Der Beginn des Aufruhrs
This conversation is connected to Der Beginn des Aufruhrs.
Adler painted Der Beginn des Aufruhrs (Beginning of the Revolt) during or after the war, when his work had shifted from the Expressionism of his German years toward something darker and more monumental. A totemic structure of gray-white forms rises against bands of brown, olive, and mauve, with a bird-like figure perched at the upper left and a small red-clad form at the top. The surface is heavily worked — scraped, layered, textured with what appears to be sand mixed into the paint, a technique Adler used throughout his career. Adler had studied with Paul Klee in Düsseldorf, met Picasso in Paris, and volunteered for the Polish army in 1939. He spent his last years in England, painting with the knowledge that his entire family in Poland had been killed.