Walter Gotschke a Brief Biography<\/strong><\/p>\n

Walter Gotschke is a motoring artist of world renown. The editors love his work and we are honoured to provide this review. In order to do Walter Gotschke justice this review is formed of two parts.<\/p>\n

In compiling this review the editors have enjoyed considerable input and insights from Walter\u2019s widow Gerhild Drucker-Gotschke.<\/p>\n

Walter\u2019s work can be bought in various formats and the postcards are exquisite affordable and enable those particularly interested in Walter\u2019s skill and development to acquire images that capture his full oeuvre.<\/p>\n

Quoted from the net<\/p>\n

\u201cOf those artists throughout the world who have dedicated themselves to the automobile only a select few have achieved worldwide renown, one of them being the German Walter Gotschke. His impressionistic gouaches not only portray the typical character of each race driver and his driving style, along with the authenticity of an historic event and cars true to the smallest detail, but also make the race atmosphere palpable so that one can almost hear and smell the event from his art.Walter Gotschke, the self-taught artist, born in 1912 in a village of imperial Austrian Silesia (now Czech Republic) lived and worked in Stuttgart, Germany since 1938.<\/em><\/p>\n

He was already drawing passionately as a child, commencing with animals. Aged eleven he became fascinated by the first automobiles. From memory alone he tried repeatedly to draw the few cars that passed through his rural backwater. The later student of architecture experienced his first races in his homeland: the Ecce-Homo Hill climb, the Masaryk Grand Prix and others. By seventeen he was already producing his first race sketches which were published, followed a year later by the Masaryk Grand Prix poster. Alongside decades of advertising work for leading European automobile firms, Walter Gotschke\u2019s favourite task was painting automobile races. During his latter period of life this evolved to become his chief activity until in 1985 an eye disease gradually turned into blindness due to old age. In the autumn of 2000 his eyes closed for ever.<\/em><\/p>\n

The present editions are a mark of recognition for a great artist with a great passion\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s believed that the artist was born c 1912.He moved and settled in Stuttgart.<\/p>\n

The artist undertook commercial illustration i.e. advertising, for major car manufacturers in Europe. These included Mercedes, Daimler-Benz [promotional posters etc.\u00a0 ] . Later Porsche and Ford of Cologne.<\/p>\n

Walter was drafted during the war and worked as war artist illustrator. Although not an attractive subject it\u2019s important to study this aspect of Walter\u2019s work. By necessity he had to work at speed in dangerous conditions capturing the violence and technology of warfare which was increasingly motorised and technologically driven. In much of this work he captures the explosive action, destructive force of new armaments.<\/p>\n

After the war he worked freelance. His work was taken up by several magazines and found a wide audience through \u201cRoad and Track \u201cand \u201cAutomobiles Quarterly\u201d<\/p>\n

Style and Technique<\/strong><\/p>\n

Walter\u2019s widow Gerhild in correspondence with the editors commented:-<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can’t paint race scenes standing at a race track –
\nif you look on the sheet of paper the race car has several times surrounded the track – and you have seen nothing.
\nWalter made notes of the track (buildings, advertising etc.) before or after the race,
\nat home he looked into automotive magazines,
\nthe cars and the special driving style of each driver he saved in his mind by looking.
\nA car and the driver is looking the same on each race track, so he didn’t visit many races –
\nif he knew the surrounding he could put in every race scene.
\nI have sketches in which cars are seen on a track they never drove – because Walter thought they did.<\/em><\/p>\n

When Walter saw a print of an old race track in a book it was as if he was standing inside – he could turn the track into each angle.
\nHe also could turn a BW information into colour – and every of his coloured paintings has the right half-tones if you turn it to black and white.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover he was able to realize movement and could paint it.<\/p>\n

This is one side of his art –
\nthe other side is – what people don’t realize – in his coloured paintings Walter made blots of paint, like the colours are falling on the retina \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n

Walter Gotschke is considered Germany\u2019s leading automobile artist with an international following and breadth of work\/subject matter. Walter enjoyed a long and distinguished career. Many associate his style with the impressionistic and although there are similarities in some respects he goes beyond this.<\/p>\n

Walter Gotschke was self-taught and drew from an early age. Significantly he had neither formal training teacher \/ mentor. Although the editors believe he inherited a technical appreciation from his father who was a blacksmith.<\/p>\n

