Johannes Nawrath

Johannes Nawrath (born on July 6, 1955 in Neheim-Hüsten / Sauerland) is a German painter and graphic artist .

biography

Johannes Nawrath was born on July 6, 1955 in Neheim-Hüsten / Sauerland, the son of booksellers Heinz and Gisela Nawrath. After high school and community service, he studied art history, German literature and history at the Philipps University in Marburg from 1975 to 1977 . After three years he continued his studies at the University of Hamburg . He has lived in Hamburg since 1981 and works as a freelance graphic artist, and since 1984 also as a painter. He is married and has a son.

“Just perceive it as it is”: the complete work

Johannes Nawrath's oeuvre now comprises well over 500 paintings. Robert Gernhardt characterized it in 2001 as “a school of seeing: first look carefully and don't judge immediately. Don't want to demonize or glorify right away. Just see how it is. "

“Sideline”: Artistic beginnings until 1994

Johannes Nawrath began to work graphically in 1977 while still a student. The first work, the linocut portfolio Brecht Portraits - Brecht Poems' , was followed by other linocuts, graphic portfolios and numerous individual sheets.

After starting to work as a commercial artist in 1981, he began to paint realistic landscapes and seascapes in 1984 . Like his art teacher at the Franz-Stock-Gymnasium in Neheim-Hüsten, the painter Josef Voss (1908-2000), who was friends with his father Heinz Nawrath and who had studied with Kay Nebel in Kassel, a representative of the New Objectivity, he also painted Plakafarbe on Bristol board .

With his participation in the international art fair “Art Hamburg” a new phase began for Nawrath: In addition to working as a commercial artist, he began to paint more and more regularly and to show his pictures in exhibitions.

1991/92 years Nawrath worked on his cycle The Four Elements00. The book The Four Elements - Pictures by Johannes Nawrath with a text by Michael Haupt and a portfolio with four linocuts on the same topic was published by Verlag Schwarze Kunst, Hamburg .

The representations of water, earth, air and fire in the format 84 x 120 cm were awarded the first German Art Prize of the Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken in 1992.

“Expedition report of a traveler through this time”: Nawrath's painting since 1994

Two years later, Nawrath changed the painting ground and color material. Since then he has been working with acrylic paint on canvas instead of bristol cardboard instead of Plaka . His pictures are getting bigger on the one hand, and smaller on the other: since 1997 he has been painting what he calls “memories”, acrylic paintings in the format 40 x 40 cm. In addition to landscapes, still lifes are created . Square formats and narrow portrait formats, both shapes that emphasize the cutout, predominate from 2000 onwards.

1997 Erschie in publishing Dölling and Galitz Nawraths work overview sideshows . In his introduction, the art historian Friedrich Gross describes Nawrath's predilection for “forgotten corners, the inconspicuous, the extra sought-after offside, better beyond the main eye-catcher, the depraved in shrill ugliness, the backsides and shadows of life. Surprising perspectives can diminish, expose, even question, and caution against deficits. "

The speech at the atelier opening two years later was given by the Hungarian cultural philosopher László F. Földényi : “And ultimately the views on Nawrath's paintings are unsettling - not the individual motifs, but their floating nature. The bales of straw, the shipwrecks, the thrown away cigarette pack, the waves, the coastal railings, the street corners, the house edges or the plaster look as if they were painted on 'by chance', while at the same time they seem to have been there for ages. On the one hand, they refer to human presence; on the other hand, they almost sorely miss people - even in pictures with people. Even the motifs that refer to civilization are thought to date from a time before any civilization. These motifs remind me of archaeological finds, relics from an unknown time. But I could also say that they are images of a time ahead: They show a world in which man has already died out and only his past can be discovered. "

In 2002, Wolfgang Büscher Nawrath's painting commented : “These pictures are not novels. When hung next to each other, they also do not make a grand novel. They are not very populated, neither by characters nor by intrusive intentions. They are all reports from the world out there, hung side by side they make up a traveler's expedition report through this time. "

Nawrath has been running its own website since 2005. It contains a catalog raisonné with illustrations of the entire painterly work.

