« Ce que me raconte l’homme » Sculpture murale en macramé, Rosemarie Koczy, 1978

Wall sculpture in hemp and rope macramé.
The organized interweaving of these materials gives the impression of a natural, primitive relief, and allows the artist to express his vision of man and his very personal relationship with humanity.
Unique piece. Signed


Biography

Rosemarie Inge Koczy (1939 – 2007): American artist and creator of art brut

Rosemarie Inge Koczy was born on March 5, 1939 in Recklinghausen, Germany, to a family of Hungarian Jewish origin. According to her allegations, now contested, Rosemarie Koczy was deported in 1942, at the age of three, with her parents and sister, first to Trauenstein, a subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp, then to a Kommando of the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp, in Ottenhausen. Liberated in 1945, she was raised by her grandparents until her grandmother’s death, then placed in a Catholic orphanage.

In 1959, she left Germany for Switzerland, where she found a job as a maid in a Swiss-German family. In 1961, she began taking classes at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Geneva and became interested in tapestry. She undertook research in ethnology on primitive textile techniques from Africa and Oceania, Melanesia and the Hebrides, then on vegetable dyeing in Europe and Latin America. While continuing her studies, she painted, drew and made textile works. After graduating in 1965, she earned her living by making tapestries and in 1969 stayed in Professor Kybal’s studio in Prague. Her work was recognized in 1975 and 1976 by the Prix du Crédit Suisse in Geneva and by the research encouragement prize from the Peggy Guggenheim Foundation in Venice.

From the mid-1970s, her work changed direction to focus on the memory of the Holocaust. She then produced several hundred paintings, sculptures and more than 12,000 drawings in Indian ink in homage to the victims of the Holocaust. In 1985, Jean Dubuffet presented her work in the inaugural exhibition of the « Neuve Invention » section of the Collection de l’art brut in Lausanne. The following year, she was the first woman to receive the Francis J. Greenburger Award.

In 1984, she married the composer Louis Pelosi, emigrated to the United States and obtained American citizenship in 1989.

Rosemarie Koczy died on December 12, 2007 in Croton-on-Hudson, New York.