karl stengel

Karl Stengel has lived through important and dramatic periods in the history of 20th century art. Born in 1925 in Novi Sad, on the banks of the Danube, from his early childhood he had the impulse to “have to” draw and was strongly attracted by the contrast of black and white. After the war and the years in the Russian prison camp, a long time passed before a middle class student could be admitted to an art academy. It was the period of Socialist Realism, a style imposed by the Soviet Communist Party. There was no room for artistic individualism, or to seek one’s own possibilities, expressive style, or creativity. Upon the arrival of the Soviet tanks with the occupation of Hungary in 1956, Karl Stengel fled to Munich in Germany.

Karl then worked as an art teacher in Germany and on retirement lived and painted between his homes in Germany and Loro Ciuffenna near Arezzo. His works are divided into two major groups: the large canvases dominated by color, of strong emotional and lyrical abstract expressionist impact, that have their roots sunk in post-war American and European informel experimentation and in some pre-war Russian avant-garde art. The more surreal representations often of a smaller size on paper, have a more markedly European ancestry, in particular German Expressionism, and may for example, express a faceless male figure on stage. Music and literature were of great importance to Karl and references to them can often be seen in his works.

Karl Stengel passed away in his beloved Tuscan countryside, 25 June 2017.