Karel Appel: Works on Paper

• This retrospective, assembled from the artist's estate, offers the first comprehensive survey in decades of Karel Appel's works on paper
• Publication coincides with a major retrospective in Paris and Munich: Centre Pompidou, Paris, from October 21, 2015, to January 11, 2016 and Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich, Pinakothek der Moderne, from February 4 to April 17, 2016

Karel Appel: Works on Paper presents the artist's drawings, which have rarely been exhibited. Appel did not consider his drawings byproducts of painting. In spontaneous creative bursts, he frequently produced works on paper that helped him clarify his art as a whole. Thus, the childlike creatures of the early years, the almost abstract expressive outbursts of the 1950s, and the experiments with collage can be experienced in a completely unique way in his drawings.

Karel Appel (1921-2006) is one of the Netherlands' most outstanding artists. As a cofounder of the CoBrA group, he was part of an international network of avant-garde artists and is regarded as one of the rejuvenators of post-1945 art. In the 1950s he began spending long periods of time in Paris and New York and soon enjoyed international success. Today his colorful sculptures can be found in many public squares, and his often large-format paintings are in museums around the world.