Josef Pollak | Selbstbildnis im Alter | 1986 | Öl auf Hartfaser

Josef Pollak (1912-1997) would have been one hundred years old on 15 December. The artist was closely associated with his hometown of Delmenhorst throughout his life: Having a talent for drawing from an early age, he roamed the city with his sketchbook and trained his eye in streets and squares, but also on people, whom he quickly banned on paper. He wanted to practice “incorruptible seeing,” or as he once said: “You have to get to the point with your eyes.” Up until old age, he was an integral part of the townscape of Delmenhorst, always sketching, drawing, and painting.

His fast, perceptive, and keen view, formed by consistent drawing, is the basis of his art. The autodidact Josef Pollak was a passionate, downright obsessed draughtsman: his estate of around 1,000 oil paintings, just as many watercolors, and 16,000 sketches in more than 800 sketchbooks testifies to his never-ending creative drive. The spectrum of his subjects is just as large as the variety of his surroundings: travel sketches and northern German landscapes join the townscapes of Delmenhorst and artfully arranged still lifes line up with floral watercolors and sketches.