Priska von Martin

de Christine Litz, Arie Hartog

For Priska von Martin, the catalyst in life was the desire to capture humanity as form. She tried to delineate artistically what constitutes human existence, including isolation, dysfunctionality, pain, but also harmony, wholeness and beauty. She captured the essence of human existence in animal figures as well as women's bodies and torsos. Her art was aimed at the corporeal, the visibly physical injury, dislocation, displacement as well as the spiritual, the invisible, the intangible emotions, instincts, conditions. Who was Priska von Martin? What hopes did she place in bequeathing her estate to her native Freiburg, so far away from her place of work in Munich, on the vague chance of being viewed and understood independently? If she was focusing on this (deferred) outside view, why did she scarcely document her oeuvre? Which parts of her life story did she want to leave in the dark? How do we treat the information we have about this artist, who is described by most of her companions as a tactful person? To what extent can we infer, from the (almost utter) absence of views on political events, social contexts and her sphere of operation, that she didn?t engage with any of them? Exhibition: Museum für Neue Kunst, Städtische Museen Freiburg, Germany (04.04. - 13.09.2020) / Gerhard-Marcks-Haus Bremen, Germany (12.09.2020 - 21.11.2021).