Before being recognised for his works, Ernst Kolb (1927-1993) got noticed in Mannheim, Germany, where he took part in all sorts of public events. He became known as ‘Citizen Kolb’ as he was curious about everything, a man with eclectic tastes who would invite himself to exhibition openings and conferences. He was always seen carting around one or more plastic bags full of recycled papers and he would take part in university symposiums, rallies as well as rock or popular music concerts. He was a bit of an eccentric who was omnipresent in his town’s cultural life and he was never shy of expressing his opinion in a flow of words that could be incomprehensible at times.
‘The plastic-bag man’ was especially discreet on his personal life; he may have been embarrassed at being unemployed and about his humble roots. Not many people knew that, alone in his bedroom, he would use the verso side of flyers – lunch menus, exhibition adverts, concert programmes– he had gleaned from here, there and everywhere to draw a vast number of pictures. Ernst Kolb devoted himself to this activity on a regular basis from the age of fifty when an allergy forced him to give up his job as a baker.
In the field of Art Brut, it is often through relatives or chance encounters that someone gets recognised as an unusually creative individual, which contributes to the discovery and prestige of the works, the fate of which might otherwise have been more than doubtful. Regarding Ernst Kolb, who did not consider himself an artist or attempt to have what he called his ‘doodles’ exhibited, two men were to play this essential part. The painter and sculptor Uli Lamp offered him a room in his workshop and provided him with drawing materials while the writer Rolf Bergmann became his friend. Bergmann would also be the promoter of his work and publish two books on him, one of them a detailed biography.
As the first presentation of the works in a museum, the exhibition features a collection of works from the Collection de l’Art Brut, as well as pieces generously loaned by a private collector. Drawn with a ballpoint pen on small format paper, most of the pictures represent characters or scenes of everyday life. Portraits and fantastic figures contort as if to fill the page to the fullest. The light and decisive movement that courses through the twisted bodies as well as the sharp, precise and energetic strokes are distinctive features of Ernst Kolb’s compositions.
Curator: Anic Zanzi, curator at Collection de l’Art Brut