In the same year, the Hamburg scholar and patron Jan Philipp Reemtsma donated Nawrath's portrait of Peter Rühmkorf , work number 231, to the Museum of Hamburg History . It was created a year earlier on the occasion of the Hamburg writer's 75th birthday. In 2015, the “Museum für Hamburgische Geschichtchen”, which documents anecdotes and reports from Hamburg residents, recorded Nawrath's memory of the creation of the portrait of Peter Rühmkorf. The picture is an expression of the long-standing friendship that bound the author and the painter. In 1986, at Rühmkorf's request, Nawrath cut a portrait of him in linoleum.

The Ziegel - Hamburger Jahrbuch für Literatur 10 , Dölling und Galitz Verlag, presented pictures by Johannes Nawrath on sixteen color pages in 2006, including excerpts from waste paper reproduced in almost original size . The accompanying essay by Wolfgang Schömel is entitled Pedant of Transition .

In 2012, the “StadtLandSee” calendar was published for the first time for the following year, with twelve reproductions of narrow portrait formats in the format 21 x 60 cm. After six issues, the series was continued in 2018 in the same format under the title "ZwölfMalZwei" with a total of 24 square images per year.

On the occasion of the sixtieth birthday, the Sauerland Museum in Arnsberg 2015 showed the exhibition “Blue Pictures in the Blue House”. Hellmuth Opitz gave the opening speech, “Something is coming together” . The picture Rothaargebirge, in the evening , which served as a poster for the exhibition, was purchased by the museum; it is the eighth picture by Nawrath in the collection in Arnsberg.

In October 2017 Johannes Nawrath painted his 500th picture. The Kassel art scholar Harald Kimpel said of the empty advertising pillar in his speech at the atelier opening: “What we have here is a classic vanitas symbol, but stretched between melancholy and tongue-in-cheek humor. Because this 500th is in truth a future-oriented work. Because where there is nothing, everything is still possible. Tabula rasa as a prerequisite for what is to come. "

The 25th studio vernissage took place on November 24, 2019. In his speech, the writer Matthias Politycki described the artist's approach to the motif: “I imagine how Nawrath noticed this sight at first, but then immediately recognized it with a palpitation at a second glance; how he drew a mental framework around it and faded out everything that might be disturbing left and right, only to fix the section more precisely, more forcefully, more relentlessly - this impulsive, at first silently jubilant, finally resolutely gripping yes! the world as it presents itself in certain key moments is the starting point of great art. In this context, Gottfried Benn speaks of the 'flushing value' of certain initial stimuli which, in the suddenly happy interplay, break through the everyday perception of reality and set the artistic process in motion. And he also speaks of the fact that the artist needs a 'cold look' in order to cool down what has been passionately experienced so far that it can even be edited and put into a valid form: What applies to the lyricist Benn does not apply to the painter Nawrath less. He lets himself be inspired spontaneously by a world excerpt, but then calmly checks it for its art suitability, in order to finally add, correct, and recombine it with other world excerpts here and there. Only in the rarest of cases is what is seen directly useful as a template for a picture; Nawrath's realism is a cleverly staged realism, which purifies reality into symbolic quality through subtle processing. "

Atelier openings

In 1995, Nawrath took his 100th picture, Lifeboat , as an opportunity to present his work to his growing group of collectors and interested parties at his first studio vernissage. Since then, the artist has shown his annual production on the last weekend in November.

At the meanwhile more than 25 events, writers, art historians, cultural scientists, journalists and pastors spoke: Mirko Bonné , Maike Bruhns , Ralf Busch , Wolfgang Büscher, Johann Hinrich Claussen , László F. Földényi, Thomas C. Garbe, Sylvia Geist , Friedrich Gross, Katharina Hagena , Wolfgang Hegewald , Paul Theodor Hoffmann, Harald Kimpel, Rainer Moritz , Hellmuth Opitz, Matthias Politycki, Hendrik Rost , Ulrich Schacht , Wolfgang Schömel, Jens Sparschuh , Burkhard Spinnen and Guntram Vesper . Over the years a series of subjective and knowledgeable commentaries on the progress of Nawrath's work has emerged. Some of the speeches were self-published.

