Oberursel. "The Museum of European Art,located in Clarence, New York, cordially extends its best wishes tothe exhibition of sculptor and painter Kurt Arentz's works at theLeonardis Gallery. Our connection with the artist lies in ourreverence for his achievement as well as our esteem for hiscosmopolitan influence. Our museum is proud to possess several worksdone by Arentz. America owes to Kurt Arentz, among other works, theportrait busts of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush. So weoffer our congratulations to the organizer, Mrs. Gabriele Kriessler,on a happy meeting with Kurt Arentz in person and in hisworks."
The congratulatory telegram, sent from thedirector of the Museum for European Art in New York so that GabrieleKriessler could read it aloud on the opening day of the Arentzexhibition, already says almost everything about the artist whom thegallery owner invited to Oberursel. Kurt Arentz, who has immortalizedin bronze such great Germans as Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt, aswell as Austrian Herbert von Karajan, is not only one of the mostfamous portrait sculptors of our time. Gallery owners all over theworld are scrambling for his animal sculptures.
In a brilliant speech, Gabriele Kriessler relatedto her guests the tradition of animal portraiture which is thousandsof years old, extending from the stone age to the time of theimpressionists. In accordance with this tradition, autodidact KurtArentz found his artistic identity in the authentic translation ofthe power and energy inherent in animals and man. In his own words,the reason he finds it difficult to sculpt women: "When sculpting thebust of a man, one can simply proceed in a more rustic fashion,including more elevations in the wrinkled forehead and eyebrows. Withwomen, on the other hand, one must instead take somethingaway."
Impressively infused with a concentrated intensityand a penetrating emotionality in a powerful and even mystic way,such are the works of the man whose aim is the following: "To createwith my art, works whose values are valid for past, present, andfuture." Analogous to the colossal meeting with Kurt Arentz, theLeonardis Gallery is showing twelve paintings by artist ChristophFrisch. This is the premier of a series of twelve scenes from thelife of the Old Testament Joseph.
Copyright 1999 Museum of European Art