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About
Falk was born in Zurich, but spent his childhood with his parents Julius and Anna, his younger brother Jules and an identical twin brother Arthur in Lucerne, Switzerland. He attended secondary school in Zurich under the guardianship of his uncle, who supported his education as an artist. In 1934-1935, he attended the Arts and Crafts School in Lucerne, where he studied with Joseph and Max Von Moos. From 1935 to 1939, Falk attended the Albert Rüegg School in Zurich. Following his apprenticeship, he received a four-year contract with Amstutz & Herdeg, as an artist at "Graphis" magazine. Falk’s employment was suspended when WWII began and he served in the military as a medic. In 1942, he attended the School of Applied Arts in Zurich under Max and Walter Gubler Roshardt. Between 1943 and 1965, Falk created 58 posters, nearly half of which won “Best Poster Award,” from the Swiss Federal Department of Home Affairs. In 1945 he married Charlotte Lustenberger. That December, John and Charlotte Falk travel by train through war ravaged Italy to Venice. It is their first and long-awaited vacation abroad since the war broke out in 1939. Falk traveled to Spain, Morocco, Italy and the North Cape in 1947 and 1948 to study landscapes. He artistically rejected the idyllic Mediterranean coastlines, instead preferring to depict barren landscapes and regions with harsh living conditions. Falk received a teaching position at the School of Applied Arts in Zurich where he worked from 1950-1955. The 1950s also saw Falk travel extensively through the Middle East to Persia in 1951; with a long stay in Catalonia and the South of France in 1954; Algiers and Aguilas, Spain in 1955 and 1956; Tripoli, Libya 1956; Greek-Macedonia and the United States 1957-1958. In 1952, Charlotte gives birth to a daughter, Cornelia and a son Constantine in 1957. By 1958, his commission as a successful poster designer and graphic artist permit little time for painting. He abandons his career and leaves the familiar surroundings of Switzerland to travel with his family to England. In England, the family takes up residence near Land's End on Cornwall’s southwestern coast. His trips abroad are no longer several months, but extended stops in unfamiliar environments. Falk spends time in retirement homes, hospitals, asylums, cabarets and theaters where he gains inspiration for book illustrations. In 1959, Falk visits Achilles, Ireland and his artistic style begins to take a dramatic turn. It is here that he begins his exploration of the abstract. The following year he returns to Switzerland where he builds a studio in Urdorf near Zurich. Falk wins the 1961 "Award for Excellence," at the "Society of Illustrators" in New York for his "Marcel Marceau" series. Soon after, he purchases a ruined home on the volcanic Italian island of Stromboli, which he steadily begins to rebuild in 1963. In 1967, Falk begins to explore sculpture using materials he finds around his Stromboli residence. Falk moves to London in 1969, where he is caught up in the full spirit of the sixties. He creates mixed-media collages from the magazines and newspapers he finds. He says, "It pleases me to show our society in such a way as it is in complete decay. But since it is a very comfortable rotting, it's quite amusing to paint them.” Tired of London, Falk goes to New York in 1973 to be at the center of contemporary art. He takes a studio in the burned-out Hotel Woodstock on the Lower East-Side, where he creates work for “Fortune Magazine.” His artistic interests are the most damaged areas of the building. “Now, this does not disgust me, it does not go as far as my anxiety that I have to flee - I work for hours into the nights. (In) this decay I oppose something - and myself. (For) here are the ‘container-created’ images. There are containers for the remains of human existence, which the inhabitants of the surrounding megalopolis witnesses daily a brutal presence.” In 1977, Falk follows the Swiss Circus Knie for three years. He documents artistically each season in thousands of drawings. Falk finds inspiration in the New York underground transvestite culture, he spends much of 1979 documenting these young men in the clubs and apartments of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan. In 1982, he begins a relationship with Romy Fiechter. Returning to Switzerland again in 1985, Falk transforms the Lithographic Workshop of Walo Steiner into a place overflowing productivity. Here he creates collages from papers, cartons and zinc plates. In 1987, he returns to his now complete summer villa on Stromboli, where he leisurely creates work at his own pace and makes time to attend art shows in Europe. He also designs and illustrates several books, magazines and a series of stamps for the Swiss Postal Service. Falk dies at his home on Stromboli after an intensive period of work at the age of 83. He remains perhaps one of the best, most recognized and perhaps one of the most important Swiss artists of the 20th Century. Contact
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