Günter Ferdinand Ris

Günter Ferdinand Ris (born May 16, 1928 in Leverkusen ; † May 15, 2005 in Darmstadt ) was a German sculptor .

Life

After doing voluntary military service from 1943 to 1945, Ris studied from 1947 to 1951 at the academies in Karlsruhe , Düsseldorf and Freiburg im Breisgau . He began his career in 1952 as a typographer , portrait painter and advertising consultant. In 1960 he turned to sculpture, in which he achieved first successes (Biennale Musée d'Art Moderne , Paris ; documenta II (1959) and documenta III (1964), Kassel ; German Pavilion, Venice Biennale 1966). Ris had his studio in Oberpleis, where he lived .

His clear, concrete sculptures in public space are of sensual rigor and unpathetic clarity and, around 1970, formally expressed a basic social attitude that was politically reflected in the Brandt / Scheel era in the effort for transparency and tolerance. Just as the new building of the Bonn Federal Chancellery as a structural understatement followed purely functional considerations without any representative decor, so the room-defining light wall that Ris installed in the foyer - in front of the press room - invited spontaneous and impressive reflections on this new openness.

His works also became German export goods and figureheads of the new era that heralded the end of the Cold War, for example the fountain in front of the German embassy in Brasilia or his works at the Expo '70 in Osaka.

The connection of drawing, painting and architecture in sculpture was one of his main artistic concerns, which he approached from various directions. In his late work from 1996 onwards, he followed up on the group of works “Paysages architectuals” from the 1960s and continued to develop these architectural landscapes made of white plastic in a variety such as musical variations on a theme. Among other things, he also worked as a designer and developed furniture, interior fittings and, for example, a coffee and tea set for Rosenthal , glasses and the "Sunball" ball chair (1969), which has been produced again as a replica since 2015.

Ris was married to Hildegard Hofmann, with whom he had children Frank, Eva and Daniel Ris .

Honors

• 1961: Bremen , Böttcherstraße Art Prize
• 1963: Florence , Villa Romana Prize
• 1984: Meschede , August Macke Prize of the city
• 1984: Bonn , August Macke Medal of the city

gallery

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  Stainless steel wall relief (1970) on the House for Everyone, Moislinger Mitte, in Lübeck-Moisling

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  Water light field mirror (1977) on the Bonn town hall

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  oT (Object 2/01) (2001) - Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn

literature

• Boris von Brauchitsch : GF Ris, the plastic work 1958–2001. Wienand, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-87909-777-1 .
• Dieter Ronte (Ed.): GF Ris. Kunstmuseum Bonn 1998.
• Joachim Heusinger von Waldegg : GF Ris. Rothe, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-920651-22-7 .
• Dierk Stemmler : GF Ris. Light walls, light pillars, light fields. Rothe, Heidelberg 1983, ISBN 3-920651-01-4 .
• Eduard Trier : GF Ris. Bongers, Recklinghausen 1971, ISBN 3-7647-0219-2 .

Web links

Commons : Günter Ferdinand Ris  - Collection of Images

• Literature by and about Günter Ferdinand Ris in the catalog of the German National Library
• Marx, Eberhard: Laudation on the occasion of the award ceremony of the August Macke Prize of the city of Meschede, 1984; (PDF file)
• Materials by and about Günter Ferdinand Ris in the documenta archive

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Gabriele Zabel-Zottmann: Sculptures and objects in the public space of the federal capital Bonn - installed from 1970 to 1991 . Dissertation, Bonn 2012. Part 2, p. 35 ( online ; PDF; 5.8 MB).
2. ^ Günter Ferdinand Ris, sculptor , Virtual Local History Museum Oberpleis
3. ↑ Artist profiles for the graphic collection (G2) ( Memento of the original from April 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Meeting place for art