Page 33 - Studio International - May 1965

Oelze, a German Surrealist

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art. even if such beguiling pictures as Gold (1947). In
Davs of Yore. or even the early Portrait in a Fantastic
Landscape (1934) might seem to suggest this.
Baudelaire and Rossetti suddenly return here in a new
guise: deformed. sweetly paling. at the edge of horror.
But what at first glance appears rooted in tradition
becomes alienated and emptied of meaning in the
accepted sense. With Oelze too, to an increasing extent.
the pictorial content grows out of the familiarity with
pictorial media and forms. forms. however, which are
at the same time visions. nightmares. will o· the wisps,
sometimes too. sad. lovely, sentimental creatures of
strange charm (for instance. Three Waiting Girls. 1947).
Many are an expression of contemporary 'ennui'
searching for an issue. seeking to break out. No one
has compressed such a vitality and so powerfully as
Oelze. in paintings which recall the Old Masters.
Scrupulous accuracy of line and painterly
inventiveness balance each other in Oelze's incredibly
still and yet strangely alive pictures. They are brilliantly
painted. with great technical skill and with equally
great imagination. The eye can wander over them for
hours without tiring. On the contrary: it is continually
being arrested by Oelze·s magical realities. in which the
marvellous takes form. For, in the words of Andre
Breton. the doyen of Surrealism. 'the marvellous is
always beautiful. it is the only beauty·. ■
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