back to black presents an intriguing variety of works as a way of examining the significance of black in recent painting. Black as a color in its own right only came into acceptance again in the early 20th century amongst artists such as Matisse, and was then rehabilitated in the postwar period by Rauschenberg, Rothko and Stella. In the 18th and 19th century black was regarded as non-existent by academic painters and even shunned as taboo. The work of Velázquez, Rembrandt or Frans Hals was somehow left out of this equation. In fact, the possibilities offered by black have been a challenge to painters of all eras – and not only because of its symbolism. Malevich’s black square is without doubt one of the prime incunabula of modernism. Black is the absence of color. Even perceiving it is difficult, because it is hard to see the contrast between different nuances, and light reflecting off it tends to make it look shiny, even white. back to black presents 21 contemporary artists, not limiting the scope to abstract, non-representational images, but also featuring examples of figural art and abstract realism.

Editor: Caroline Käding, Eveline Bernasconi, Frank-Thorsten Moll, Veit Görner, kestnergesellschaft Hannover
Authors: Caroline Käding, Frank-Thorsten Moll, Lutz Hieber, Veit Görner

Hardcover
24 x 32 cm
192 pages
86 color and 21 b/w illustrations
German/English
available
ISBN 978-3-86828-010-4
49 Euro
2008