Rolf Nesch, hailing from Oberesslingen, Germany and residing in Oslo, Norway until his demise on October 28, 1975, was a German-born Norwegian printmaker and painter. An early adopter of metal collage in printmaking, Nesch was a pioneer in his field.
Having received his education from art schools in Stuttgart and Dresden in Germany, Nesch was profoundly influenced by the Expressionist extraordinaire Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, with whom he studied in 1924. He was also greatly inspired by the works of renowned Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. In 1925, Nesch began his experimentation with unconventional printmaking and painting techniques. Fleeing Germany in 1933 to escape the persecution of the Nazi regime, he found a new home in Norway, where he had always been drawn to thanks to his admiration for Munch’s work.
During the 1930s, Nesch pioneered a technique of creating deeply embossed graphics by attaching strips of soldering wire onto the printing plate. This novel approach eventually led him to incorporate metal, wood, coloured glass, and stones into his work, creating mosaic constructions that were masterpieces in themselves. Nesch’s ground-breaking methods in printmaking not only caught international attention but also established his reputation worldwide, leading to his selection as Norway’s representative at the renowned Venice Biennale of 1962 and the São Paulo Biennale of 1973.
www.ftn-books.com has now publications available on Nesch.
