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Gerhard Schaefer (Gustav) Zonder titel, 1942 | Untitled, 1942 Potlood en geel kleurpotlood op papier | Lead pencil and yellow colored pencil on paper 17.3 x 24.4 cm
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Gerhard Schaefer (Gustav) Zonder titel,1942 | Untitled, 1942 Potlood en kleurpotlood op papier | Lead pencil and colored pencils on paper 17.3 x 24.4 cm
Following the death of his father, Gustav grows up in a Catholic orphanage. At twenty-six, he leaves Germany and moves successively to Italy and Spain, and then France, where he is living on the outbreak of WWII. As a German national, he is placed in an internment camp, where he starts writing and drawing. Suffering from delirium, he is transferred to a psychiatric hospital in 1942 where he continues to produce his art. Prophetic in scope, his drawings deal in a personal mythology interlarded with events from history and the Bible, two subjects he also addresses in his writings.
When Dubuffet got back in touch with Dr. Dagand in 1963 he was hoping to add some more works to his collection. Dr. Dagand informed him that Gustav’s works were destroyed, except for a number of drawings, which he then presented to Dubuffet.
