Franz Priking (1929-1979) Bouquet Of Poppies And Ears Of Wheat

A painting which represents a bouquet of flowers but which is not a still life, but on the contrary, a true expression of life and strength, that of the German expressionist friend of Picasso, living and painting in Provence, Franz Priking.
The work is presented in a modern black and gold frame that measures 68 cm by 59 cm and 55 cm by 46 cm for the canvas alone.
It represents a bouquet of poppies and ears of wheat in a vase on a table.
In very good condition, it is signed upper left.

Franz Priking's pictorial sensitivity was awakened from his childhood by the education of a father passionate about Italian Renaissance and Baroque art.
Franz Priking approaches painting through philosophical studies, first moving towards a lyrical abstraction “revealing a sensitivity in search of itself”. The stays he then made at the Bauhaus in Weimar (1948) and at the Academy of Arts in Berlin (where he was a student of Max Pechstein between 1948 and 1950 and where Karl Hofer praised his drawings revealed to him, with German expressionism, a form of art more in keeping with his temperament. It was during this period that in Berlin, through the painter Hans Tombrock (de), Priking got closer to Bertolt Brecht, living ten months in proximity to the playwright.
In 1950, Franz Priking left Germany for Paris, where he remained for a short time, reaching Provence and stopping in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. During his first French exhibition at the Réattu museum in Arles, in 1952, he met Pablo Picasso and worked for seven months under the master's advice in Vallauris:
“I was deeply passionate about Picasso, by his principle of structure and organization of the painting,” recalls Franz Priking. The theme mattered much less to me than the new rhythmic concept it taught me. And above all, at that moment I abandoned the bright color that I had retained from the expressionist period, the opposition of active colors used almost pure, and I began to work on color in a way that it became rational... hues have become much more earthly, closer to the earth.
Collective exhibitions

     Young international painting, Réattu museum, Arles, 1952.
     The Julius Fleischmann Collection, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, January 1959.
     Ten years of young Mediterranean painting, Palais de la Méditerranée, Nice, March-April 1960.
     Salon de l’Enclave, Valréas, 1966.
     International Biennale of Antiques, Grand Palais, Paris, 1967.
     Menton Biennale, 1970.
     Autumn Salon, Paris, 1972.
     Salon of painters witnesses of their time, Galliera museum, Paris, January-February 1976 (theme: Peasant life; canvas exhibited: Transmutation), February-March 1977 (theme: The festival; canvas exhibited: Purple Season).
     Fourth international graphic art biennial, Florence, 1976.
     Furniture-pictures, Georges-Pompidou National Center for Art and Culture, Paris, 1977.
     Post-war expressionism in fifty paintings - Bernard Buffet, Jean Dannet, André Fougeron, Franz Priking, Gaston Sébire, Drouant gallery, Paris, March 1982.
     Retrospective twenty years of exhibition, Ducastel gallery, Louis-XIV theater, Place Crillon, Avignon, November 1982.
     Sourillan Gallery, Toulouse, 2001, 2003, 2011.
     Impressionist walks, thirtieth anniversary of the gallery, Janet Greenberg collection, Martin Caille gallery, avenue Matignon, Paris, 2004.
     From Cuno Amiet to Zao Wou-Ki, the Pierre and Nane Cailler print collection, Pully Art Museum, February-April 2013.
     Focus on southern painting, Jean-Claude Réno gallery, Montpellier, from December 2013 to January 2014.
     Forty years of exhibition, Château de Val, Lanobre, summer 2014.
     Tribute to post-war French painters: Georges Laporte, Frédéric Menguy, Franz Priking, Louis Toffoli, Espace Rex, La Baule, August 2016.
     Undated exhibitions: São Paulo Biennale, Salon Comparisons, Salon of painters who witness their time, Tokyo Contemporary Art Salon.
     Special exhibitions
     Gallery of the Hôtel de l'Europe, Avignon, July-August 1953.
     Galerie Motte, Geneva, 1954.
     Galerie Drouant-David, Paris, November 1957.
     Galerie Drouant, Paris, December 1959, 1965.
     Tooth Gallery, London, 1958.
     Galerie de Francony, Nice, June 1959.
     Galerie de la Colombe, Vallauris, 1960.
     Galliera Museum, Paris, January-March 1962.
     Martin Caille Gallery, Paris and Aix-en-Provence, 1962.
     Werther Merenciano Gallery, Marseille, 1963.
     Galerie Philippe Ducastel, Avignon, 1965, 1969, 1970.
     La Vitrina Curiazzi Gallery, Rome, 1968.
     Emmanuel David Gallery, Paris, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1974.
     Galerie Isy Brachot, Brussels, 1973.
     Hélène Trintignan Gallery, Montpellier, October-November 1977.
     Palace of the King of Rome, Rambouillet, 2000.
     Hôtel Atrium, Arles, June-July 2003.
     Château de Val, Lanobre, summer 1979

Awards and distinctions
Young Painting Prize, 1958.
Member of the International Institute of Arts and Letters of Geneva, 1961.
Honorary member (silver medal) of the Tommaso Campanella International Academy, Rome, 1970.
Prize of the Mediterranean Union of Modern Art, 1972.

Public collections

Chile
Santiago, National Museum of Fine Arts.
UNITED STATES
Belhaven, Belhaven College.
Cincinnati, Cincinnati Art Museum.
Coral Gables, Lowe Art Museum.
Corpus Christi, Art Museum of South Texas.
Easton, Academy Art Museum.
Geneseo, State University of New York at Geneseo.
Glassboro, Rowan University.
Hamilton, Colgate University.
Jamestown, Jamestown University.
Johnstown, Fulton-Montgomery Community College.
Lancaster, Franklin and Marshall College.
Lincoln City, Lincoln University.
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Madison, Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Manchester, St James School.
Midland, Northwood University.
Minneapolis, University of Minnesota.
Montana, Easton Montana College.
Nashville, George Peabody College.
New Brunswick, Rutgers University.
Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania.
Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum.
San Diego, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art.
Santa Fe, Museum of Fine Arts.
Syracuse, Syracuse University.
Tuscaloosa, University of Alabama.
Waterville, Colby College.
France
Avignon, Calvet museum: Still life with red background, 1965.
Lanobre, Château de Val: The Château de Val
Paris, National Museum of Modern Art.
Italy
Rome, Vatican Museum: Notre-Dame de Paris.
Swiss
Pully, Pully Art Museum