Burri, Doctor to Painter

Burri at the Guggenheim on Free Night.
After an hour's wait around the block visitors had 30 minutes to  hasten through the exhibition. 

Burri trained as a doctor, but in WWII was interned in an American  prisoner's camp.

He became an artist during that time, and after the war, committed himself to art full-time.

Deep blacks and gloss with matt. Photos don't do it justice.

He had a penchant for red, though I did not feel his understand of red ran deep. This is a beauty, though.

He began experimenting with plastic and celotex, an insulation material, taking the sewing of burlap to greater dimensions.

Around 1960s, when he spent time in America.

Crackle paintings from 1970s

Inspired by the desert

Pick up from earlier: metal

Pickup from earlier: burlap

Some of the very first burlap paintings

Possibly the first on view

And later plastic works, beautifully presented as an introduction to Burri's work.