The film made by Christopher Landerer, camera, and Wolfgang Stockmann, sound and mix at the 25th atelier vernissage, is entitled “Cool Fascination”.

Solo exhibitions (selection)

• 1993
  • Art stairs of the Hamburger Abendblatt in the Hanseviertel
• 1994
  • Gallery behind Lenchen's house, Bendorf near Koblenz
• 1997
  • Multiple Art Gallery, Hamburg
• 1999
  • German Central Library Aabenraa, Denmark
• 2000
  • Buch und Kunst Antiquariat Dietrich Schaper
  • Hamburg bookstore Felix Jud
• 2001
  • Waldfrieden House, Alf / Mosel
  • SPD parliamentary group, Hamburg City Hall
• 2002
  • Kreissparkasse Düsseldorf
  • Hamburg bookstore Felix Jud
• 2000
  • Art dealer Genner, Duisburg
  • Art dealer Klinghammer, Cologne
  • Art in the Rotunda, GEA Center, Bochum (double exhibition with Rona Rangsch)
• 2005
  • “Reflexes, reflections, seascapes”, exhibition in the Levantehaus Hamburg, organized by Dietrich Schaper Kunsthandel
  • "Landscape painting 1985-2005", retrospective for the 50th birthday in the Ernst Barlach Museum Ratzeburg
• 2006
  • Bengelsträter Gallery, Iserlohn
• 2008
  • “Snapshots”, Galerie G, Heidelberg
  • “There are motifs everywhere. Only someone has to paint them. Landscapes and Seascapes ”, Sauerland Museum, Arnsberg
• 2009
  • "Italian places of longing - pictures from Rome, Venice and Tuscany", Galerie im Georgshof, Alfred Toepfer Foundation FVS Hamburg
  • "Landscapes and Seascapes - Acrylic Paintings 1999 - 2009", Deutsche Zentralbücherei, Aabenraa, Denmark
• 2010
  • “Heidelberg beyond the vedute”, Galerie G, Heidelberg
• 2013
  • Galerie Tobien, Husum (double exhibition with Folkert Rasch, Cologne)
• 2015
  • "Field, forest and water pictures", Museum im Marstall, Winsen
  • “Blue Pictures in the Blue House”, Sauerland Museum, Arnsberg
  • "StadtLandSee 1995-2015", Marschtorzwinger, Buxtehude

Participation in exhibitions (selection)

• 1990
  • Art Hamburg - International art fair
• 1991
  • Book and graphics Hoffmann, Eutin
• 1992
  • Kunsthalle Schirn, Frankfurt, exhibition of the award winners
  • Works for the German Art Prize of the Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken
• 1997
  • 10 years of the Kunsttreppe of the Hamburger Abendblatt, Hamburg Stock Exchange
• 2003
  • “Quod libet”, antiquarian book fair in the Hamburg Stock Exchange, book and art antiquarian bookshop Dietrich Schaper
• 2004
  • “The Elbe at a Glance” - works from the collection of the Hamburger Sparkasse, exhibition at the Haspa headquarters
• 2006
  • “Hamburg is changing, artistically”, exhibition of the Hamburger Sparkasse in the headquarters of Haspa
• 2007
  • Cologne Fine Art, Schaper art dealer
• 2009
  • antique & art fair düsseldorf, Galerie G, Heidelberg
  • Art & Antiques Munich am Nockherberg, Galerie G, Heidelberg
• 2010
  • antique & art fair düsseldorf, Galerie G, Heidelberg
  • Art & Antiques Munich am Nockherberg, Galerie G, Heidelberg
• 2015
  • “Looking Hamburg in the Face - Portraits from Five Centuries” Hamburg Museum
• 2016
  • Art Karlsruhe, Art Competence Petra Kern, Heidelberg
  • "Beinander - art & poetry - 35 booklets", Drostei, Pinneberg
• 2017
  • Art Karlsruhe, Art Competence Petra Kern, Heidelberg
  • Die Drostei, Pinneberg, 6th regional show of North German and Danish artists. Then in Haderslev, Denmark
  • Art Competence Petra Kern, “50 Years of Art Trading in Heidelberg”, Rohrbacher Schlösschen

Commercial art

Johannes Nawrath has been working as a freelance graphic designer in Hamburg since 1981. His work includes posters, cover design, advertising for cultural institutions and festivals, social organizations, publishers and bookshops, among others. Among other things, he designed the illustrations for the first 99 titles of the feminist Ariadne crime novels.

