Beyond definition

1ilwaui<ee, Wisconsin, fully believed himself to be an artist; he also

cribed himself as 'poet and sculptor' and 'arrow maker and plant man'.4 He
ited a vast quantity of photographs, paintings and unusual objects,
wn only to his closest friends and family, in the forty years before his
th in 1983. He is best known for the thousands of intimate photographs in

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;riod pin-up style that he took of his wife Marie. Dressed in all manner of
ripy and romantic outfits, she posed against lush fabric backdrops, assuma wide range of semi-erotic roles. The earlier black and white prints,
n hand-coloured by von Bruenchenhein, were followed from the 1950s by

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jsands of colour slides. The photographs are so personal and private that
;ring their secluded world seems voyeuristic. ^ Von Bruenchenhein's paintings from the 1950s reflect his fear of nuclear
war. Gradually his images of H-bomb mushrooms gave way to a more personal vision. He developed a special technique; using his fingers he rapidly
manipulated the thin wet oil paint, a method perfectly suited to his compositions of deep sea monsters and outlandish spiky plants. Dramatic visions of
cosmic turbulence and complex floating organic forms trailing tentacles characterize many works. His later paintings show towering cities and increasingly abstract floral forms. ^ Von Bruenchenhein, who also described himself as a 'bone artifacts
constructor', made a series of objects from salvaged chicken and turkey
bones. These included small chairs made of glued and painted chicken bones
and a series of bone towers, some up to a metre and a half (some five feet) in
height. Ill health led to his early retirement from his job at a local Milwaukee
bakery. Thereafter financial constraints meant he had to get his materials
where he could. He dug his own clay and, using his domestic stove for firing,
produced a range of ceramic sculptures including crowns and masks. He also
made a series of large concrete masks that graced the outside of his humble