Carl Kohler Exhibition
31.01.2011
The Swedish artist Carl Köhler (1919-2006) worked within the neo-Modernist tradition and is relatively unknown outside his Sweden. But this, perhaps, is changing. Thanks to the efforts of his son, Henry, Carl Köhler’s work has made its way outside of Sweden for the first time. The exhibition currently on display in UCC’s Boole Library is a collection of “authorportraits” of European and American writers, comprising a variety of media and styles and includes portraits of more than 20 writers (Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, Brendan Behan, Franz Kafka, Jean Cocteau, Henry Miller, Joyce Carol Oates, Virginia Woolf et al).

With the exception of a few Swedish artists, Köhler did not actually meet any of his subjects. His inspiration for his portraits came through each artist’s work. He was an avid reader of wide-ranging tastes and wrote himself, though he never published. Literature, music and film were his inspiration. Paint, ink, collage, and block-print were his media.

Included as a special exhibit in the show is an engaging essay on the final weeks of Virginia Woolf, "Dancing On Hot Bricks" by Maureen E. Mulvihill (Rapportage magazine, XII, 2009: 52-64, 12 images; Lancaster, Pa.).

For further information on Carl Kohler and digital images of the show, as well as a PDF of the Woolf essay, visit: http://www.carlkohler.se

The exhibition continues at UCC’s Boole Library until March 2011.

Image: Brendan Behan

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