Alo Altripp, (German, 1906–1991), Composition in Red, 1938, oil on paper, Cincinnati Art Museum, Bequest of Walter I. Farmer, 1997.195, Bank of Spring Flowers, 1937, oil on paper, Cincinnati Art Museum, Bequest of Walter I. Farmer, 1997.197.

Audio Description

These two paintings, titled Bank of Spring Flowers and Composition in Red, were made in 1937 and 1938, respectively, by German artist Alo Altripp, who lived from 1906 to 1991. They are painted with oil on paper, and were bequeathed to the Cincinnati Art Museum by Walter I. Farmer. Their accession numbers are 1997.197 and 1997.195, respectively.

Bank of Spring Flowers is a horizontal abstract painting, about twenty inches wide. Strokes of thin oil paint in blue and red are layered over the surface of the paper. Wide vertical sections were wiped in downward movements to remove most of the pigments. Following the vertical length of these sections Altripp used a blunt tool or the end of his paintbrush to make a series of horizontal lines in the still-wet paint. The result is blurry fragments of color.

Composition in Red is a horizontal abstract painting, about twenty inches wide, dominated by red tones. Wide swathes of red paint are layered in vertical and slightly diagonal strokes over a blue and buff background. With a blunt tool or the end of his paintbrush, the artist created several series of short horizontal lines in the wet paint. These marks are closely spaced and follow the length of the wide strips of red paint. There is a sense of energetic movement; the forms are somewhat suggestive of ferns.

Label Copy

These two paintings, titled Bank of Spring Flowers and Composition in Red, were made in 1937 and 1938, respectively, by German artist Alo Altripp, who lived from 1906 to 1991. They are painted with oil on paper, and were bequeathed to the Cincinnati Art Museum by Walter I. Farmer. Their accession numbers are 1997.197 and 1997.195, respectively.

Abstract painter Alo Altripp was active in German avant-garde circles in the 1920s. Although prohibited from painting under the Nazi regime, Altripp continued to work in secret in his home in Wiesbaden. After the war, when Farmer was director of the Central Collecting Point, the two men struck up a lasting friendship. Farmer learned about contemporary art from Altripp, and he purchased five of his paintings, including Composition in Red and Bank of Spring Flowers.

Altripp produced these works in secret before the outbreak of World War II. Because he was officially banned from painting, he had limited access to materials. Farmer described in his memoir how Altripp gave him a tour of his studio, showing him “the paintings he had made with common house paint and brushes fashioned from rubber hose.” In a photograph taken in Wiesbaden, reproduced nearby, Farmer is shown holding Bank of Spring Flowers.

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