This represents a bold step by Ian Middleton to develop the concept of Franz Marc’s ‘Fate of the Animals’ painting which was completed in 1913 by the artist. Ian sees the painting as one of his major pieces for release.

The original ‘Fate of the Animals’ was partially destroyed by an accidental fire in 1916 as it was being transported for exhibition. After Marc’s untimely death during the World War I, his friend and fellow artist Paul Klee, partially restored the work but refused to do so in colour. There was scant information or photographic evidence available of the painting and as a result it has never been restored to it’s former glory.

A painting said to be prophetic of the First World War, it is a dynamic expressionist work about the destruction of nature. Marc used jagged forms and bright primary colours to contrast the violent confrontation between technology and the European wilderness. The diagonals impose a strict compositional order onto a scene that could otherwise easily dissolve into one of utter confusion. Thus, each of the figures within the composition assumes either a diagonal posture (deer, lower right), a position in conformity with an existing diagonal (horses, upper left), or is intersected by a diagonal (blue deer, centre). Secondly, these lines serve to provide an atmosphere of unremitting tension, a tension further emphasized by both the nearly total absence of horizontals or verticals, and the utilization of a colour scheme (green on red, red on blue) designed to produce the maximum intensity of tonal contrasts. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, the diagonals play an essential role in the narrative of the composition.

Ian has essentially ‘book ended’ the original painting with complimentary figures introducing a lighter touch, for example, the blue birds of peace and colour enhancing of the previously subdued area damaged by fire. As a result, a new Marc style painting can be presented without too much reduction in the original integrity.