Alfred Traugott Mörstedt

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Alfred Traugott Mörstedt (born March 15, 1925 in Erfurt ; † April 8, 2005 in Erfurt) was a German painter, draftsman , book designer and graphic artist . Between 1963 and 2005 he created an extensive artistic oeuvre and was a co-founder of the “Erfurter Ateliergemeinschaft” (1963–1974), which offered non-conformist and critical artists of the GDR an exhibition opportunity in Erfurt. Mörstedt's artist name is “ATM”, with which he signed most of his works.

life and work

Origin, school, studies

Mörstedt was born in Erfurt in 1925 as the son of an artist. As a tank operator he went to World War II from 1943, suffered a serious wound in 1945 and returned to Erfurt. In 1947/48 Mörstedt attended the master school for applied arts in Erfurt. From 1948 on he studied at the University of Architecture and Fine Arts in Weimar under Hermann Kirchberger and Professor Otto Herbig . Through his professor Hanns Hoffmann-Lederer, Mörstedt received Klee 's theory of forms. With the founding of the GDR, the higher education system was restructured, but the Stalinist-socialist concept of art also prevailed at the time. Because of politically inopportune views in the context of the so-called formalism debate , Mörstedt was pushed out of the university and had to continue his studies at the higher arts and crafts-oriented university for fine and applied arts in Berlin-Weißensee.

Early creative period

After studying in Erfurt, Weimar and Berlin , Mörstedt settled again in Erfurt and from 1952 worked as an employed commercial advertiser. In addition, he dealt with the art and technique of batik . Several study visits to the Rhön with old Batik master Richard Dölker gave important impulses. From 1954 Mörstedt worked as a designer in the Vogtland textile industry. Professional activity and artistic intentions could be combined in the occupation with the batik, because abstract forms could be tested here largely free of state repression.

From 1960 Mörstedt worked as a freelance craftsman (batik), soon as a painter and graphic artist in Erfurt. The first prints can be found in Mörstedt's oeuvre in the mid-sixties. Mörstedt, however, found himself in a situation that - apart from batik, from which he increasingly withdrew in favor of painting and graphics - hardly provided for any public exhibition. Therefore, he met artist friends who were friends in 1963 in the studio of the sculptor Waldo Dörsch at Neuwerkstrasse 29 (Weinreiter House) in Erfurt to plan exhibitions on his own. The “Erfurt studio community” that emerged from this meeting opened its first exhibition on December 15, 1963 with works by Waldo Dörsch in Rolf Dieß's former roof studio . The aim of the community was to deal with the works and artistic approaches of colleagues as well as with aesthetic issues in East and West. The aim was to show artists who, like Mörstedt, could not exhibit in the official cultural scene of the GDR.

In the period from 1964 to 1974, the studio community realized a total of 45 exhibitions of non-conforming and critical art. In addition, a graphic portfolio was created every year. The studio community thus created a unique model of a self-determined production and artist gallery in a time that was determined by cultural-political repression.

Observation by the GDR State Security and rehabilitation

Information on activities and the group of people around Mörstedt was observed and recorded by the Ministry for State Security of the GDR from 1976 with the initiation of an “operational process” under the code name “Graphics” . In everyday professional and private life, Mörstedt was repeatedly disadvantaged and put under pressure by government agencies. Nevertheless, Mörstedt continued to work on his artistic work and his own artistic development. In the following creative years up to 2005 he published a large number of catalog raisonnés and artist books.

At the same time, however, state repression left numerous traces in his oeuvre. Various motifs and titles are allusions to political events or the repressive political situation. Mörstedt's development as an artist must - among other things - be seen against the background of constant state tutelage. In 1996 the State Office for Rehabilitation and Reparation recognized him as a politically persecuted person.

Death of the artist

Until recently, Mörstedt worked on his image inventions and on his development as an artist. The last months of his life were marked by an even greater urge to work and restlessness in search of new pictorial inventions. Nevertheless, z. For example, the artist's book “The bow after the Salto mortale” can no longer be completed in the planned edition. It was only a few months before his death that Mörstedt felt that he had reached his goal in his lifelong struggle for his own coherent and consistent artistic language of expression. The artist died at the age of 80 on April 8, 2005 in Erfurt.

Alfred T. Mörstedt Foundation

The Alfred T. Mörstedt Foundation is a non-profit foundation. It was launched on March 15, 2013, the artist's 88th birthday, in the Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg . The founder was the widow Helga Johanna Mörstedt, who died in 2017. Almost the entire artistic estate of Alfred T. Mörstedt, including 182 works from his Weimar student days, 400 prints, 158 printing plates and blocks, 550 works on paper as well as numerous sketchbooks, batiks, illustrated books and catalogs, was therefore brought to Heidecksburg.

The task of the foundation is to preserve Mörstedt's work on a permanent basis, while at the same time preparing it scientifically and making it publicly accessible. Since the foundation was founded, the works of art have been systematically recorded, digitized, treated for conservation purposes and professionally archived. A first retrospective, entitled “Cabinet Pieces”, was shown as a special exhibition in collaboration with the Heidecksburg State Museum from October 18 to December 31, 2013.

