Two Abstract Compositions

Both oil on board

The monochromatic painting signed with initials and dated 71 A P (lower right) and again signed with initials and dated verso: 1971 A P

58 x 59 cm.

The other work signed with initials A P (upper left) and signed and dated verso: 73 A Portmann

59 x 59 cm.

Switzerland, most probably Müllheim in the Canton of Thurgau, respectively dated 1971 and 1973

Both in wooden frames.

These powerful and energetic paintings by the Swiss artist Alfred Portmann (1899-1986) demonstrate his individuality within the mainstream art world while also providing a glimpse into his often-turbulent imagination. Though relatively little known, Portmann’s contribution to the arts was finally recognised toward the end of his career. This was especially so when in 1986 the Aargauer Kunsthaus in Aargauer held the first comprehensive exhibition of his paintings and drawings executed during the years 1956-76. The show was conceived while Portmann was still alive but by the time it opened on 12^th October 1986, he had died. In that context it became his memorial show; it met with great success. 

Born in 1899, Alfred Portmann did not enjoy an easy life. He was the son of a stonemason in Solothurn, Switzerland, where he grew up in poverty along with his six siblings. During World War I, he and his siblings lived with their mother in Germany. After peace was declared and without having completed a vocational apprenticeship, Portmann was involved in various professions such as working as a mechanic, locksmith and watchmaker. In 1935 he moved to Zurich. After World War II, he took over a box-making business until the early 1950s, when his marriage ended in divorce, and he gave up his business. He also worked for a time as a newsagent. He then began drawing as a pastime while working as a night watchman but eventually this job failed, and he became dependent on social welfare. From 1955 to 1970, Portmann lived and worked in Zurich-Schwamendingen. Then, unable to find suitable housing, he was forced to leave the city. He therefore moved to the canton of Thurgau, where he lived in various locations, finally settling in Müllheim during the early 1970s, where he remained until the end of 1983. During his later years he lived in a retirement home in Säuliamt before moving to the Thurau Cantonal Sanatorium. 

It was not until 1956, at the age of fifty-seven, that Portmann began his exclusive artistic journey, which he pursued with greater enthusiasm after he officially retired in 1966 but ten years later, he ceased painting and drawing on account of his deteriorating mental health. Portmann’s works were exhibited for the first time in 1962 when the Zurich Strauhof decided to exhibit works by ‘outsiders’. This was followed by his first one-man exhibition at the Hofgalerie in Lucerne in 1963. In 1980, the artist was able to present a larger selection of his works, amounting to about a hundred and twenty pieces. But in the same year, the artist, frustrated by the lack of attention that his work had received, destroyed approximately two hundred of his works. Not long after that an exhibition of his work was staged at the Vita Insurance company buildings in Zurich. Then in 1983, the City of Zurich purchased a large group of his drawings. Owing to his deteriorating health Portmann spent his final years in a Zurich rehabilitation centre, where he died aged eighty-seven on 4^th October 1986, just eight days before the opening of his seminal exhibition at the Aargauer Kunsthaus.

The Aargauer Kunsthaus specialised in showing the work of ‘outsider’ artists. Certainly, Portmann belonged to this group since although he assimilated styles and ideas from others, his work did not conform to a singular artistic trend. His work can be divided into three broad but distinct groups. Firstly, he portrayed landscapes, especially mountain and lake scenes. Secondly came images such as the present two paintings that were governed by a highly abstract surface structure and took on a surreal nature. The third and subsequent group was made up of larger compositions that extend into cosmic dimensions, which Portmann himself described as his purely spiritual works.

Concerning his earlier works, until the mid-1960s, landscapes dominated Portmann’s work, especially depictions of mountains in which the influence of the Swiss artist Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) is often present. Portmann’s paintings, such as Silvaplanersee, Engadin (c. 1960 oil on board measuring 60 x 90 cm; sold by Sotheby’s November 2021), exemplify his mastery of capturing the interplay of light and atmosphere. In this work, the serene waters of the Silvaplanersee reflect the towering mountains of the Engadin valley, rendered in soft blues and greens that evoke a sense of calm and timelessness. The painting, with its delicate brushwork and harmonious colour palette, demonstrates Portmann’s ability to convey not just the physical landscape but also its emotional resonance. Such works often feel like meditations on nature, inviting viewers to pause and appreciate the quiet beauty of the world around them. Yet, his work was not purely representational; there is a lyrical quality to his compositions that suggests a deeper, almost spiritual connection to the landscapes he painted. This balance between realism and abstraction allowed Portmann to create works that were accessible yet profound, which was a theme that governed the large compositions he executed in his later years where he depicted abstract visions of a cosmic spiritual world.

In between came the second and most extensive group of works, to which the present paintings belong. Like his later pieces these portrayed abstract, non-representational images, which are best described in Portmann’s own words. In unpublished notes, Portmann wrote: “Regarding the creative direction of my artistic work, I would like to summarily call it ‘New Forms’ and leave it to the viewer to feel what emotions these works evoke..” As here, these works rarely had a title, so that the viewer can make their own interpretation. Most are purely abstract compositions with layered surfaces, governed by precise interacting shapes and forms. For instance, here certain elements resemble those of the Swiss artist Paul Klee (1879-1940) where figures, animals, plants, organic forms in varying degrees of stylization and abstraction interplay. At the same time, we are reminded of the pioneering abstract compositions of the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944). Portmann also features Arcimboldo-like heads that juxtaposed between jagged lines and sinuous shapes. At other times Portmann also gave form to more sinister themes, perhaps rooted in his difficult personal circumstances to include subjects like the war or the Old Testament story of Sodom and Gomorrah. While alongside darker works, there are lighter ones that evoke nostalgic childhood memories, reminiscent of the illustrated fairy-tale books by the Swiss artist Ernst Kreidolf (1863-1956). As here, Portmann did not aim to portray an outer reality - things that he saw around him. Rather he invites us into an inner world, where ideas, concepts, moods, beliefs and the imagination are expressed within an exciting abstract composition of shapes and forms.