Peter Krausz (born 1946) is a Romanian-born Canadian artist. Throughout his career, he worked within the fields of painting, drawing, installation, and photography and, since 1970, exhibited in museums and galleries across Canada, the United States, and Europe. He is best known for large-scale landscape paintings of the Mediterranean. Krausz's landscapes, described as "spaces halfway between the real and the imaginary", convey man's interrelationship with nature. Identified by translucent, egg-tempera color and ''secco'' technique, in a review of the ''(No) Man's Land'' exhibition at Forum Gallery, Los Angeles, ''

ARTnews ''ARTnews'' is an American art magazine, based in New York City. It covers visual arts from ancient to contemporary times. It is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. ''ARTnews'' has a readership of 180,000 in 124 co ...

'' critic Richard Chang noted, "a luminosity that captured crisp light and clean shadows spreading across the island."Chang, Richard. "Peter Krausz, Forum Los Angeles." ''ARTnews''. Apr 2009. 116. Print. Born in Brașov, Romania, in 1946,"Peter Krausz." ''Art-History Concordia''
Web.
/ref> Krausz pursued art encouraged by his parents, artist and art-educator Tiberiu Krausz, and Judith Krausz, an art historian."Peter Krausz No Man's Land." Documentary by Doina Harap. 2009. Video. From 1964 to 1969, he studied drawing, painting and mural techniques at the Nicolae Grigorescu Fine Arts Institute in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

."Bio." ''Peter Krausz'
Web.
/ref>"New Show at MBAS: Peter Krausz, 2003-2013: un survol." ''Township Heritage Web Magazine''. 13 Sep 2013
Web.
/ref> In 1969 Krausz and his parents fled

Communist Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania (, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989 (see Revolutions of 1989). From 1947 to 1965, the state was ...

through

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

into

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

.Castle, Frederick Ted. "Peter Krausz at 49th Parallel." ''Art in America''. Sep 1991. 138. Print. Described as a "flight toward the unknown" and "escape across a Cold-War border", this event inspired the ''Berlin Series'' (1988) and ''(No) Man's Land'' series (2009-2014)."Peter Krausz, 2003-2013: un survol." ''Musee des beaux-arts de Sherbrooke.'
Web.
/ref> After a year in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Krausz and his family emigrated to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, in 1970. He exhibited there that same year, and solo exhibitions of his work were held at Galerie Malborough-Godard in 1976 and at Galerie Theo Waddington in 1979. From 1980 to 1990, Krausz was curator of the

Saidye Bronfman Centre The Segal Centre for Performing Arts, formerly the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts, is a theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 5170 chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâ ...

Art Gallery and taught in the Fine Arts Department of

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

. In 1991, he joined the faculty of the Université de Montréal, and is a tenured Professor of Fine Art in the Art History and Cinema Studies Department.

Career highlights

In 1984, Krausz participated in the important exhibitions ''Montréal tout-terrain'', and ''Vent et eau'' at the

Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (), abbreviated as MNBAQ, is an art museum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The museum is located in National Battlefields Park and is a complex of four buildings. Three of them were purpose-built for ...

, organized by Centre international d'art contemporain de Montréal (CIAC). Solo exhibitions of his work held at the Montreal artist-run galleries Optica and Articule, drew favorable press. In 1987 at the CIAC's exhibition ''Stations'', Krausz exhibited an installation and 70-foot drawing ''Archipelago'', inspired by

Varlam Shalamov Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov (; 18 June 1907 – 17 January 1982), baptized as Varlaam, was a Russian writer, journalist, poet and Gulag survivor. He spent much of the period from 1937 to 1951 imprisoned in forced-labor camps in the Arctic reg ...

’s memoire of 22-years of forced labor in the Soviet Gulag ''Kolyma''. In 1989 this installation and the ''Berlin Series'' which referenced the construction of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

, were exhibited in a solo show at the

Robert McLaughlin Gallery The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a public art gallery in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest public art gallery in the Regional Municipality of Durham, of which Oshawa is a part. The gallery houses a significant collection of Canadian conte ...

in Oshawa, Ontario."Campbell, James D. ''Peter Krausz Sites 1984-1989.'' Oshawa, Ontario: Robert McLaughlin Gallery. 1989. 47. Print. In 1991, Krausz’s solo exhibition, ''Journeys'' at 49th Parallel Gallery in New York, was reviewed favorably by Frederick Ted Castle in '' Art in America''. This exhibition included the 14-painting series ''Night Train'', inspired by

Claude Lanzmann Claude Lanzmann (; 27 November 1925 – 5 July 2018) was a French filmmaker, best known for the Holocaust documentary film ''Shoah'' (1985), which consists of nine and a half hours of oral testimony from Holocaust survivors, without historical f ...

