Gerhard Altenbourg

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Gerhard Altenbourg (born November 22, 1926 in Rödichen-Schnepfenthal , today part of Waltershausen near Gotha; † December 30, 1989 in Meißen ; actually Gerhard Ströch ) was a German painter , graphic artist and poet .

life and work

Altenbourg was born the son of a Baptist minister . In 1929 the family moved to Altenburg . In 1944, the 17-year-old was called up as a soldier. In hand-to-hand combat, he killed an opposing soldier and was taken to a hospital as a result of this traumatic experience. From 1946 to 1948 he took painting lessons from Erich Dietz and worked as a writer and journalist . From 1948 to 1950 studied at the University of Architecture and Fine Arts in Weimar . Here he worked in Horst Arloth's lithography workshop and made friends with Fritz and Thea Henning. In 1950 he was de-registered. He then lived freelance in Altenburg and adopted the stage name Altenbourg in the mid-1950s.

In 1951, accompanied by Erich Dietz, he showed his work to the West Berlin gallery owner Rudolf Springer , who became his first art dealer. In 1956 the Lindenau Museum in Altenburg was the first museum to acquire two of the artist's works. In 1957 Altenbourg made his first work in marble and plaster, as well as metalwork. He began to design the house into a total work of art based on his own designs.

In 1959 he took part in documenta II in Kassel and in 1961 got a guest studio at the Academy of Arts in West Berlin . In 1964, he was sentenced to two years' probation in prison for violating the customs laws of the GDR . In 1966 he received the Burda Prize for Graphics in Munich , in 1967 the Second International Drawing Prize in Darmstadt, and in the same year the Will Grohmann Prize in West Berlin . In 1970, Altenbourg became a member of the Academy of the Arts , Berlin, of the "Institute for Modern Art", Nuremberg, and in 1977 "Life Fellow of the International Biographical Association " in Cambridge . In the same year, some of his works were exhibited at documenta 6 in Kassel. In 1981 Gunar Barthel organized a retrospective (works 1949–1980) in the Galerie Oben , Karl-Marx-Stadt (GDR) / with catalog. Altenbourg died in Meißen in 1989 as a result of a car accident.

Since Altenbourg, who was an active member of the Altenburg Baptist Congregation throughout his life, consistently refused the official art policy of the GDR, his work was hindered until the 1980s by the prohibition and closure of exhibitions. The Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired one of his works in 1961, and the Brusberg Gallery in Hanover showed a retrospective of his work in 1969. In the GDR his work was only documented by the Dresden Kupferstichkabinett , and it was not until his sixtieth birthday that exhibitions took place in Leipzig , Dresden and Berlin . In 1987/88 there were extensive exhibitions in Bremen, Tübingen, Hanover and Berlin (West). Altenbourg's work includes over 3000 drawings and paintings, 1400 graphics, 80 sculptures and 14 books.

The Lindenau Museum has one of the world's most extensive collections of works by the artist, and two large private collections were acquired in the 1990s and 2010. The Gerhard Altenbourg Foundation, also located in Altenburg, looks after the artist's extensive estate, which also includes the house and garden that he designed extensively.

Publications

  • Litanies with tattoos. Berlin, Paris 1962.
  • Catalog raisonné 1949-1967. Hanover 1969. With autobiographical notes and poetry and prose from Altenbourg.
  • I-rock. Berlin 1971.
  • Wound monuments. Leipzig, Berlin 1986.
  • Gerhard Altenbourg. Monograph and catalog raisonné (Volume I: 1937–1958). Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-87909-822-0 .
  • Gerhard Altenbourg. Monograph and catalog raisonné (Volume II: 1959–1976). Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-87909-831-6 .
  • Gerhard Altenbourg. Monograph and catalog raisonné (Volume III: 1977–1989). Wienand Verlag, Cologne, 2010, ISBN 978-3-87909-832-3 .
  • forest minotaurian. Poems . Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2019, ISBN 978-3-83533-559-2 .

Exhibitions

  • 2018: Jacks, queens, kings - Rolf Szymanski and Gerhard-Altenbourg (catalog for the exhibition in the Lindenau Museum Altenburg from March 18 to June 24, 2018), edited for the Lindenau Museum by Roland Krischke, Altenburg (Lindenau Museum) 2018.
  • 2016: Altenbourg in Altenburg - The Gerhard Altenbourg Foundation (catalog for the exhibition "Altenbourg in Altenburg" in the Lindenau Museum, December 4, 2016 to March 5, 2017), published for the Lindenau Museum by Roland Krischke, Altenburg (Lindenau Museum ) 2016.
  • 2016: bankART. Three decades of the art collection of the Berliner Volksbank, Stiftung Kunstforum der Berliner Volksbank (first closed exhibition of the Altenbourg holdings of the collection)
  • 2015: Gerhard Altenbourg. The drawn self, March 20, 2015 to June 7, 2015, Kupferstichkabinett Berlin
  • 2015: Altenbourg im Dialog III - Julius Bissier (Freiburg im Breisgau 1893–1965 Ascona). April 25 to July 19, 2015, Lindenau Museum, Altenburg
  • 2014: terra Altenbourg. The Draftsman's World, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, July - September 2014
  • 2014: Ore Mountains, Hügel-Grund, Artemis-Land. Altenbourg's landscapes. May 3 to July 27, 2014, Lindenau Museum, Altenburg
  • 2014: Altenbourg in Dialog II - Werner Heldt (Berlin 1904–1954 Sant'angelo, Ischia). March 29 to June 22, 2014, Lindenau Museum, Altenburg
  • 2013: In the magic circle of the Circe. Gerhard Altenbourg , Lindenau Museum, Altenburg.
  • 2013: Altenbourg im Dialog I - Martin Disler (Seewen 1949–1996 Geneva). 19 January to 14 April 2013. In collaboration with the Cabinet d'artes graphiques du Musée d'art et d'histoire, Geneva, Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg.

Souvenirs and honors

On the occasion of the 80th birthday, Altenburger Nansenstraße was renamed Gerhard-Altenbourg-Straße on November 22, 2006.

Gerhard Altenbourg Prize

The Lindenau Museum in Altenburg has been awarding the Gerhard Altenbourg Prize every two years since 1998 , which honors outstanding artistic achievements by living artists. These artists should be as close as possible to the Altenbourg spirit in terms of independence and autonomy. The prize is endowed with 12,500 euros and includes an exhibition in the museum.

Award winners

literature

  • Robert Kudielka, Michael Schoenholtz, Inge Zimmermann (Vorw.): From. drawn. to draw. An exhibition by the visual arts section . Akademie der Künste , April 25 to June 14, 2009, ISBN 978-3-88331-127-2 .
  • Theo Rommerskirchen: Gerhard Altenbourg . In: viva signature si! . Rommerskirchen, Remagen-Rolandseck 2005, ISBN 3-926943-85-8 .
  • Wieland Schmied : Presence and Eternity. Traces of the transcendent in the art of our time. Martin-Gropius-Bau , Berlin 7 April to 24 June 1990, Edition Cantz, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-89322-179-4 .
  • Gerhard Altenbourg. The Gardener, a monograph in pictures, ed. by Anneliese Ströch and Dieter Brusberg, Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, and Edition Brusberg Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-87972-094-0
  • Lindenau Museum Altenburg (ed.): Gerhard Altenbourg. Monograph and catalog raisonné. Wienand Verlag, Cologne, Volume I: 2004, Volume II: 2007, Volume III: 2010, ISBN 978-3-87909-841-5 . (3 volumes in a slipcase).
  • Ingrid Mössinger (Ed.): Gerhard Altenbourg - Horst Hussel. Works in the Gunzenhauser Museum. Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2009, ISBN 978-3-86832-013-8 .
  • Gerhard Altenbourg, Lothar Lang: Correspondence 1965–1988. Lehmstedt Verlag, Leipzig 2009, ISBN 978-3-937146-60-7 .
  • Dieter Gleisberg:  Altenbourg, Gerhard . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  • Altenbourg in dialogue I - Martin Disler. Edited by the Lindenau Museum Altenburg, with contributions by Julia M. Nauhaus and Christian Rümelin. Altenburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-86104-085-9 .
  • Thomas Matuszak: Landscape as a Space for Existence . In: Gerhard Altenbourg 1948–1989. Retrospective . In cooperation with the Lindenau Museum Altenburg. Durbach 2013, pp. 27-40.
  • Julia M. Nauhaus : Imprint in the flitting shadows of time . The Gerhard Altenbourg Collection of the Lindenau Museum in Altenburg / Thuringia. In: Gerhard Altenbourg 1948–1989. Retrospective . In cooperation with the Lindenau Museum Altenburg. Durbach 2013, pp. 15-22.
  • Altenbourg in Dialogue I - Martin Disler (Seewen 1949–1996 Geneva). With texts by Julia M. Nauhaus, Christian Rümelin, Thomas Matuszak, Martin Disler, Dieter Brusberg. Altenburg: Lindenau Museum 2013, ISBN 978-3-86104-085-9 .
  • Altenbourg im Dialog II - Werner Heldt (Berlin 1904–1954 Sant'Angelo, Ischia). With texts by Julia M. Nauhaus, Verena Hein, Stephanie Tasch, Gerhard Altenbourg, Werner Heldt and Erich Arendt. Altenburg: Lindenau Museum 2014, ISBN 978-3-86104-106-1 .
  • Ore Mountains, Hügel-Grund, Artemis-Land. Altenbourg's landscapes. Edited by Julia M. Nauhaus for the Lindenau Museum Altenburg, 2014, ISBN 978-3-86104-102-3 .
  • Altenbourg in Dialog III - Julius Bissier (Freiburg im Breisgau 1893-1965 Ascona). With texts by Matthias Bärmann, Christa and Frank Grimm, Isabel Herda, Julia M. Nauhaus. Altenburg: Lindenau Museum 2015, ISBN 978-3-86104-121-4 .
  • terra Altenbourg. The world of the draftsman , inventory catalog for the exhibition of the same name by the Kupferstich-Kabinett in Dresden's Residenzschloss from July 3 to September 29, 2014, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, ed. v. Bernhard Maaz, Daniela Günther and Sören Fischer, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-422-07272-5 .

Web links

Wikiversity: Gerhard Altenbourg: «Ariadne» (1973)  - course materials

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flyer of the Lindenau Museum, Altenburg.
  2. ↑ ABG-net.de: artist, brother outsider: In the footsteps of Gerhard Altenbourg (9 February 2020) ; accessed on February 18, 2020
  3. ^ Exhibition Gerhard Altenbourg. The Drawn I , Berlin State Museums.
personal data
SURNAME Altenbourg, Gerhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stroch, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH November 22, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Rödichen-Schnepfenthal , today part of Waltershausen near Gotha
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 1989
Place of death Meissen