Fisher's head

The works of Joachim Utech forming a part of German Expressionism, inspired both by the art of non-European cultures and the ancient and Medieval traditions, are the most interesting phenomena in the Pomeranian fine arts in the first half of the 20th century. The artist was born in the pre-war Białogard (he left the town together with his family on 1 March 1945); in the 1920s, Utech exhibited his works together with Emil Nold, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Lyonel Feininger. In 1936, during the 20th Biennale di Venezia, Utech's works enjoyed significant interest, which was manifested by purchase of one of the works to the private collection of Benito Mussolini. His iconographically rich and stylistically diverse oeuvre comprises approx. 900 sculptures. The artist worked with wood, clay, terracotta, plaster and metal; however, stone was his preferred material: he carved in marble, diabase, sandstone, limestone and primarily granite brought from Scandinavia by the glacier, commonly available in Pomerania. “Fisherman’s Head” is a part of a group of expressive Pomeranian tronies. It is an austere, formally simplified allegorical artwork, showing a universal type of the human character rather than presenting a specific person.

Dariusz Kacprzak