Artist in Focus - Elvira Bach - September 2015

Elvira Bach's paintings and lithographs explore  domestic and public environments, expressing much about her persona and lifestyle. Her vigorous statement of sexualised femininity is illustrated through depicted figures frequently wearing heels that merge with the body like a new limb. Alluring and audacious poses, vaguely totemic and primitive in appearance are painted in bright colours and energetic strokes. These vivid trademarks gave rise to a distinct visual voice which led to her becoming a key member of the German art movement die Jungen Wilden, the Young Wild Ones, famous for artistic currents, Expressionism  and  Fauvism.  After her participation at Documenta 7 in 1982, Bach broke away from the group, for her, continuing to paint in her angular and energetic style was of utmost importance rather than following her contemporaries whose art was moving into a socio-political direction, largely characterised by anti-establishment views and the promotion of individual freedom.

Femmes fatales engaged in household duties are recurring themes in Bach's painterly vocabulary and can be observed in Eine Küchendiva. Her entertaining subversive portraits are filled with her own alter-egos, in various postures and colours, typical of her artistic approach.
 

Born in 1951 in Neuenhain, Taunus, Germany, Elvira Bach studied at the Staatliche Glassfachschule, Hadamar and the Hochschule der Künste, Berlin. From 1972 ‐ 1981 she worked at the Schaubühne Hallesches Ufer, Berlin, financing her academic studies. In 1982 she was invited as Artist in Residence at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Bach was the first woman artist to participate at Documenta 7, in Kassel, Germany, and became a leading female artist of 'die Jungen Wilden', the German new expressionist art movement. She also spent long periods living and working in Senegal. Her works are shown extensively in galleries and museums around the world and held in collections, such as the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. She lives and works in Berlin.
 

 

Elvira Bach

Eine Küchendiva, 2014