Composition on the theme Fishermen Béla Uitz

Fishermen, made in Vienna, breaks with the agit-prop intention which Uitz incorporated in the earlier two panels he imagined for the decoration of Parliament in 1919. Unlike his frieze-like panel depicting peaceful labour with a calm rhythm – which reflected the aims of the then Council Republic, the introduction and building of a new society – he turned to abstraction in presenting the collision between humans and natural forces in this work. Uitz achieves the dramatic effect exclusively with the dynamic sweep of lines and contrasting surfaces and colours. The composition is divided into two by an arching line separating the dark inside of the boat from the water with white crests of waves. The figures of the fishermen are strongly reduced and rendered as a frozen hieroglyph capturing the motions of casting and pulling in a net. The characteristic brown and bluish green pairing, used by Uitz over a long period, provides the contrast of cold and warm colours. The artist experimented with various ways of expression in Vienna and this work fits in with those in the style of Cubism-Expressionism. Uitz kept the work throughout his life full of struggle.