Creating Neo Deco – 25-01-25

Website link: https://corneakkers.com/neo-deco-25-01-25/
Print: https://corneakkers.com/print-neo-deco-25-01-25/
Printable: https://corneakkers.com/product/printable-neo-deco-25-01-25/

Trude Fleischmann

This graphite pencil drawing ‘Neo Deco – 25-01-25’ is born out of admiration of the works of Austrian photographer Trude Fleischmann. Whose work I had the privilege to see in Museum Arnhem as explained in my previous pastel ‘Neo Deco – 12-01-25’. There were and odd 4 photos of her present and they were all brilliant in their own right. The second that struck me became the motif of this drawing.

Solving a Compositional Problem

First I had an execution in mind similar to ‘Roundism – 25-12-17 (Sold)’. Somehow I associated the artistic motif at hand with that one. Soon I thought of something different. Sheer styling after my old Roundism fashion doesn’t inspire me much anymore. Then again I thought of the empty space in the right section above the middle. This would eventually become an artwork tending heavily towards the chiaroscuro side. So I immediately thought of a recent drawing ‘Sans Titre – 30-10-24 (Lauren Bacall)’. Introducing a window with a full moon in it would solve a compositional problem I faced. All things round and slanted could need a bit of straight vertical and horizontal structures. This way I had a square cube she is sitting on. Then all her roundish glory slanted in the middle and a cube in the upper right corner. Just my cup of tea.

Claire Bauroff

That didn’t satisfy my whim down yet. The window and the moon were fine alright but I wanted to have some reference to Trude. Hence, some landmarks of Vienna (her place of birth) in the background. She fled from the nazis in 1938, finally arriving in New York. On Wikipedia I read the model she photographed was in fact a dancer called ‘Claire Bauroff’. Her jewish background and the fact her pictures of Claire were confiscated by the police makes this an interesting story. It makes me realize how much artists can relate to problems from the past. Nudity in art still is something that is banned in many media. Being jewish in The Netherlands still can lead to discrimination these days. Conclusion: there is a lot to do for artists like me.

Graphite pencil (Sakura mechanical pen, 0.5 mm, 4B) drawing Talens Bristol paper (21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers