1963

Untitled (Head)

Dutch, 1921 - 2006

One of the founding members of the CoBrA movement in the late 1940s, Karel Appel continued to employ the expressionistic and spontaneous style characteristic of the group long after its dissolution in the early 1950s. The features of the distorted, grimacing face in Untitled (Head) are defined by the thickness of the paint, which gives the work an almost sculptural quality. The artist is known for squirting pigment directly onto the canvas without the use of a brush. About this tangible, sensuous experience of painting Appel said: “In the mass of paint, I find my imagination and go on to paint it.”