The preparation of the works of art should be completed in the course of 2015 and celebrated with an extensive exhibition. This exhibition thus forms an important milestone in the work of the Mörstedt Foundation and marks the transition to the regular foundation work. This retrospective, which is also an anniversary exhibition for the artist's 90th birthday, will open on September 5, 2015 in the riding hall of the Heidecksburg. There will be an accompanying publication.

The foundation regularly supplements its collection of works of art by accepting donations, but also through purchases.

The foundation's board of directors consists of Karl-Heinz Hänel, chairman of the foundation council; Lutz Unbehaun, the director of the Heidecksburg Museum; Jens Henkel, the curator there; Sabrina Lüderitz, research assistant at the Museum Heidecksburg; Daniel Mortsch, Rudolstadt; and Adrian Mörstedt, Frankfurt am Main.

The foundation is recognized by the Thuringian foundation supervision. The non-profit status has been confirmed by the responsible tax office. The foundation and the board of directors are registered in the national transparency register.

Souvenirs and honors (selection)

Publications (selection)

  • Catalog raisonné 1 (1963–1969), self-published, 1970
  • Catalog raisonné 2 (1969–1976), artist podium 1 of the Winckelmann Society , 1977
  • Catalog raisonné prints, self-published, 1983
  • Artist's book Reflexionen 1 , edited by Jens Henkel, Rudolstadt 1985
  • Catalog raisonné 3. Drawings, watercolors, gouaches, collages 1976–1989, published by Angermuseum , Erfurt 1990
  • Artist book inclusions. Awakening , Harald Gerlach, AT Mörstedt. Burgart, Rudolstadt 1991
  • Moerstedt. Collages Half-timbered pyramid or If the Egyptians had owned more wood . Foreword by Harald Gerlach . Burgart, Rudolstadt 1993
  • Catalog raisonné 4 (1989–1995), edited by the Malabon and Third World project group, Herzogenrath 1995
  • Artist book ATM sign . "Ea" Graphikgalerie Zimmermann, Erfurt 2000. Original graphic
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt: Weimar, a beginning. Burgart, Erfurt 2000
  • Said and done. Burgart, Rudolstadt
  1. Requests to speak 1982–2003
  2. Catalog raisonné of prints 1956–2005.
  • Artist's book The bow after the somersault. Texts and graphics for the 80th birthday. Burgart, Rudolstadt 2005
  • Ulli Wittich: Alfred T. Mörstedt. Exhibition catalog, Thuringian Museum (Eisenach) , December 5, 1971 - February 27, 1972
  • Cabinet pieces. Galerie am Markt, exhibition catalog December 1992 - January 1993. With Annerose Kirchner: Magische Metamorphosen. Thoughts on ATM, and again on our own behalf, from ATM

Works in collective works

As a book designer (selection)

  • Daniel Stoppe : Parnassus in the saddler. Bold songs and epistles. Ed., Selection by Eberhard Haufe . Gustav Kiepenheuer, Weimar 1977. - 16 colored sheets from ATM
  • Kristian Pech : Reyn plantlicke Lybe. Eyn gutt halp schock speaks alfabettisch, from akeley and asters to onions. Hinstorff , Rostock 1985. Ill. ATM
  • Harald Gerlach: Assumptions about a tramp. Stories. Aufbau Verlag , Berlin 1973 a. ö. ATM graphics
    • The barley house. Afterword by Wulf Kirsten . Edition New Texts. Structure, Berlin 1976 and others Graphics from the folder “Unstrutland” from ATM
  • Franz Fühmann : The lover of the dawn. Stories. Hinstorff, 1978 a. ö.
    • Schlipperdibix and Klapperdibax. Two puppet pieces. Hinstorff, 2nd ed., 1989, ISBN 9783356002645 Ill. ATM
  • Ingrid Prignitz Ed .: Urworte German. The imaginative Little Red Riding Hood. From Steputat's Reimlexikon, drawn by Franz Fühmann. Hinstorff, Rostock 1989 ISBN 3-356-00150-7 . Collages ATM

literature

  • Annerose Kirchner , Jens Henkel (ed.): Alfred Traugott Mörstedt. Conversations. Texts. Photos. (Artists in Thuringia 1), monograph, Burgart-Presse, Rudolstadt 1997, ISBN 3-910206-23-9
  • Book business, book graphics and illustration. Exhibition catalog about GDR book art . Texts by Horst Kunze , Alice Hartmann, Bernd Küster . With bio-bibliographical note u. a. via Mörstedt; Images and statements by the artists themselves. Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven 1993
  • Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg Rudolstadt (ed.): Alfred Traugott Mörstedt: The Hour of the Blue Butterflies , monograph, texts by Karl-Heinz Hänel, Lutz Unbehaun, Jürgen Winter, Sabrina Lüderitz, Rudolstadt 2015, ISBN 3-910013-89-9 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Mörstedt, Alfred Traugott
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German draftsman and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH March 15, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Erfurt
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 2005
Place of death Erfurt