Abraham David Christian

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Abraham David Christian, Interconnected Sculpture, 2007, bronze, 389 × 410 × 340 cm, private collection

Abraham David Christian (* 1952 in Düsseldorf ) is a German draftsman and sculptor .

life and work

Abraham David Christian began his first artistic work in 1969. He made actions and conceptual borderline experiences, created sculptures and refused to define himself as art.

In 1972 Abraham David Christian took part in documenta 5 in Kassel at the age of 19 . In a discussion in the exhibition rooms of the documenta Joseph Beuys , Abraham David Christian called for the legendary “boxing match for direct democracy through referendum ”, which took place in Ben Vautier's room in the Fridericianum on October 8, 1972 at the end of the documenta exhibition . Beuys won the boxing match in three rounds with a point win. (During this time Abraham David Christian appended the name of his girlfriend (Moebuss) to his name for a few months and also called himself Abraham David Christian-Moebuss .)

Abraham David Christian was invited to participate in documenta 6 in 1977 , but turned down the invitation. In 1982 he was invited to documenta 7 and this time accepted. After documenta 7, Abraham David Christian withdrew from the public art scene for years.

Abraham David Christian advocates a radical democratic conception of art. For him, art comes from society and belongs to it too. He was careful not to appear in public and in part forbade the press to display his portrait. In some catalogs he did not mention his name. Abraham David Christian separates art and artistic personality. He embodies an alternative to the omnipresent star artist.

Abraham David Christian made his first sculptures out of earth. These works took years to produce. Earth sculptures were shown in solo exhibitions in 1973 in the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and in 1978 in the Museum Haus Lange in Krefeld . In the late 1970s he created complex paper sculptures, and later he also worked with bronze. The Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf (1983), the Frankfurter Kunstverein Frankfurt (1983), the Sprengel Museum Hannover (1985, 1994), the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Calais (1988) and the Tallinna Kunstihoone, Estonia (1998) organized large solo exhibitions of his work a. In 2000 the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum - Center for International Sculpture in Duisburg showed its drawings and sculptures in an important international presentation. This exhibition was accompanied by a book published by DuMont Verlag , Cologne . Exhibitions in the New Museum Weserburg Bremen and in the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal followed in 2003/2004. The Kehrer Verlag in Heidelberg published a book for these exhibitions.

Abraham David Christian drawings and sculptures were in exhibitions at the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo , the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama in Hayama , the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing , the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul , and the Museum Ludwig in Cologne , represented in the Nationalgalerie Berlin , in the Martin-Gropius-Bau Berlin and in the Museo Reina Sofía , Madrid. He had solo exhibitions at Galerie m Bochum (1979, 1986), Galerie Friedrich Bern (1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1992), Gatodo Gallery Tokyo (1986, 1988), Diane Brown Gallery New York City (1987), Galerie Elke Dröscher Hamburg (1990), Shigeru Yokota Gallery Tokyo, (1990,1991,1992,1993,1994,1995,1996,1997,1998,1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006,2007, 2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2019), James Corcoran Gallery Santa Monica (1992), Galerie Herbert Meyer-Ellinger Frankfurt am Main (1993), Galerie Utermann Dortmund (1993, 2009, 2011, 2012), Annina Nosei Gallery New York (1999), Michael Haas Gallery Berlin (2002), Galerie Löhrl Mönchengladbach (2006), Galerie Rothamel Erfurt / Frankfurt am Main (2008, 2010), GALERiARTiST Istanbul (2011), annex14 Bern (2012), Sabine Schmidt Gallery Cologne (2012), GALERiARTiST Ankara (2012), André Kirbach Kunsthandel Düsseldorf (2014, 2015), Galerie Susanne Albrecht Berlin (2017), Galerie Scheffel Bad Homburg (2018), annex14 Zurich (2018), Galerie Haas Zurich (2018), Michael Haas Galerie , Kunst Lager Haas Berlin (2019).

In 2007 Abraham David Christian worked on seven sculptures from the group of works “Towers of Wisdom”. He designed the sculptures in Hayama, made plaster models in New York and had them cast in bronze in Germany. This group of sculptures was part of the extensive exhibition "Abraham David Christian - 道 - The Way" in 2010 in the Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art in Duisburg . The book for this exhibition was published by Kerber Verlag (Bielefeld-Leipzig-Berlin).

Abraham David Christian has lectured at Keio University , Tokyo , Yamaguchi University in Japan , National Art University in Hangzhou , People's Republic of China , Seoul National University , South Korea , as well as universities in Europe and teaches at the Düsseldorf and Art Academy of the Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) Pforzheim .

Abraham David Christian was awarded the Villa Romana Prize in 1978 at the age of 26 . In 2003 he was honored with the Upper Swabian Art Prize. He lives in Düsseldorf , New York and Hayama and is a citizen of the United States of America.

