Eleonore Koch

24 Nov 2020-16 Jan 2021

Overview

Modern Art, London and Mendes Wood DM, New York are proud to present two concurrent exhibitions devoted to German-Brazilian painter Eleonore Koch (1926−2018) curated by Kiki Mazzucchelli. The exhibitions will bring together a group of works produced from the late 1960s, when the artist established herself in London, to the 1990s, upon her return to São Paulo. Eleonore Koch occupies a unique place in the history of Brazilian modernism. Born in Berlin in 1926, she emigrated to Brazil aged ten alongside her Jewish family. Having completed her academic training at the School of Fine Arts, in São Paulo, in the mid-1940s, she later pursued her art studies in Paris (1949−50), where she had lessons at the Académie Julian, the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and at Árpád Szenes’ (1897−1985) studio. Upon her return to São Paulo, Koch started to exhibit her paintings whilst working as a set designer. In 1953, she undertook further studies under the painter Alfredo Volpi (1896−1988), who taught her to work with tempera. From then on, this became her medium of choice. In Koch’s painting the typical rhythmic texture achieved through delicate brushwork that characterises Volpi’s work acquires a particular vibrancy due to the fact that she was ambidextrous.