Exposition Art Blog: Magic realism Thomas Häfner

Magic realism Thomas Häfner

Thomas Häfner  (1928 - 1985) was a realistic and fantastic art painter. Häfner was a member of a group of German artists who called themselves the Young Realists, formed in Düsseldorf in the mid-Fifties.
Escaping the horrors of the Second World War, he live for a decade in Ceylon (1938–1948). He studied at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. Detail from his painting "Lucifer" is used to illustrate the novel "Moravagine" by Blaise Cendrars. Wikipedia







    …I find nothing fantastic in so-called fantastic art, it is an aspect of reality in search of sanity beyond the normal bounds. I believe that fantastic art is related to the protective dream, that it prolongs the healing dream and finds symbols that change dread into wonder, strangeness and beauty.

    As in all figurative art, fantastic art must of course be judged not only by its intentions but by the quality of the execution, and by standards that have been almost totally lost in the turbulence of changing fashions, movements and politics on the art market. This has led to a noticeable helplessness among the critics, who seem to ignore a growing tendency toward the fantastic in the hope that it will fade away and die. I do not believe it will." Thomas Häfner







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