Becoming Gustav Metzger : Uncovering the Early Years: 1945-59

Becoming Gustav Metzger, produced in association with The Gustav Metzger Foundation, is the first publication to examine the little-known formative years of refugee artist and activist Gustav Metzger (Nuremberg, Germany, 1926-London, England, 2017). Generously supported by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and the Association for Art History, Becoming Gustav Metzger includes original texts by Stephen Bann CBE (Emeritus Professor, University of Bristol), Andrew Wilson (Senior Curator Modern & Contemporary British Art, and Archives at Tate Britain), Dr. Elizabeth Fisher (Leverhulme Research Fellow, Northumbria University), Mathieu Copeland (independent curator and author of Gustav Metzger: Writings 1953-2016), and the curators. Fully illustrated, it also includes colour reproductions of rarely seen drawings and paintings from this crucial early period, as well as early abstract works on board and cardboard, and a kodak box. Together they chart Metzger’s artistic journey from figuration to abstraction prior to the development of his later radical auto-destructive practice.