Germán Becerra

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Germán Becerra (born October 11, 1928 in Sotaquira ) is a German-French painter and sculptor of Colombian origin who made a large part of his career in Düsseldorf .

Career

Luis Germán Becerra Agudelo was born in Sotaquira, in the province of Boyacá, in Colombia in 1928. After studying art in Bogotá from 1949 to 1952 and in Rome until 1958, he came to Düsseldorf. He worked in agriculture and industry for a living, but continued to practice his art. Otto Pankok became aware of the young Beccara and made him his master student at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1955 to 1958 .

In 1956 Becerra founded the Young Realists group with Hans-Günther Cremers , Thomas Häfner , Hannelore Köhler , Wolfgang Lorenz and Willi Wirth . The members spoke out against the tendencies towards abstraction and non-representationalism and called for a new figurative painting and sculpture.

Becerra, a member of the Düsseldorf Artists Association , is known to many artists on the Düsseldorf scene. In the 1950s / 60s they met at the Zum Csikós jazz bar, among other places, and his friends included Günter Grass , who was then a budding stonemason, Horst Geldmacher, also known as “Flötchen”, and Franz Witte . The tin drum picture (1957/58) by Becerra and Witte, which unites the slightly crazy society in “Csikós”, was acquired in 2009 for the collection of the Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf . He was also active with Kurt Sandweg , Hannes Esser , Günther Uecker , Rudi Heekers and Bernd Jansen and many more in the artist group Einbrungen / Wittlaer , which organized festivals and exhibitions in the Einbrunger Mühle am Schwarzbach .

In 1964 he went to France and lived in the Cité Internationale des Arts Paris until 1967 . He met the writer and poet Paule di Puccio from Savigny-lès-Beaune and from there his artistic life took place between his Düsseldorf studio and in the heart of Burgundy in Savigny-lès-Beaune, where the wine cellar became the workshop and the apartment of the couple has become.

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His favorite subjects are the common people, the workers, those in exile, the excluded and the persecuted, but also peace and love. They express the two sides of humanity. He will never deviate from this contrasted and humanistic theme. His brightly colored paintings are imbued with Colombian culture. “My art is a way of life. It is not a pleasant pastime or simple occupation, it is in the service of man and the social struggle for a better life. It should denounce and develop the conscience. "( Germán Becerra )

His sculptures are also concentrated expressiveness in pearwood, elm, oak, concrete, aluminum, limestone or bronze. “Faith, love and sensuality are condensed in German Becerra's wood sculptures. Couples entwine in a merging unity; Portraits with powerful facial features look benevolently at the visitor. A showcase with small sculptures deserves special attention: The "Little Andina" from the Andes, the indigenous "Boyaco" from Becerra's homeland Colombia, they seem to be alive, full of energy, magical like the fetish dolls of the natives. The artist gave them the energy, [...] commutes between France and his studio on Sittarder Strasse; who has lost nothing of creativity [...]. "( Gertrud Peters )

Exhibitions (selection)

Solo exhibitions:

  • 1945: Tunja , Colombia
  • 1949: Centro Colombo-Americano, Bogotá, Colombia
  • 1956: Great Düsseldorf art exhibition
  • 1958: Galerie Niepel Düsseldorf
  • 1959: Rhenish Secession (collective exhibition), Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
  • 1964: Salon de la Jeune Peinture (collective exhibition), Paris
  • 1967: Cité des Arts (collective exhibition), Paris
  • 1968/69/70: Galerie Mode und Art, Düsseldorf
  • 1973: City Museum , Düsseldorf
  • 1976: Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (collective exhibition)
  • 1977: Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
  • 1985: Hella Nebelung Gallery , Düsseldorf
  • 1987: Malkasten , Düsseldorf
  • 1993: La Casa de América latina, Paris
  • 1995: The artists of the Einbrungener Mühle (collective exhibition)
  • 2000: Monuen Chateau de Bussy-Babut in France
  • 2003: City Museum Düsseldorf
  • 2019: Hermann-Harry-Schmitz Institute / Museum Düsseldorf

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helga Meister: The poet Grass as a doorman , with illustration of the tin drum picture , WZ from April 13, 2015
  2. ^ The artists' colony in the Einbrunger paper mill. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original ; accessed on May 20, 2020 .
  3. ^ Bild On the park bench by Germán Becerra , on Artnet, accessed on August 29, 2015
  4. ^ Kulturamt Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf: Luis German Becerra A. (No longer available online.) In: duesseldorf.de. State capital Düsseldorf, archived from the original on May 15, 2020 . 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.duesseldorf.de
  5. ^ Yvonne Friedrichs: Germán Becerra exhibits in the Hella Nebelung gallery . , Rheinische Post. Düsseldorf Feuilleton, April 27, 1985
personal data
SURNAME Becerra, German
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Becerra Agudelo, Luis Germán (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH October 11, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Sotaquira