Holmead Donation Alfred Moeke   05.08. – 10.12.2023

Holmead. Donation Alfred Moeke

For the 200th birthday of the Kunstverein in Bremen, the collector Alfred Moeke has donated 34 works by the painter Holmead (actually Clifford Holmead Phillips). On the occasion of this generous donation, the Kunsthalle shows a selection of Holmead's paintings and drawings from his impressive late work of the 1960s and 70s.

In addition to the landscapes and city views, Holmead's portraits form the core of the donation. They are "of a certain severity against the people", at least that is the judgement of the artist Suzanne Thienpont, who was a friend of Holmead. At the same time, the portraits show that Holmead looked at his subjects with a certain wit. The character studies always give the impression of confronting idiosyncratic personalities. A total of nine works on paper and ten paintings are on display, including two loans.

Holmead, Man with Glasses, 1972
Oil on canvas on plywood, 59 x 47 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Donation Alfred Moeke, © Nachlass Holmead, Frankfurt am Main

Holmead, Young Woman, 1971
Oil on canvas, 61,7 x 51,3 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Donation Alfred Moeke, © Nachlass Holmead, Frankfurt am Main

Holmead, Coast Town, 1970
Oil on canvas on plywood, 61 x 76 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Donation Alfred Moeke, © Nachlass Holmead, Frankfurt am Main

Holmead, Town (Church), 1973
Oil on canvas on plywood, 61 x 76 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Donation Alfred Moeke, © Nachlass Holmead, Frankfurt am Main

Holmead, Ohne Titel (male head with black bowler and red tie), 1974
Gouache on paper, 32 x 23,5 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Donation Alfred Moeke, © Nachlass Holmead, Frankfurt am Main

Holmead, Untitled (male head with glasses and moustache), undated
Pencil on paper, 25 x 20,2 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Donation Alfred Moeke, © Nachlass Holmead, Frankfurt am Main

Holmead, Man with white Hair, 1971
Oil on canvas, 66,8 x 56,8 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Donation Alfred Moeke, © Nachlass Holmead, Frankfurt am Main

Holmead, Woman in red, 1970
Oil on canvas on plywood, 76 x 61,5 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, Donation Alfred Moeke, © Nachlass Holmead, Frankfurt am Main

With his late work of the 1960s and 1970s, Holmead developed a new working method which he called "shorthand painting". The creation of a drawing or painting was allowed to take only a few minutes. His works, executed with few staccato lines or impasto brushstrokes, captivate the viewer with their painterly intensity.

For Holmead, who was born in the USA in 1889, Europe became his second home. Bremen plays a special role: After his death in Brussels in 1975, his wife Elisabeth (née Fritze) brought him to her home town to be buried in the Riensberg cemetery.