Gerhard Dancker

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Gerhard Dancker (born August 27, 1925 in Hamburg ; † April 28, 2006 there ) was a German set designer, object artist and painter.

Life

Gerhard Dancker completed an apprenticeship as a lithographer before he was drafted in 1942. After the war he studied at the State Art School in Hamburg from 1946 . From 1948 he worked as an animator, then as a freelance graphic artist with designs for shop windows and exhibition stands.

From 1960 he worked as a theater painter at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. In 1965 he became studio director at the stages of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, and in 1968 he was director of the painter's hall at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg.

From 1970 Dancker was a freelance artist. In 1972 he became the first chairman of the “Asinus” association, which ran the gallery of the same name in Hamburg, Bornstrasse 3. Until 1976, exhibitions on predominantly socially critical topics took place there, including caricatures by Ronald Searle , Friedrich Karl Waechter , Chlodwig Poth and Ernst Volland .

1977–1986, following public tenders, Dancker created accessible and usable wooden objects for playgrounds and courtyards in residential complexes.

Gerhard Dancker died in Hamburg in 2006. In 2010, the Forum for the Estates of Artists eV took over the core of the estate.

plant

His predilection for large shapes stems from his practiced occupation, on the one hand tapestry-sized textile collages, on the other hand wooden constructions that could be walked on and played on and e.g. T. still are. For example, he created a series of brightly painted, rotatable wooden figures up to 220 cm in height for a Hamburg school on Vizelinstrasse. With these figures he “wanted to create something artistically quite demanding and encourage the children to play and engage”. The scaffolding of a Trojan horse offered climbing opportunities inside. Making urban space habitable for many was one of the constant concerns of the operators of the Asinus Gallery.

Gerhard Dancker: Photo collage

Dancker's critical attitude towards civilization is evident in the photo collages of the 1970s. Depressing photos of the modern world contrast with reproductions of historical works of art. Elegant Renaissance figures, baroque pathos or gazebo kitsch are combined with the dark sides of modern industry, the victims of totalitarian states or the misery of the Third World.

Gerhard Dancker: Fantasy figure

With fragile small sculptures made of cardboard with various applications, he created a humorous counterpoint to the critical works in difficult times.

His pictures vary abstract bodies and landscapes, in the 70s with stronger colors and z. Sometimes with material additives, in the 80s with more transparent colors and crystalline shapes. In the 90s, Dancker reflected in the drawings and watercolors the barren and torn coasts made of volcanic rock that he found on Lanzarote .

Solo exhibitions

(Selection)

  • 1972 Asinus Gallery
  • 1976 Eimsbüttel house in Hamburg
  • 1985 Paderborn City Library
  • 2002 Saselhaus Hamburg
  • 2007 Franziskushaus in Schwarzenbek near Hamburg

Quote

Dancker wrote about his first exhibition at Galerie Asinus in 1972: “On the one hand, this is an examination of the form and thus the means of expression of our time, and on the other hand, in a deeper sense, a connection to the driving forces and intellectual and creative content that may be ancient and yet remain effective in a branched way even in our time. My opinion: Here you can find standards that, due to their substance and mental tension, must be necessary components of a continually renewed discussion for our present - as a mirror, so to speak. "

literature

  • Marie-Luise Schumacher: “Caricaturist with a brilliant pencil”. Die Welt, January 30, 1974.
  • the same: “On the political floor. Kunstverein Asinus shows caricature in Germany. “Die Welt, March 31, 1974.
  • Peter Kohlhoff on Gerhard Dancker's picture “The Little Red Triangle” in the series “Original + Fake”, Hör Zu No. 30, 1999.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerhard Dancker about himself in the invitation to the exhibition of his work 1970 - 1972 in the Asinus Gallery from April 5 to 28, 1972
  2. ^ Leaflet for the exhibition "Gerhard Dancker in the Franziskus-Haus Schwarzenbek" near Hamburg from January 19 - February 25, 2007
  3. ^ "Looking for conversation", (mor-) Hamburger Abendblatt, November 16, 1972
  4. ^ Marie-Luise Schumacher. Caricaturist with a brilliant pencil. Die Welt, January 30, 1974
  5. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt of June 29, 1977, p. 15
  6. ↑ Peter Kohlhoff on Gerhard Dancker's picture “The Little Red Triangle” in the series “Original + Fälschung”, Hör Zu No. 30, 1999
personal data
SURNAME Dancker, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German stage designer, object artist and painter
DATE OF BIRTH August 27, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH April 28, 2006
Place of death Hamburg