Clients were among others: Arbeiterwohlfahrt Hamburg. Argument-Verlag, Hamburg, CF Müller Verlag, Karlsruhe, Eutiner Festival, Dance Theater Hamburg, Verlag am Galgenberg , Hamburg, Zu Klampen Verlag , Lüneburg.

Publications (selection)

• Siding. Publishers Dölling and Galitz, Hamburg 1994.
• Loneliness, light and silence. About Johannes Nawrath and his seascapes. Thomas C. Garbe, speech for the 5th studio vernissage. Private printing, Hamburg 1999.
• Johannes Nawrath - What happens to things in the light. With contributions by Robert Gernhardt, László F. Földényi, Ulrich Schacht, Verlag Dölling and Galitz, Hamburg 2002.
• Johannes Nawrath - landscape painting. Publication for the exhibition in the Ernst Barlach Museum, Ratzeburg. With texts by Wolfgang Büscher, Ralf Busch, Jürgen Doppelstein, László F. Földényi, Johannes Nawrath, Matthias Politycki, Guntram Vesper. Private print, Hamburg 2005.
• The game we all remember. Play with the memory pictures by Johannes Nawrath. Private printing, Hamburg 2008,
• Abandoned Places - Lost Items. Poems by Hellmuth Opitz, graphics by Johannes Nawrath. Private print, Hamburg 2013.
• Precautions. Thirteen pictures by Johannes Nawrath with quotations from articles in the Internet dictionary Wikipedia. Private printing, Hamburg 2015.
• Old paint. Six pallet pictures by Johannes Nawrath - poems by Mirko Bonné, Sylvia Geist, Robert Gernhardt, Hellmuth Opitz, Matthias Politycki, Ulrich Schacht. Private printing, Hamburg 2017.
• Introduce yourself. Or a look, longer than a lifetime - poems on pictures by Johannes Nawrath. Hendrik Rost. Private printing, Hamburg 2018.
• Matthias Politycki palpitations, cold eyes, serenity. Speech at the 25th atelier opening. Private printing. Hamburg 2019.
• Johannes Nawrath: Lofoten pictures. Private printing, Hamburg 2020.
• Johannes Nawrath: There are motifs everywhere. Only someone has to paint them. Insights, outlooks and reviews. Private printing, Hamburg 2019.

Web links

• Website by Johannes Nawrath

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Robert Gernhardt: A school of seeing: Just perceive what is. Speech for the exhibition opening in Haus Waldfrieden on April 15, 2001. In: Johannes Nawrath - What happens to things in the light. Hamburg 2002.
2. ^ Friedrich Gross: Laconic pictorial poetry. In: Siding. Hamburg 1997.
3. ^ László F. Földényi: The fragile body of the world. Speech for the studio opening on November 26th, 2000. In: Johannes Nawrath - What happens to things in the light. Hamburg 2002.
4. ^ Wolfgang books: Johannes Nawrath - painter of the ways. Speech for the ninth atelier opening on November 23, 2003. In: Johannes Nawrath - Landschaftsmalerei. Publication for the exhibition in the Ernst Barlach Museum, Ratzeburg. Hamburg 2005.
5. ↑ Wolfgang Schömel: Pedant of the transition. In: Ziegel _ Hamburger Jahrbuch für Literatur. 10, Hamburg 2006.
6. ↑ Harald Kimpel: Of pictures and palettes. Speech for the 23rd Atelier Vernissage on November 26th, 2011. In: Supplement to Old Color - Six Pallet Pictures by Johannes Nawrath. Hamburg 2017.>! - Page ?? ->
7. ^ Matthias Politycki: palpitation, cold look, serenity. Speech at the 25th Atelier Vernissage, Hamburg 2019.
8. ↑ http://www.johannes-nawrath.de/biographie/video-2019.php