Hans Jüchser – Friedrich Press, Confession in form and colour

The Städtische Galerie's first special exhibition of 2010 is dedicated to the two artists Hans Jüchser and Friedrich Press, who have close ties to Dresden. The painter and graphic artist Hans Jüchser (1894-1977) is one of the most important artists of the second half of the 20th century in Dresden. Influenced by his teachers Otto Hettner and Ludwig von Hofmann at the Dresden Art Academy and inspired by Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, Jüchser developed a colouristically refined and subtle pictorial language in the tradition of Dresden painting culture. Richly nuanced, carefully coordinated tonal values are characteristic of his painting and demonstrate his masterful use of colour. The familiar Wachwitz landscape, people close to him and everyday objects determine the motifs of his paintings. Portraits, figure paintings and still lifes are at the centre of the exhibition. In addition, paintings on biblical themes and a small series of works with masks, clowns and harlequins illustrate the thematic diversity of the painter's late work. Born in Ascheberg, Westphalia, Friedrich Press (1904-1990) studied under Georg Wrba at the Dresden Academy of Art. He lived and worked in Dresden from 1935 onwards. His sculptural work includes tombs and monuments, designs for Protestant and Catholic churches as well as a large number of individual sculptures. From the mid-1950s, Press gradually developed a formally reduced and abstract formal language that characterises his later work. His work focused on depictions of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the Mother and Child, which are characterised by a condensed, symbolic expression and through which Press visualised the human dimension of essential religious content. The exhibition presents paintings, sculptures and selected works on paper by the two artists from public and private collections in Germany.