Works in public collections

Works by Abraham David Christian can be found in museum collections such as the Nationalgalerie , Berlin, the Museum Ludwig , Cologne, the Städel Museum , Frankfurt, the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart , the Krefeld art museums , the Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum Duisburg, the Kunstmuseum Bonn , in the Sprengel Museum Hannover , in the Weserburg Museum of Modern Art Bremen, in the Kunsthalle Mannheim , in the Art Museum Düsseldorf , in the Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art Duisburg, in the Institute for Foreign Relations (ifa), Stuttgart, in the Museum of Modern Art New York City, Busch-Reisinger Museum Cambridge, MA, Center Pompidou Paris, in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Calais, in the FRAC Collection, France, in the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, in the Japanese Sword Museum Tokyo, in the Tokyo Bijutsu Club, Tokyo, in the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, at the Fukuyama Museum of Art, Fukuyama, and the Gunma Museum of Art, Tatebayashi, as well as corporate collections such as the Aioi Insurance Art Collection T okyo, the Fuji Xerox Collection, Tokyo, the Obayashi Corporation Collection, Tokyo, the Nationalbank Collection, Essen, the Deutsche Bank Collection, Frankfurt / M. and the Munich Re Art Collection, Munich.

Solo exhibitions (selection)

  • 1973 Municipal Art Gallery, Düsseldorf
  • 1976 Museum Bochum, Bochum
  • 1978 Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld
  • 1982 Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
  • 1982 Westphalian Art Association, Münster
  • 1983 Art Museum, Düsseldorf
  • 1983 Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt
  • 1985 Art Association, Ulm
  • 1985 Sprengel Museum, Hanover
  • 1985 Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheim
  • 1988 Ravensburg Art Museum
  • 1988 Musée des Arts, Calais
  • 1989 Ulmer Museum, Ulm
  • 1990 Edwin-Scharff-Haus, Neu-Ulm
  • 1992 Galeria d'Arte Contemporanea, Rimini
  • 1994 Sprengel Museum, Hanover
  • 1998 Tallinna Kunstihoone, Tallinn
  • 2000 Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg
  • 2000 Museo de Bellas Artes, Montevideo
  • 2003 Blaubeuren Monastery, Blaubeuren
  • 2003 New Museum Weserburg, Bremen
  • 2004 from the Heydt-Museum and Kunsthalle Barmen, Wuppertal
  • 2011 Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, Hayama
  • 2012 St. Reinoldi, Dortmund
  • 2010 MKM Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art, Duisburg
  • 2014 St. Maria Magdalena Basilica, Tiefenbronn
  • 2016 Art Museum Pforzheim
  • 2020 Bochum Art Museum

Awards (selection)

Literature (selection)

