E-Catalogue
Fritz Eichenberg and Bernard Brussel-Smith
| Childs Gallery is pleased to present a show featuring, side by side, two of the master wood engravers of the twentieth century: Fritz Eichenberg and Bernard Brussel-Smith. While illustrating the unique vision of each artist, the show also demonstrates the special relationship between teacher and student, master and apprentice, and between friends. Fritz Eichenberg taught Bernard Brussel-Smith at the New School for Social Research in New York City and Brussel-Smith later became one of Eichenberg's assistants, sparking a friendship that lasted much of their lives. Childs Gallery is pleased to be representing the oeuvres of both of these important artists. Eichenberg, born, raised and trained in Germany, settled in the United States in the 1930s. Influenced by the works of Goya and Daumier, he vowed to become an artist with a social conscience like those before him. Through works of social-political commentary and the illustration of great literature, Eichenberg captures the spirit of human suffering as well as its redemption. Brussel-Smith, born in New York City, was also an artist with a strong social conscience to which he added an ironic sense of humor. Also, he became a masterful innovator. He studied under Stanley William Hayter in Paris where he developed a form of relief etching inspired by William Blake's process. His work is characterized by delicate engraving within carefully composed spaces. In this way he is able to capture the essence of his subject in small, simple compositions, full of emotion. Opening reception, with the family of Bernard Brussel-Smith, to take place on October 14, 6-8pm. |
