Fritz Rauh – American Abstract Expressionist

Fritz Rauh

American Abstract Expressionist

Fritz Rauh was born in Wuppertal, Germany, in 1920. He enrolled in the Braunschweig Art School in 1938, although his studies were interrupted by WWII. Following the war, he completed his formal training in Braunschweig and met his future wife, Alix; they emigrated to the United States in 1954 and settled in Marin County, California.

Rauh had his first solo exhibition in 1956 at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. The exhibition was well received by critics applauding Rauh’s unique approach to canvas as a surface to be “opened” with color and shapes. Small amoeba-like shapes filled his canvases, closely packed on a contrasting and sometimes harmonizing ground in a way that foreground and background become interchangeable. The vibrating surface that resulted, heightened by areas of flat color defining the limits of the canvas, evokes the beauty of micro-organic worlds.

Rauh’s critical and commercial success in the following decades led to his works being exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including SF MOMA, Oakland Art Museum, International Art Expo in Osaka, Japan and Gallerie Schreiner in Basel, Switzerland. Today, Findlay Galleries is proud to represent the artist’s estate exclusively.

James MuldoonFritz Rauh – American Abstract Expressionist