  • Exhibition catalog: documenta 5; Questioning Reality - Imagery Today ; Catalog (as a file folder) Volume 1: (Material); Volume 2: (list of exhibits); Kassel 1972
  • Storck, Gerhard (ed.); [Self] ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN ; Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, catalog on the occasion of the solo exhibition of the same name in Haus Lange Krefeld, January 29 to March 19, 1978; Krefeld 1978
  • Exhibition catalog: documenta 7 Kassel ; Vol. 1: (visual biographies of the artists); Vol. 2: (Current works of the artists); Kassel 1982, ISBN 3-920453-02-6 .
  • Honisch, Dieter (ed.); Art in the Federal Republic of Germany: 1945 - 1985  ; Catalog book on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name at the Nationalgalerie Berlin, September 27, 1985 to January 21, 1986; Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-875841-58-1 .
  • Weiermair, Peter ; ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, WORKS FROM PAPER , Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheim; Catalog of the solo exhibition of the same name, Mannheim; 1985
  • Deecke, Thomas; Metalanguage , Michael Erlhoff, flat out , Antje v. Graevenitz, Reisevergleiche , Christian Schneider, disciplinary , catalog of the solo exhibition of the same name ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN; FORTY YEARS OF WORK · FORTY YEARS OF WORK ; Sprengel Museum Hannover 1985
  • Collins & Milazzo; ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, SCULPTURE ; Diane Brown Gallery, catalog of the solo exhibition of the same name; New York 1987
  • Le Nouene, Patrick (eds.); Gestes Blancs Parmiles Solitudes / Gestures Amid Solitude , Collins & Milazzo, Chinatown, USA , Christian Schneider, La Leçon du Vide / Being Taught About Naught ; Catalog book on the occasion of the solo exhibition ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, SCULPTURE in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Calais and in the Gatodo Gallery, Tokyo; Calais / Tokyo 1988
  • Nobis, Norbert (Herg.); FLORENCE '78 ; Sprengel Museum, Hanover; Catalog book on the occasion of the solo exhibition of the same name in the Sprengel Museum, Hanover 1994, ISBN 3-8916-9079-7
  • Deecke, Thomas, Abraham David Christian - the stranger  ; Critical Lexicon for Contemporary Art, Munich 1997
  • Merkert, Jörn [ed.]; Collected spaces, collected dreams. Art from Germany from 1960 to 2000. Pictures and rooms from the Grothe Collection in the Martin-Gropius-Bau , catalog book on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name in the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, November 20, 1999 to February 6, 2000, Berlin / Cologne 1999 , ISBN 978-3-77014-872-1
  • Smerling, Walter (ed.); Grothe Collection , Museum Küppersmühle, Duisburg, catalog book on the occasion of the opening of the MKM Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art Duisburg on April 18, 1999, Cologne, 1999, ISBN 3-7701-4870-3
  • Milazzo, Richard (Ed.); ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, LA SALLE DES PIEDS PERDUS, DRAWING / DRAWING ; New York, Paris, Turin, Louisville 1999, ISBN 1-893207-01-3 .
  • Milazzo, Richard (Ed.); ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, NEBRASKA , Oberhausen 2000, ISBN 978-3-79271-835-3 .
  • Brockhaus, Christoph (ed.); ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, THE WAYS OF THE WORLD ; Catalog book on the occasion of the solo exhibition of the same name in the Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum Duisburg February 20 to April 30, 2000; Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-7701-5051-1 .
  • Bonet Planes, Juan Manuel (ed.); Arte Alemán 1960 - 2000: La Colección Grothe; Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofía de Madrid , catalog book on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name in the Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, September 19, 2000 to November 20, 2000, Madrid / Cologne 2000 ISBN 84-8026-957-X
  • Friese, Peter (ed.); ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN - THE LANGUAGE OF MAN ; Catalog book on the occasion of the solo exhibition Abraham David Christian - The Language of Man, Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen, November 16, 2003 to February 29, 2004, Von-der-Heydt-Museum Wuppertal, March 16 to May 18, 2004; Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 3-936636-10-9 .
  • Yokota, Shigeru (ed.); Abraham David Christian, Richard Milazzo, ALONG THE HUDSON ; Tokyo Publishing House, Tokyo 2006
  • Kraus, Stefan; ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, SEVEN PANELS ; Catalog on the occasion of the solo exhibition of the same name in the Fuhrwerkswaage Kunstraum, Cologne 2009
  • Smerling, Walter (Herg.); ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, THE WAY 道 THE WAY ; Catalog book on the occasion of the solo exhibition of the same name in the MKM Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art, Duisburg June 11 to August 29, 2010, Bielefeld / Leipzig / Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86678-412-3 .
  • Forstbauer, Nikolai B. / Metzger, Rainer / Milazzo, Richard; ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, TIEFENBRONN ; Catalog book on the occasion of the solo exhibition of the same name in St. Maria Magdalena, Tiefenbronn, October 21 to November 9, 2014, Heidelberg 2014, ISBN 978-3-86828-526-0 .
  • Yokota, Shigeru (ed.); ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, Black Forest ; Tokyo Publishing House, Tokyo 2015
  • Art Museum Pforzheim (ed.); ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, Silva Nigra. The black forest ; Catalog book on the occasion of the solo exhibition of the same name at the Kunstmuseum Pforzheim, October 23, 2016 to March 19, 2017, Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-86828-755-4 https://vimeo.com/189304166
  • Költzsch, Erika (ed.); ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, Drawings and Sculptures ; Catalog on the occasion of the solo exhibition of the same name at Galerie Haas, Zurich 2018
  • Yokota, Shigeru (ed.); ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, 三十 ; Tokyo Publishing House, Tokyo 2018
  • Haas, Michael (ed.); ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN ; Catalog on the occasion of the solo exhibitions of the same name in the Haas Gallery and in the KUNST LAGER HAAS, Berlin 2019
  • Jung, Jörg (ed.); ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN · IRON ; Cologne 2019

Sources and footnotes

  1. ↑ See exhibition catalog: documenta 5. Survey of Reality - Imagery Today ; Catalog (as a file folder) Volume 1: (Material); Volume 2: (list of exhibits); Kassel 1972
  2. ↑ Artist interviews , in: Wackerbarth, Horst (ed.) / Stadtzeitung und Verlag Kassel; Art and media - materials for documenta 6 , Kassel 1977, ISBN 3-921768-00-4 , p. 92/93.
  3. ↑ Eincke, Dirk, Abraham David Christian. Towers of silence ; Erfurt / Frankfurt am Main 2008
  4. ^ Gerhard Storck (ed.); [Self] Abraham David Christian ; Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, catalog on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name in Haus Lange Krefeld, January 29 to March 19, 1978; Krefeld 1978
  5. ↑ Catalog book view: THE WAY http://lambertundlambert.de/kuenstler/abraham-david-christian/

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Christian, Abraham David
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Christian-Moebuss, Abraham David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor, draftsman and concept artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf