Freundlicher Popanz194411 7/16 x 7 7/8"Oil and gouache on cardboardEva and Morris Feld Folk Art Acquisition Fund2022.22.101575518573Gaston Chaissac PaintingsLower LeftFrancePaintingsAmerican Folk Art MuseumObject information is a work in progress and
may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the
American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgThe art of Gaston Chaissac radiates the resourceful awkwardness often associated with the concept of art brut coined by Dubuffet, with whom he would have had a close and complicated relationship starting in 1946. This riveting, early painting by Chaissac is titled Freundlicher Popanz, which can be literally translated as “friendly mumbo jumbo,” meaning a language or ritual causing or intended to cause confusion or bewilderment. Even though we know that Chaissac used titles influenced by poetry, “Freundlicher” is more likely derivative of the name of his friend, Jewish artist Otto Freundlich, while the colorful spotted central motif can evoke the patches of color typical of Freundlich’s abstract work. We know that Chaissac became involved in the art world when he lived next door to Freundlich and his partner Jeanne Kosnick-Kloss in Paris during the 1930s. They showed him modern art and supported his efforts to paint. This painting is dated 1944, which is a year after Freundlich’s death shortly after his deportation to Majdanek Concentration Camp19441944 2022 22 1 Object information is a work in progress and
may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the
American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgThe art of Gaston Chaissac radiates the resourceful awkwardness often associated with the concept of art brut coined by Dubuffet, with whom he would have had a close and complicated relationship starting in 1946. This riveting, early painting by Chaissac is titled Freundlicher Popanz, which can be literally translated as “friendly mumbo jumbo,” meaning a language or ritual causing or intended to cause confusion or bewilderment. Even though we know that Chaissac used titles influenced by poetry, “Freundlicher” is more likely derivative of the name of his friend, Jewish artist Otto Freundlich, while the colorful spotted central motif can evoke the patches of color typical of Freundlich’s abstract work. We know that Chaissac became involved in the art world when he lived next door to Freundlich and his partner Jeanne Kosnick-Kloss in Paris during the 1930s. They showed him modern art and supported his efforts to paint. This painting is dated 1944, which is a year after Freundlich’s death shortly after his deportation to Majdanek Concentration Camp