New Art - Conceptual Realism - Mati Klarwein

Mati Klarwein was born in Hamburg Germany in April 1932 to Yusef Klarwein and Elsa Kühne. His father was an architect involved in the Bauhaus movement; his mother an opera singer. Yusef was architect to the Knesset building in Tel Aviv.

At two his family moved to British Mandate Palestine and in 1942, when the U.N. mandated the creation of Israel, the Klarwein family moved to Paris.

At seventeen he and his mother Elsa moved to Paris where he studied under Fernand Léger, after attending the École des Beaux-Arts. From there Klarwein traveled south to Saint-Tropez and met Ernst Fuchs, who had a huge influence on his work. Among his friends and acquaintances were Kitty Lillaz, Boris Vian, and Salvador Dali. Klarwein became a French citizen in 1965.

He left France and traveled widely living in Spain, Italy, Greece, Tibet, India, Bali, North Africa, Morocco, Niger, Turkey, Europe and the Americas. He also traveled to Haiti, Jamaica, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Bahamas, Kenya, Senegal, Gambia, Cuba and Guatemala These travels can be readily seen in his work. He spoke at less six languages: English, French, Spanish, German & Hebrew. He also spoke a smattering of Arabic and Italian.

Starting in 1967 Klarwein settled in New York, and had added "Abdul" as a middle name. This was in response to the repeated, ongoing hostility between Jews and Muslims. At one point Klarwein stated that every Jew should adopt a Muslim name and every child of Islam a Jewish one. He felt that such a move might allow both sides to understand one another better.

Despite this sentiment he later dropped "Abdul" when he approached jazz musician Yusef Lateef after a concert. Lateef had expressed an interest in using one of Klarwein's paintings for an album cover, but upon meeting Klarwein, Lateef turned his back to him without saying a word. It was assumed that Lateef had expected a Muslim and not a Jew.

He lived in New York from 1967 through 1983 and was famous for his parties. Some of his guests included Andy Warhol, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Beard, Timothy Leary and Jon Hassell.

He later moved to Deia, Mellorca, Spain where he lived in a house built by his father overlooking La Cala beach. His guests there included painter Domenico Gnoli, archeologist Bill Waldren and the poet Robert Graves.

Klarwein died at the age of sixty-nine from complications of cancer. This was on March 7, 2002.

Many, though not all, of Klarwein's works are featured in the videos below.

Fair warning, some of the images presented contain partial nudity. If you are sharing this hub with younger readers be aware of this fact.

Well, not really.

Most of the paintings later used as cover art for albums were never intended for that purpose though some were commissioned works. Klarwein had been painting psychedelic like subjects long before the term even came into use. He was even a prolific still-life, portrait, and landscape artist. Many of these paintings never approached anything like surrealism.

In 1970 a painting Klarwein finished in 1961 graced the cover of Carlos Santana's second album Abraxas. The painting was called Annunciation (see link below).

He was  also commissioned by Miles Davis for the work Bitches Brew, completed in 1970. This work graced the cover of the album by the same name.

While in New York Klarwein was known to purchase amateur art in yard and street sales. He would then "improve" the pieces by adding his own touches to the work. No one is quite sure why he did this with some speculating that the practice fit in with Klarwein's sense of humor. Others speculate that it was just something he did to keep busy.

Mati Klarwein produced at least six hundred paintings, including two hundred eighty landscapes, two hundred seventy portraits, and one hundred twenty "improved" paintings.

Quotes (in interviews and offhand)

"Some visual artworks are made to be talked about more than to be seen, others are made to be seen more than to be talked about. I think I belong in the latter category." - Mati Abdul Klarwein

On the buying and selling of art: "...beauty has always been in the eye of the beholder... of checks."

"The Sistine Chapel is a pompous comic book and Yves Klein is a vulgar illustrator of Zen Buddhism."

I'm covering Klarwein second because he unknowingly helped create the movement now known as Conceptual Realism. It is unknown if Mati met or even knew of Robert Williams, but he definitely had similar imagery and contributed heavily to the ideas and visual style attributed to Conceptual Realism.

Note that though none of these these hubs will contain partial nudity, researching the artist elsewhere could lead to disturbing images. I have excluded such works as still images in the hubs themselves, but researching any of the artists mentioned, including Klarwein himself, might expose the reader (and his or her children) to unexpected images. This warning extends to the videos below.

You've been warned.