's documentary ''Shoah'', now in the collection of the

Jewish Museum (Manhattan) The Jewish Museum is an art museum housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in the Felix M. Warburg House, along the Museum Mile on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The museum holds a collection of approximately 30,000 objects, including ...

. In 1992 Krausz’s installation ''Traces-mémoire'' was exhibited at the Centre d’art contemporain in Montpellier, France. Also exhibited in Montreal, the installation consisted of 250 lead panels, each etched with a name of a French town and date, from 535 to 1990, associated with an anti-Semitic event.Fortin, Jocelyne. "Landscape According to Peter Krausz." ''Le paysage selon Peter Krausz.'' Montreal: Musée Régional de Rimouski, 2004. 48. Print. Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and Eastern Bloc, Krausz turned to landscape. To protest the destruction of the natural world, he chose as subject the Mediterranean, its beauty and harmonious relationship between man and nature. By the time of his ''Landscape and Memory'' series (1996-1998), Krausz's signature style of rich, vibrant colors using a unique ''secco'' technique was evident.Fortin, Jocelyne. "Landscape According to Peter Krausz." ''Le paysage selon Peter Krausz.'' Montreal: Musée Régional de Rimouski, 2004. 42. Print. Solo exhibitions held at the Musée d’art de Joliette in 1990, and a subsequent series ''The Song of the Earth'', exhibited in 2004 at the Musée Régional de Rimouski, established Krausz’s critical reputation. From 2009 to 2014, the series ''(No) Man's Land'', which contrasted the beauty of

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

with a "no man's land" zone between the Greek and Turkish communities was exhibited at the Maison de la Culture Côte-des-Neiges (Montreal) and at the

Ottawa School of Art The Ottawa School of Art is a non-profit art school in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The school offers a one-year certificate program, a three-year diploma program, art camps, and general interest courses, as well as providing exhibition sp ...

(Orleans ON). Paintings in this series were also exhibited in solo shows at Forum Gallery (New York and Los Angeles), Galerie de Bellefeuille (Montreal), and Gallery Jones (Vancouver)."Bio-CV." ''Peter Krausz'
Web.
/ref> Krausz also exhibited large-scale drawings including portraits at the

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square Mile stretch of Sherbrooke Street west. The MMFA ...

in 2013, and in Toronto at Mira Godard Gallery in 2012 and 2015, and John B. Aird Gallery in 2015.

Techniques

Throughout his career, Krausz explored a variety of painting and drawing techniques, mediums and surfaces including stretched and unstretched canvas and sculpted wood."Campbell, James D. ''Peter Krausz Sites 1984-1989.'' Oshawa, Ontario: Robert McLaughlin Gallery. 1989. 9. Print. In an early Optica exhibition, his concern for drawing and its integration within painting was noted."Campbell, James D. ''Peter Krausz Sites 1984-1989.'' Oshawa, Ontario: Robert McLaughlin Gallery. 1989. 12. Print. He explored various painting mediums and used iron-oxide pigment on a wet clay surface for ''Archipelago'' (1987), oil and tar for ''August 13, 1961'' (1988) of the ''Berlin Series'', and oil on oxidized copper for the ''Night Train'' (1988) series. During the 1990s, Krausz also experimented with pigments suspended in an egg-based emulsion on various surfaces, and developed a unique ''secco'' technique using a dry surface primed with marble powder and acrylic gels. His ''(No) Man’s Land'' series (2009-2014) included egg tempera on ''secco'' paintings as well as panels painted with oil and tar, similar to ''Paysages'' (1986) or the ''Berlin Series'' (1988). In a recent portrait series, Krausz experimented with drawing in conté on mylar. He also incorporated photography within the installations ''Suite Roumaine'' and ''Traces-mémoire'' (1992) or exhibited photographs as individual works for the ''De Natura (Humana)'' exhibition.

