Appel found inspiration in exploring human nature and thought, believing firmly in universal emotion, which is being moved by what goes on beyond yourself. This comprehension is evident in Karel Appel Composition I, 1970. Emotion is hard to discern as the use of contrasting colors increases their intensity, creating a vital representation of a character. Resembling a human or creature, only the viewer's imagination can differentiate, but is there really a difference between the two?

Dating from 1970, this original color lithograph is hand-signed by Karel Appel (Amsterdam, 1921 - Zürich, 2006) in pencil in the lower right and numbered from the edition of 100 in pencil in the lower left.

About Appel and the Cobra Movement:

Cobra. A group of Expressionist painters formed in Paris in 1948 by a number of Netherlandish and Scandinavian artists. The name derived from the first letters of the capital cities of the three countries of the artists involved - Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam. The aim of the Cobra artists was to give free expression to the unconscious, unimpeded and undirected by the intellect. In their emphasis on spontaneous gesture, they had affinities with the American Action Painters, but they differed in their strand and fantastic imagery, related in some instances to Nordic mythology and folklore, in others to various magical or mystical symbols of the unconscious.

(Oxford Dictionary of 20th Century Art, 1998, pg. 129)

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
A Certificate of Authenticity will be included with the sale of Karel Appel Composition I, 1970.

About the Framing:
Karel Appel Composition I, 1970 is framed to archival museum grade conservation standards, this piece is framed in a complementary moulding with silk mats and optical grade Plexiglas