Herb Aach

Herbert Aach (March 24, 1923 – October 13, 1985) was an American painter and writer. Aach's painting style is known for its intense and well placed pigmentation, which stemmed from his deep interest in color theory and color relationships. This interest in color theory and philosophy would lead him to write one of the most notable translations of Goethe's Color Theory.

Personal life and teaching

Herb Aach was born in Cologne, Weimar Republic, in 1923. It was in Germany where Aach would be exposed to fine art, studying under German expressionist painter Ludwig Meidner. Nazi persecution caused his family to flee, and in 1938 he arrived in New York City. In 1942 he enlisted in the United States Army and a year later he became a U.S. citizen. After serving during World War II, in Kassel, Germany, he returned to New York in 1946 where he studied under John Ferren and Rufino Tamayo at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. In 1948 he moved, with his new wife, to Mexico City where he continued his fine art studies at Escuela de Pintura y Escultura.

Upon returning from Mexico, Aach would practice painting in what was described as "relative isolation," between 1954 and 1963 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. He would eventually move back to New York City in 1963 and began teaching at Queens College in 1965, where he would continue to teach for the rest of his life. At Queens he taught studio art and color theory and became a favorite of students, gaining tribute in the 1968 school yearbook and voted twice as "Teacher of the Year". In 1979 he was diagnosed with cancer and due to illness he became unable to paint, taking up drawing as his main format.

Career

Painting

Aach's early professional career was heavily inspired by the work of John Ferren and his ideas regarding color theory. Upon returning to the United States from Mexico, Aach explored his ideas about color execution in painting, where he developed the color expressionism style. This style formed out of his time developing paint at Art Crayon Company, which provided him access to pigments rarely accessible for public use and allowed him to experiment with newly developed pigmentation which he added to his own paints. He was also provided new pigments by DuPont and by the mid-1960s he began using fluorescent paints to achieve what has been described as "intensity and inner light".

Writing

Inspired by his interest in color theory, in 1971 Aach edited and translated Goethe's Theory of Colours.

Notable collections Albright-Knox Art Gallery Corcoran Gallery of Art Metropolitan Museum of Art State Museum of Pennsylvania