Recognition and contribution

Early in his career, Krausz's work drew attention for its political iconography and illustration of "the abuses, subjugation and suffering stemming from totalitarism". In 1989, at the time of the

exhibition, art historian James D. Campbell wrote that Krausz "is above all, a humanist and his continuing attempts at commemoration — both vehemently personal and unavoidably universal — have a deeply felt and humanizing focus." In his review of Krausz's 1991 ''Journeys'' exhibition published in '' Art in America'', Frederick Ted Castle wrote, "Peter Krausz takes trips that are calculated to remind us that isolation—and brutalization—are human experiences that know no historical period, no geographical area nor cultural configuration, and his souvenirs make effective art." Since the mid 1990s, Krausz's ''secco'' landscape series has been praised for their subtle, commemorative messaging and meditative, yet disquieting beauty. For ''

'' reviewer Richard Chang, his work "offered a serene meditation on nature and of how humans have imprinted it with boundaries." As a contemporary artist working within a classic medium, curator Jocelyne Fortin of the Musée Régional de Rimouski credits Krausz for "breathing new life" into landscape and for shaping "it into a unique and stunning style." For her, "Peter Krausz has invented a highly colourful and emotional wordless language." In recognition of his artistic accomplishments, Krausz was elected to the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria on 16 ...

(RCA) in 2011. His work was the subject of several documentaries including Doina Harap's ''Peter Krausz No Mans Land'' (2009) which premiered at the ''Festival international du film sur l'art'' (Montreal). During his career, he was awarded multiple grants from the

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to foster and promote the study a ...

and Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, as well as won four "integration of art within architecture" competitions including a mural for the

Pointe-à-Callière Museum Pointe-à-Callière Museum (, ) is a museum of archaeology and history in Old Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1992 as part of celebrations to mark Montreal's 350th birthday. The museum has collections of artifacts from the First Natio ...

(Montreal)."Krausz, Peter (1946)." ''Historical Dictionary of Quebec Sculpture in the 20th Century.'' Espace magazine
Web.
/ref> Krausz has also served on juries for the

Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts The Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts are annual awards for achievements in visual and media arts in Canada. Up to eight awards are presented annually, each with a prize amount of $25,000. Created in 2000 by then Governor General ...

, Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec as well as the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. His work is found in the permanent collection of

Art Bank, the

, the

Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (, MACM) is a contemporary art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Place des festivals in the Quartier des spectacles and is part of the Place des Arts complex. Founded in 1964, it ...

, the

, Lethbridge Art Gallery, the

, Arkansas Art Centre, and Artothèque (Montpellier, France). His work is included in the collections of the Department of External Affairs of Canada, the Montreal Arts Council, Musée d’archéologie Pointe-à-Callière, Bibliothèque nationale du Québec, Musée d'art de Joliette, Musée des Beaux-arts de Sherbrooke, and Musée Régional de Rimouski. His work is also found in the corporate collections of Air Canada, Astral Media, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bell Canada, Bombardier, Cirque du Soleil, Citibank, Royal Bank of Canada, Sun Life of Canada, and Teleglobe Canada.

References

External links

* "CCCA Artist Profile: Peter Krausz." ''Concordia University''
Timeline.
* "Peter Krausz." ''The Robert McLaughlin Gallery'' (Oshawa ON)
Collection.
* "Peter Krausz No Man's Land." Documentary by Doina Harap." ''Vimeo''
English Video (52 minutes.
* "Peter Krausz No Man's Land de Doina Harap." Documentary segment. ''Video femmes''
English Video Segment.
*"Peter Krausz, un artiste sans frontières." ''Université de Montréal'
French Video.
* "Peter Krausz." ''CIAC-Centre international d'art contemporain de Montréal''
Web.
* "Krausz, Peter (1946)." ''Historical Dictionary of Quebec Sculpture in the 20th Century.'' Espace magazine. *http://dictionnaire.espaceartactuel.com/en/artistes/krausz-peter-1946/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Krausz, Peter 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters 21st-century Canadian painters Artists from Montreal 1946 births Living people People from Brașov Academic staff of the Université de Montréal Romanian emigrants to Canada 20th-century Canadian male artists 21st-century Canadian male artists Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Canadian collage artists