Edited by Markus Stegmann, Museum Langmatt, Text by Britta Peters, Markus Stegmann.
Ambiguous portraits: Margot Bergman finally comes to Europe
Chicago artist Margot Bergman (born 1934) acquires landscape paintings—usually small-format works—at thrift stores and flea markets, and discovers hidden faces in them which she draws out by painting over sections of the canvas. A touch of humor often shines out of these melancholy faces, which oscillate stylistically between surrealism and outsider art. Bergman has previously expressed admiration for the painting of Georg Baselitz, Willem de Kooning and Lucian Freud, and their influence is evident in her fondness for distortion and the grotesque. (“Sometimes they are quite shocking to even me,” she told an interviewer in 2014.) Though Bergman is a fiercely independent artist, her work also allies itself to Chicago’s longstanding and unique relationship with surrealism. Published for Bergman’s first European museum exhibition, this book looks at her works of the past 15 years.
"Night Listener" (2010) is reproduced from 'Margot Bergman.'
“Monica” (2018) is reproduced from Hatje Cantz’s new monograph on Chicago artist Margot Bergman, whose neo-expressionist portraits of women overpainted on small, found landscape paintings, are becoming increasingly known and collected worldwide. “Bergman’s female subjects are true anti-heroines,” Markus Stegmann writes. “They are refreshing in that there is nothing heroic about them. They are not warlike Amazons, not speeding Furies, and not emancipated ladies in the wake of 1968 (in purely biographical terms, this could be well-suited to the artist). Bergman’s women do not embark on campaigns to shout their opinion to the world angrily… One regularly sees an element of cheery sparkle, even a subtle mockery, and sometimes a concealed frivolous look.” continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 8.5 x 10.75 in. / 80 pgs / 40 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $39.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $55 ISBN: 9783775745260 PUBLISHER: Hatje Cantz AVAILABLE: 5/21/2019 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA
Published by Hatje Cantz. Edited by Markus Stegmann, Museum Langmatt, Text by Britta Peters, Markus Stegmann.
Ambiguous portraits: Margot Bergman finally comes to Europe
Chicago artist Margot Bergman (born 1934) acquires landscape paintings—usually small-format works—at thrift stores and flea markets, and discovers hidden faces in them which she draws out by painting over sections of the canvas. A touch of humor often shines out of these melancholy faces, which oscillate stylistically between surrealism and outsider art. Bergman has previously expressed admiration for the painting of Georg Baselitz, Willem de Kooning and Lucian Freud, and their influence is evident in her fondness for distortion and the grotesque. (“Sometimes they are quite shocking to even me,” she told an interviewer in 2014.) Though Bergman is a fiercely independent artist, her work also allies itself to Chicago’s longstanding and unique relationship with surrealism. Published for Bergman’s first European museum exhibition, this book looks at her works of the past 15 years.
