Horst Wackerbarth

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The “ Red Sofa ” by Horst Wackerbarth, 2014

Horst Wackerbarth (* 1950 in Fritzlar ) is a German photo artist . The “ red sofa ” developed into the centerpiece and globally known trademark of his work .

Live and act

He grew up in North Hesse and studied photography at the Kassel Art College . Today he has lived and worked as a freelance photographer in Düsseldorf since 1984 . His global operations include arts , mass media , fashion and advertising . He works for well-known advertising agencies in Germany and the USA, but puts art and portrait photography at the center of his work.

In 1979 Wackerbarth, together with his US colleague Kevin Clarke, began work on a subjective portrait of the United States of America by photographing the country's people on a red sofa. They traveled hundreds of thousands of kilometers by couch and car and photographed poor and rich, famous and simple people. The result led to exhibitions in New York City in 1981 and in 1983 in the now out of print illustrated book The Red Couch - A Portrait of America. First awards and numerous exhibitions around the world followed, including those in renowned art collections .

In the 1990s, Wackerbarth expanded his conceptual photographic art to include film and television . The red couch stories came into being. They found several million viewers on ZDF , 3sat and Arte . In 1997 the Universal Couch Foundation was established in Amsterdam , promoting global dialogue through art and mass media.

His Female Supper caused a stir in 1993.

In 1998, Wackerbarth started the Gallery of Mankind - Europe project as a continuation of his America portrait . With this he found the overall heading “Gallery of mankind” for his art .

In autumn 2016, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia celebrated its 70th birthday and the North Rhine-Westphalia Foundation it founded its 30th birthday. On this occasion, Horst Wackerbarth created a photo-artistic portrait of North Rhine-Westphalia and traveled through all regions of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The red sofa

The "Red Couch" serves Wackerbarth as a central vehicle and " red thread ". Over the course of time, it developed into Wackerbarth's unique selling point and to this day hundreds of people have taken their portraits, including, in addition to the many unknowns, celebrities such as Peter Ustinov , Michail Gorbatschow or Maria Böhmer .

Some copies of the Red Sofa were lost in accidents, for example in a ship maneuver overboard or in a fire. In the meantime, since 1996, the fourth specimen has been in use, which was seriously damaged during use - for example in the enclosure of wild zoo animals - but was then re-upholstered and completely restored.

Others

Wackerbarth is a member of the Art Directors Club , the Association of Freelance Photo Designers and the German Society for Photography . He is also the initiator of Copyright + Mediation , a copyright arbitration body that works with the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva .

Books (selection)

Exhibitions (selection)

Awards (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Female Supper
  2. ↑ Iconoclasm and loss of culture - On the irritability of religious feeling using the example of Leonardo's Last Supper
  3. ↑ a b Red sofa on ten floors on the Kö. April 10, 2014, accessed April 10, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Prof. Maria Böhmer. ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2014 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. Article of the website Duisburg, Port of the Capital of Culture 2010 .  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.du2010.de
  5. ↑ Information on the text panels of the exhibition opening on April 9, 2014 in Düsseldorf.
  6. ↑ The best photos of 2003. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . February 13, 2004, accessed April 10, 2014 .
personal data
SURNAME Wackerbarth, Horst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German photo artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Fritzlar , Hesse