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Ruth Francken (1924-2006)

The Alchemical Egg, 1956

Catalogue essay by Blanche Llewellyn

Throughout her career, Ruth Franken asked herself, “How should one paint today? Can one paint at all today?” – and in response, she embarked on a series of visual experiments that integrated a spiritual dimension. This quest for coherence is evident in her diverse body of work, which incorporated techniques such as ripping, cutting, mirroring, and burning to delve into themes of fragmentation, incompleteness, multiplication, and decomposition.

In “The Alchemical Egg,” painted using the impasto technique to accentuate visible brushstrokes, the canvas gains depth and texture – emphasized by the bluish tones, derived from a monochrome grey palette, evoking an aura of internal magic emerging from the canvas.

The egg appears in many surrealist artworks, most notably “Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man” by Salvador Dalí (1943). Reclaiming the symbol of fertility and rebirth, Ruth Francken uses the shell to evoke protection and enclosure, and the content, the hidden, subconscious aspects of the mind.

In Francken’s painting, the egg, emerging from the dark background, appears raw and primitive. Concerned in her work with transformation and purification, the egg here symbolizes the potential for metamorphosis and the cycle of creation and rebirth. It embodies the concept of “prima materia”, the raw substance of alchemy, and signifies the integration of opposing forces, including concepts like the union of masculine (the shell) and feminine (the content) energies. Ultimately, Francken’s exploration embodies a quest for spiritual enlightenment – placing the canvas at the center of the Surrealist concerns.

H65cm
x W50cm
Signed. Oil on canvas.
Ruth Francken

Ruth Francken (1924-2006)

Ruth Francken (1924-2006) was a Czech-American sculptor, painter and furniture designer. Born in Prague in 1926, Francken’s life and career spanned across two continents, and more than half a dozen countries (amongst them France, Italy, Germany, and the United States…) After studying painting from 1939-1940 at the Ruskin School in Oxford, England, she continued her formation/training at the Art Students League of New York. She became an American citizen in 1942, working in the United States as a textile designer until 1949, when she returned to Europe. After spending two years in Venice (1950-1952), she moved to Paris, where she lived until her death in 2006. Initially considered as an Abstract Expressionist, Ruth Francken's early career pivoted in 1964 when she began creating object sculptures, collages, and utilising various textiles and techniques. Her art increasingly moved towards surrealism, fused with the pop-art aesthetic of the period. Communication and disconnection were amongst her favourite themes. Her most renowned artwork "Homme" (1970), through which she achieved widespread recognition, is a sculpture whereby the body of a seated man, cast in polyester, itself forms a chair. Her work was featured in the 2016 exhibition at Tate Modern, London, "The World Goes Pop."

Artworks by the same artist