Strawalde (Jürgen Böttcher)
«Potter's Bull»

In a triptych of experimental films made in 1981 – ‘Potters Stier', ‘Venus nach Giorgione', ‘Frau am Klavichord' (also known by the title ‘Verwandlungen') – the Dresden-based painter and documentary filmmaker Strawalde (Jürgen Böttcher), then aged 50, documented the painting over of various series of art postcards showing works by masters he admired, namely Paulus Potter (1625-54), Giorgione (c. 1477-1510) and Emanuel de Witte (c. 1617-92). By rhythmically accentuating with his brush the qualities of flowing time, he made it possible to experience this flowing in front of the running camera. Superimposing his own pictures over postcard reproductions, he improvises the resultant sound of friction on the soundtrack. The films made by the younger generation of Super-8 filmmakers would not have been conceivable without the visual pioneering work of Böttcher's experimental films, which were unique in the GDR film world.