Background
Bott was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on March 8, 1904. He was the son of middle-class parents.
Lerchenfeld 2, 22081 Hamburg, Germany
University of Fine Arts of Hamburg.
Lerchenfeld 2, 22081 Hamburg, Germany
University of Fine Arts of Hamburg.
Bott was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on March 8, 1904. He was the son of middle-class parents.
In his childhood Francis Bott travelled a lot with his family, living for a while in Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Holland. Starting from 1910 he attended various, generally French-speaking schools and boarding schools in Switzerland and Belgium.
In the 1920s Bott became an artist, however, he spent the next few years as a stroller in Berlin, the United States, Mexico and Vienna, making his living by busking (singing and pantomime) and producing minor paintings. When he returned to Berlin, Francis Bott was mainly interested in the theater, after meeting Bertolt Brecht, a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet, in 1925. In 1926 Bott and his wife moved to Vienna, but in 1930 the global economic crisis made the couple leave Vienna for Frankfurt am Main. In 1932 the two moved back to Vienna.
Bott was arrested because of his local political activities in 1933, but he managed to escape to Prague. There he met the Austrian expressionist Oskar Kokoschka, who convinced him to return to painting. Francis Bott with his wife went to Paris in 1937 where he met Max Ernst and Pablo Picasso. The same year he became aware of Surrealism and got acquainted with Francis Picabia, who became his close friend and tutor. In 1938 Francis Bott became a co-founder of the Free German Artists' Association. After a brief participation in the Spanish Civil War, Paris became their home city. They permanently resided there until 1945.
On November 11, 1942, when German troops occupied Vichy France, Francis and his wife, Manja, moved to Aurillac in the Cantal department (central France). Francis Bott joined the resistance group of "Francs-tireurs et partisans". After the liberation of Paris in 1944, the two returned there, and Bott made a living by doing odd jobs. In 1946 the couple moved into a studio on Montparnasse. In 1948 the painter turned to abstraction, which enabled him to render his absolute urge for freedom and independence in visual terms.
Staring from the 1960s Francis Bott's works were shown at galleries throughout Europe. In 1962 Francis Bott was appointed guest lecturer at the Hamburg Art Academy, where he worked for three terms. In his later years, he constantly changed places of residence, living in Paris, Munich, Losone, Breganzona, and Leonberg. From 1970 Francis Bott spent most of his time working in his studio in the canton of Ticino.
Francis Bott's artworks were between two poles: on the one hand, surreal and fantastic, and on the other, representational and geometric abstract. Typical feature of Francis Bott's painting was his longing to explore the possibilities of form and colour. Francis Bott also produced drawings, watercolours, gouaches, sculptures and objects of stage design.
Composition
Composition
Composition
Ailes
Espaces concertés
Cathédrale
Composition
Chant du memorial intérieur
Dans les yeux bisantines de ma mère
Espaces concertés
Untitled
Espaces concertés
Composition (H.1327)
Composition
Composition
Composition
Paysage mystique
Déjà le masque s'affirme harmonieusement contre le visage
Composition
Espaces concertés
Composition
Espaces concertés
Composition
Untitled
Lugano
Composition
Composition sur fond noir
Composition
Abstraction
Evocation
Francis Bott built an anarchist worldview. He had left-wing political leanings. In 1928 Bott joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
In 1924 Francis Bott met in Dresden his future wife Maria Gruschka ("Manja"), a daughter of a rabbi born in Poland. On October 14, 1940, they married. In 1961 Maria Gruschka died as a result of illnesses she suffered. In 1967 Bott remarried, Aida Hussein, a doctor.
