“…After a decade of hard and fruitless work, in 1960, I did my first significant work, painted my first-for the first time, I did something on my own – picture with two faces, THE PORTRAIT,. With this work, my, so to say, development as an artist starts. Accidentally, for the first time, I – I was the first one who did it – pulled down “a face from a face”, in the image and likeness “and so THE FACE”. I was astonishing. As if it were a portrait, yet not a portrait of a certain person, but rather a universal one, a portrait of all in one face, one depiction – and it was terribly familiar. I did not have a task “to pull down the masks”; and what I saw, was not ‘bad”, or “good”; it was more than that. It was more familiar, more real. And this face, or rather these two faces there were imprinted millions of years than mankind had lived in the past. And there also were as many years – in an impenetrable future. Right away, - right away! – I realised that I was shown the way. All normal means of an art of drawing – the form-came right away – too simple – primitive drawing, spectral, “eternal”, burning colour – plain- smooth – contrasting shade – and the most important – PATTERN s main principle. Anything free, impromptu, unnecessary was excluded; no “genius things”; no “inspirations”; no “explosions”; no spectacular brush waves. Anonymity in completeness. Smoothness of faceless artisan ….
….For over 40 years, day after day, I am painting my countless canvas, one after another. Something changed in them, with time, coming pout of the light, or sinking into darkness.. but always – always! – these faces, these PORTRAITS OF FACES, repeat themselves.”
Painting
1934