(Innsbruck 1932–2011 Vienna) “Maremma VII.”, on the reverse signed, dated Markus Prachensky 1985 and titled “Maremma VII. 1985”, acrylic on canvas, 90 x 130 cm, framed, (K)

Illustrated: Markus Prachensky, published by Löcker, Vienna 1990, plate 98, full page colour ill.- here still with signature, now faded (felt pen not light-resistant).

Provenance: Private Property, Switzerland

Considering that this is the Maremma, one could speak of strips of earth, running parallel to one another or wedged together, and changing colour from burned tracks, ripe golden yellow grain, brown earth and green rows of trees, such as those which Prachensky repeatedly saw during his journey through Sardinia in 1974. Yet here, as elsewhere, the colours are never clearly taken from nature; at best they are vehicles for associations. Like the blue in Etruria Blues, they can appear in every pictorial element, thereby demonstrating their intrinsic function. Selected to complement one another, rather than nature, they are as important for the balance and dynamics of the composition as for the form, thereby becoming an essential constituent of the whole. The same is also true of the formal elements. The semicircular cap could equally refer to the burial mounds of Cervéteri or to any Etrurian hillock which Prachensky had seen. The plains of Maremma had reminded him not only – although fully aware of the great difference - of Puglia marina Murge, but also of earlier works. That is to say, the more explicit the attribution of provenance, for both colour and form, the less correct it is, even where fully justified. Maremma combines a long-lasting preoccupation with constantly new impressions; is not only the whole of Etruria and a memory of Apulia, but also the complete Markus Prachensky. And his focus is all about paintings.
Wolfgang Fleischer - from the above literature.