Günther Wirth (art critic)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Günther Wirth portrayed by Ursula Stock

Günther Wirth (born April 9, 1923 in Magdeburg ; † March 14, 2015 in Stuttgart ) was a German art writer , critic and curator .

Life

Wirth was born in Magdeburg in 1923. In 1936 the family moved to Friedrichshafen and in 1939 to Stuttgart , where Wirth passed his Abitur in 1940 . Wirth served in the Wehrmacht from 1941 to 1945 and was taken prisoner of war. Between 1946 and 1949 he studied education .

From 1958 to 1961 Wirth was an assistant at Schlenker in the "Künstlerbund Baden-Württemberg", in 1967 he switched to the Schwäbische Post as an art critic , later to the Stuttgarter Zeitung and worked on artwork and the magazine Kunst . In 1970 and 1971 he was the managing director of the "Deutscher Künstlerbund", and in 1972 he published the German Report for "Studio International" in London. In 1993 the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart made him an honorary member, and in 2004 an honorary senator.

Günther Wirth lost his right eye during the war. In old age, his left eye became infected with glaucoma, so that by the end of his life he was almost blind.

Wirth had been married since 1947 and had three sons.

plant

Work-defining encounters with artists such as Alfred Kubin , Hans Hartung , Willi Baumeister , HAP Grieshaber , AR Fleischmann, Max Ackermann , Fritz Ruoff and Reinhold Nägele determined his development as a curator and art critic. He maintained close ties to what he and Klaus Gallwitz called the “Karlsruhe School”, whose representatives came from the Grieshaber class. In addition to the work as a teacher, which served the financial independence, Wirth distinguished a tireless commitment to the promotion of contemporary art and its artists. He also became known through many opening speeches at art exhibitions in which Wirth passionately and knowledgeably won a large audience. Also working as an art critic for newspapers and art magazines, building up larger and larger collections of contemporary art with corresponding catalog books in the southwest, including LBS Stuttgart, and Allianz-Leben Stuttgart, Sparkasse Calw / Pforzheim, the Enzkreis Esslingen a. N. and the Kreissparkasse Esslingen, as well as a collection of young art for the Kreissparkasse Kirchheim and the SSB (Stuttgarter Straßenbahnen), as well as the appointment to numerous juries. Many art books, including standard works, were produced from 1982 onwards, such as “Art in the German Southwest” and “Forbidden Art in the German Southwest”, both of which were published by Hatje-Verlag. Since 2011 he has published volumes of poetry, including books with haikus .

Honors

  • 1979 Critics' Prize for Europe 80
  • 1986 Appointment as professor by the state of Baden-Württemberg
  • 1993 Guest of Honor at Villa Massimo, Rome
  • 2004 Appointment as Honorary Senator of the State Art Academy Stuttgart
  • 2012 award of the gold Staufer medal
  • 2013 Baden-Württemberg Culture Prize for his life's work (shared with Harald Klingelhöller )

Publications

Books (selection)

  • with Eugen Gomringer: Concrete by Anton Stankowski: Painting and visual information . Hatje Cantz, Stuttgart, 1974, ISBN 3-7757-0096-X
  • Leonhard Schmidt: monograph with catalog of works. of the oil paintings 1916–1976 . Edition Cantz, Stuttgart, 1977
  • German Sunday painters: using the example of a collection . Braun, Karlsruhe, 1978, ISBN 3-7650-9013-1
  • Simon Dittrich . Huber and Meissner, Offenbach am Main, 1979, ISBN 3-921785-11-1
  • Fritz Ruoff: Monograph with catalog raisonné of the sculptures and sculptor drawings . Edition Cantz, Stuttgart, 1981
  • Art in the German Southwest: from 1945 to the present . Hatje, Stuttgart, 1982, ISBN 3-7757-0175-3
  • with Alexander Tolnay: Sculpture from the 60s and 70s in the southwest . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart, 1984
  • Forbidden art 1933–1945: persecuted artists in the German south-west . Hatje, Stuttgart, 1987, ISBN 3-7757-0243-1
  • Message from the dove: life and work of Christian Oehler . Kreuz-Verlag, Stuttgart, 1989
  • Hermann Geiger : Quirky Figures . Firnkes GmbH printing company, Stuttgart.

Talk

  • Esslinger Reden zur Kunst, Volume 1 (pp. 1–266), 1998
  • Esslinger Reden zur Kunst, Volume II (pp. 280-570), 1999
  • Esslinger Speeches zur Kunst, Volume III Art Foundation of the Kreissparkasse Esslingen, summer 2008
  • Esslinger Speeches zur Kunst, Volume IV Art Foundation of the Kreissparkasse Esslingen, Summer 2011 Design: Karl Duschk and Anton Stankowski
  • Exhibition speech Hermann Geiger : Exhibition on the occasion of his 80th birthday , Kunsthöfle Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt September 28, 1984.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rainer Vogt: To the death of Günther Wirth - The flag of freedom. Obituary in the Stuttgarter Nachrichten of March 18, 2015 (accessed on March 18, 2015).
  2. ^ Staufer's medal for Professor Günther Wirth. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved February 5, 2013 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / mwk.baden-wuerttemberg.de  
personal data
SURNAME Wirth, Günther
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German author, critic and curator
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Magdeburg
DATE OF DEATH March 14, 2015
Place of death Stuttgart