Lot 266: Pyke Koch (Dutch, 1901-1991)

Het uur U II
signed and dated 'Pyke Koch '63' (lower right)
oil on canvas
30.5 x 55 cm.

Utrecht, Kunstzaal de Reiger, Pyke Koch, William Kuik, 1964
Sao Paolo, VII Bienal, Salle spéciale de Surréalismo e Arte Fantastica, 1965, (ill.)
Utrecht, Utrechtse Kring, Expositie van schilderijen. Carel Willink, Pyke Koch, 1965, no. 19
Brussels, Galerie 86, Openingstentoonstelling, 1966.
Recklinghausen, Städtische Kunsthalle, Fliegen. Ein Traum; Faszination, Fortschritt, Vernichtungswahn, 1977, no. 130.
Enschede, Rijksmuseum Twente, Het Magisch Realisme in de Nederlandse Schilderkunst. Een zelfstandige stroming?, 1981, no. 36 (ill.)
Parijs, Institut Néerlandais, Pyke Koch, 1982.

C. Blotkamp, Pyke Koch, Amsterdam 1972, p. 117-118 (ill.)
J. Steen, Magisch realisten en tijdgenoten in de verzameling van het Gemeentemuseum Arnhem, 1992, p. 43-44 (ill.)
C. Blotkamp, D. Kicken, Pyke Koch, Paintings and Drawings, Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Singapore 1995, p. 232, no. 100 (ill.)

Van Halst, Wageningen.

"Het Uur U shows an air attack, with droppings of men and material on parachutes. Through the sudden traces of the planes in the air Koch suggests the sign of a fight. In the open air figures are lying wrapped up in blankets or cloths, seemingly unaware of what happened above them. It is not clear if they are sleeping or dead. The scene reminds the biblical sight painted by Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini, like the glorification at the mountain, or Christ in Gethsemane. The three disciples are like the figures in Kochs painting Het Uur U, strongly abridged, reproduced and wrapped up in mantles, seemingly unaware of what is happening nearby. The atmosphere of painting is determined by a combination of idyll and and threat; the happy colours of the parachutes and clouds caused by the planes are messengers of doom over sleeping, incognisance world under them." (Carel Blotkamp, Pyke Koch, Amsterdam, 1972, p. 117-118)

Koch painted three versions of Het uur U; I in 1958, II in 1963 and III in 1971.

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