Christian Theunert

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Christian Theunert, design for the 1956 Olympic Art Medal, plaster, 17.5 × 17.5 cm
Group of turtles in Heinrich-Laehr-Park , in Berlin-Zehlendorf

Christian Theunert (born June 18, 1899 in Neuwied , Rhine Province , Prussia , † July 23, 1981 in Berlin ) was a German sculptor , painter , graphic artist and poet .

Life

Christian Theunert was born on June 18, 1899, the youngest of four children in Neuwied am Rhein. He passed his Abitur at a humanistic grammar school. In 1916 he fought as a war volunteer at the front, where he was severely gas poisoned. In 1918 he took a course in art history , but only lasted three semesters because he was driven to craft and create. After training as a wood and stone sculptor, he completed studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich in 1922 . In 1924 he moved to the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts , where he finished his studies with Professor Edwin Scharff in 1930 .

His first solo exhibition was closed by the police in Berlin in 1934 and all works of art were confiscated and destroyed. Theunert narrowly escaped arrest and then hid outside Berlin until the end of the war.

In 1947 he took over a teaching position at the "Teacher Training Center for Art Educators at Higher Schools" in Potsdam, but was soon accused of 'spreading Western ideas'. In 1949 he was released and fled to West Berlin leaving all his works behind. Here he joined the "New Group" and took part in numerous exhibitions a. a. in the Gerd Rosen gallery and throughout Germany.

In 1967 the Berlin artist and gallery owner Ben Wagin showed Christian Theunert's first large overall exhibition in Berlin. In 1985 Eberhard Roters organized an extensive Theunert retrospective at the Berlinische Galerie . After his death in 1981 he left behind numerous sculptures, pictures, drawings and graphics as well as various manuscripts for radio plays, plays, novels as well as poems and songs.

"Morphium" (1950/1952), "Wenn der Tauber ruft" (1955/1965), "Atomzeitlieder auf Meine Trompete" (1971) as well as many diary entries, notes, correspondence, personal documents, photos and exhibition catalogs were made by the family in 1996 Archives of the Academy of Arts .

Voices about personality and work

“I have seen the tenacity and doggedness with which he fought for his work, interrupted by attacks of illness caused in World War I and by wounds inflicted on him in the Third Reich. How often did he destroy and smash finished things - unfortunately! "

- Ernst Leonhardt : exhibition catalog, 1989

“The sculptor Christian Theunert is one of those artists who live and work in harmony with nature. But that doesn't mean that it imitates nature. For him it is the source of his inspiration that always remains mysterious. "

- Arnold Bauer : exhibition catalog, 1967

Web links

Commons : Christian Theunert  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gräfe art.concept biography on gräfe art.concept as part of a Theunert exhibition in Berlin, 2012.
  2. ^ Association of Berlin Artists (ed.): Christian Theunert. 1899-1981. Sculptures, graphics . Exhibition from November 8th - December 1st, 1989. Berlin, curriculum vitae, p. 48 ([1989]).
  3. ^ Ernst Leonhardt: Christian Theunert. 1899-1981. Sculptures, graphics . Exhibition from November 8th - December 1st, 1989. Ed .: Association of Berlin Artists. Berlin, S. 7 ([1989]).
  4. ^ Arnold Bauer: Christian Theunert. Sculptures . Atelier exhibition from 9.9. until October 8, 1967 in Dahlem, Käuzchensteig 8. [Berlin], p. 3 ([1967]).
personal data
SURNAME Theunert, Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor, painter, graphic artist and poet
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuwied , Rhine Province , Kingdom of Prussia , German Empire
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 1981
Place of death Berlin