As a child he drew animals and possibly here he first learnt to capture movement and sudden changes of composition and perspective .Possibly he loved and had empathy with speed grace, speed and dignity. It\u2019s possible too that he drew farm equipment and the articles his father made and repaired and again possibly he was interested in process of assembly and sought to visually analyse and dismantle complex interactive components.<\/p>\n

Also later he trained as draughtsman and possibly became interested in formal composition and possibly mastered the art of technical illustration, rendering and many aspects of perspective. He typically works in gouaches or possibly watercolour and adopts a naturalistic impressionistic style. This is very lively, fresh, loose, and free and has a sketch like quality .It\u2019s a style suited to capturing speed and movement with fluidity. In some aspects and subjects there is an ethereal element in his vision and treatment.Gotschke adopts a haze of bright but not over intense or worked, colours that seem to capture an inner soul of the machine and driver.<\/p>\n

There is certain classicism in his best work and an element of poetry particularly in pre-war subjects.<\/p>\n

Being self-taught Walter possibly had no rules or tradition\/ convention to observe. It\u2019s very possibly he experimented with technique but nothing can dent the inherent natural ability and gift. Motor racing is an exacting discipline for an artist. The subject moves with alarming speed and possibly never reappears on track in exactly the same manner. Hence the artist has to rely on indelible visual impressions and these have to be retained then regurgitated into visual expression. The Impressionists recommended painting in direct contact with nature in order that spontaneity would not be lost. This creates a vitality and extraordinary authenticity. A motor racing artist cannot paint on site in the same manner and if they are to achieve the authenticity and sense of time place, envelope, atmosphere etc. it requires massive retention of detail and mood. Walter Gotschke was the master of exposition and storytelling, even a poetic vision.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible that his series of calendars of \u201cSilver Arrows\u201d that most encapsulates this poetic vision.<\/p>\n

Gotschke has a particular empathy with motor racing subjects in the rain and they glisten with damp rain soaked gloss<\/p>\n

However this style can vary and on occasions it is more detailed and even slightly over worked by comparison and can lose its emotional content. Of course this might be due to the fact the commissioning source might have made a specific request.<\/p>\n

The artist is considered to be one of the masters and one of the greatest automotive artists.<\/p>\n

The editor feels his palpable communication stems from empathy with the subject and it\u2019s hoped the following description of one of his work will convey this.<\/p>\n

Many of his originals were executed on board [12x 8 inches and others 550mmx 600 mm for example] and he painted with gouache [see A&R articles and description of this material\/ use].These were signed.<\/p>\n

The gouache illustrations are lively and sketch like but in their simplicity they deceive as they capture so much; to the extent we process visual information and accept a reality. Walter often adopted crisp brush strokes and produced hazes of wash and captured the envelope of the moment and a totality of experience distilled into a fleeting image.<\/p>\n

The editors believe that Walter possessed a touch of genius in his work and from the fine arts we detect some of the virility , humanity and spontaneity of Johan Barthold Jongkind and also perhaps from childhood Walter learnt to draw animals he shares some of the empathy as did Rembrandt Bugatti in his animal sculptures. The editors admire his use of colour which is bright but subtle in the extreme. Colour melt and blend with the composition and seem faultless and never overworked [normally the indication that an artist is struggling with the subject and its representation or the technical ability to express \/execute]<\/p>\n

Our word pictures help flesh out these observations \u2013 see Part 2]<\/p>\n

Sketches<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important and revealing to examine the sketch studies made by artists. In many respects it\u2019s their shorthand. Walter Gotschke\u2019s are significant. He drew both cars and motor cycle racing.<\/p>\n

Some of his sketches depict a racing car leaving the track, and the driver battling to regain control. With a few strokes the artist is able to convey masses of information, he suggests the physics of an object as speed, the impending accident and the body language of the driver and his split second response. In many respects they work is intuitive, analytical and possibly more real and involving than a photograph.<\/p>\n

The editors believe it\u2019s important to examine these sketches as they feed into a fuller understanding of the artists completed studies. A charming sketch [possibly pen and ink \u2013black on stark white background] is printed on a card which accompanies purchases.<\/p>\n

Oeuvre<\/strong><\/p>\n

Walter Gotschke undertook a considerable range of work \/topics. Most of these are represented on his website. They include:-<\/p>\n