Ohne Titel (Liegende) 23

In his sculptural practice spanning almost seven decades, Hans Josephsohn dealt intensively with the human figure. The brass sculpture exhibited at Blickachsen 14 also shows a body whose voluminous, rounded forms are positioned on a rectangular pedestal with which they seem to want to merge. The surface clearly shows the traces of the working left by the artist‘s hands during the creation of the plaster model, and at the same time is reminiscent of naturally weathered stone. Only from the right angle can a reclining female figure be recognized in the work. The untitled reclining figure thus exhibits essential characteristics of Hans Josephsohn‘s work, which combines a classical-modern sensibility with borrowings from European art history and, despite the tendency towards abstraction, always remains figurative.
After a semester at the art academy in Florence, Hans Josephsohn emigrated to Zurich in 1938, where he was a student of the sculptor Otto Müller until 1943. He initially presented his characteristic works mainly in Switzerland. Since the turn of the millennium, they have been shown internationally by renowned institutions in solo and group exhibitions, for example at the Venice Biennale in 2013.