 2 060 / 3 090)
Sold for CHF 6 000 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 4 000 / 5 000 | (€ 4 120 / 5 150)
Sold for CHF 5 625 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 2 000 / 3 000 | (€ 2 060 / 3 090)
Sold for CHF 5 375 (including buyer’s premium)
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FRANZ GERTSCH
CHF 4 500 / 5 500 | (€ 4 640 / 5 670)
Sold for CHF 5 375 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.
Details My catalogue Query