It is with a heavy heart that I have to write yet another eulogy for another great artist and art mediator.
Andrea Neumann was a German artist, well established in Saarbrücken.We went to art school together and I remember her back then already as the best painter of the school by far. We engaged in a conversation during a group show we both were in, in 1992, where we had an exchange of mutual understanding about how philosophical studies and the schooling of the intellect is equally important as the studies and practice of art. We both missed that aspect in art school and were drawn to academia. Andrea articulated herself eloquently in German language in her quiet and grounded way, strewn with a dry sense of humor here and there.
Hülle, Egg Tempera on Canvas, 70 x 60 cm, 2011, ©VG-Bildkunst Andrea Neumann, Publishing Permission from the Estate.Andrea Neumann pursued her art within the long lineage of great painters. She painted with egg tempera on canvas, which added to the effect of fleetingness and temporality in her work, the paint being a hue that married the canvas and let it breathe.
Within a subdued palette, with an extended array of color ranging from yellow over blues to purple, she mastered a full spectre of grey tones.
The most phenomenal in her painting though, is her ability to translate light into paint.
Her painting can be seen as virtuoso abstraction, with the figure as a starting point, but where figuration transcends into pure color. The movement she achieves in her pieces are like a breath of presence, yet she spent sometimes months on a painting.
Andrea Neumann was also a co-owner of an art school and she was equally devoted to art education.
As the vice-president of the board at Saarländischen Künstlerhaus, she was a committed art mediator and contributed considerably to the cultural climate in Saarbrücken. As Saarbrücken is mourning the loss of an important artist and key cultural player, we will surely see commemorating exhibitions in the months to come.
Visit her website for more information on her art:
