KRH Sonderborg

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Sonderborg 1962 in Hanover

KRH Sonderborg (born April 5, 1923 in Sønderborg (Denmark) as Kurt Rudolf Hoffmann ; † February 18, 2008 in Hamburg ) was one of the most important painters of the Informel art movement . He took his stage name based on his place of birth. The sons Steven and Julian come from his second marriage.

overview

“Sonderborg, born in 1923, appeared in public almost ten years ago and was immediately noticed, although what he was doing was anything but catchy. It was neither tachistic nor otherwise classified, it was, at least from 1953 on, very singular, it was memorable and was unmistakably Sonderborg. "

This characterization by Will Grohmann dates back to 1961 and, according to Detlef Bluemler, in his essay entitled "Form in State of Movement" from the Critical Lexicon of Contemporary Art - which is also the basis of the local text and from which the following quotations come - still claim to be valid today. Despite his art-historical classification as " Informel ", the artist has retained his own style, which often emerges from this "significance of the formless". Sonderborg's vita and art both correspond to Bazon Brock's dictum , according to which the artist must always be visible behind his work.

A good example of how reluctantly Sonderborg saw his work classified in art-historical categories and how little he wanted to define himself is what he said to Otto Stangl, a leading Munich gallery owner in the 50s and 60s, "I can. I can only say so much about my pictures that I know that I took them, where I took them and when I took them. "

His work is basically expressive and non-figurative, without any obvious reference to time. But in his works there are always images that clearly refer to current issues and seem "realistic". For example his depiction of a machine gun. It was created during the time of the RAF (Red Army Fraction), which kept the entire German population in suspense in the 1970s. Some art historical interpretations are based on the quick implementation of an optical impression, but Detlef Bluemler refers to Sonderborg's statement from a pamphlet against the “perversity” of so-called “peace tools”.

From 1965 to 1990 Sonderborg was Professor of Painting at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart with interruptions (leave of absence) from 1969 to 1970 as a visiting professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and in 1986 as a visiting professor at the Art Institute in Chicago. During the rectorate of Wolfgang Kermer , he was, on his suggestion, from 1980 prorector of the Stuttgart Academy for four years.

In 1994, at the age of 71, he went to Hamburg for inpatient treatment from Paul Götze because of a depression. Officially, he only lived in Hamburg from 1996 until his death.

Childhood and youth during National Socialism

Kurt Rudolf Hoffmann was born in Sønderborg / Als , Denmark , he was born without a right hand. Raised in Hamburg, he was taken to the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp from November 14, 1941 to March 16, 1942 at the age of 18 in Gestapo custody . The reason for detention was: Anglophilia , behavior that was harmful to the state with the aim of causing unrest among the population. “Two things”, recalls Sonderborg's long-time friend of the same age, the painter and art journalist Hans Platschek , “brought young people like Kurt Rudolf Hoffmann to this anti-subversive behavior at the time. Once they were just as repugnant of the marches, the step in step, the Hitler Youth Quex , the jagged speech of the newsreelers, as well as uniforms and compulsory military service or work. On the other hand, jazz, especially hot music, exerted such a lasting influence that the security authorities spoke of an “image of moral and character neglect”. The young people called themselves swings or swing boys [...]. They greeted each other with 'Swing-Heil'; the ideal life was the 'lotter life', from which the verb 'lottern' was derived […]. He seemed predestined for this life because his father, Kurt Hoffmann, was a jazz musician, trombonist, among others in the Heinz Wehner orchestra . "

Shortly before Sonderborg, who was still called Hoffmann at the time, was released, Heinrich Himmler wrote to Reinhard Heydrich : “I am sending you a report that Reich Youth Leader Axmann sent me about the 'Swing Youth ' in Hamburg. I know the State Secret Police have intervened before. In my opinion, however, the whole evil must be radically eradicated. [...] The stay in the concentration camp must be longer, 2-3 years. It must be so clear that they are never allowed to study again. "

These sentences describe the mood among some of the young people of this time, as well as documenting the terror of the National Socialist regime. However, they are primarily cited here because their content became the starting point for a life that continues to operate under the synonym "Swing" to this day, to which, however, an anarchic political consciousness should be added, as well as a pronounced sense of justice.

education

Since he had only one arm from birth, he was not drafted into the Reich Labor Service or the Wehrmacht. The young Kurt Rudolf Hoffmann first completed a commercial apprenticeship, after which he went to the Soviet Union as a purchasing assistant for a Hamburg export company . Only after returning did I have more intensive contact with art, first of all through my father, who was also a painter. However, he was primarily influenced by the painter Ewald Becker-Carus , who lives in the neighborhood, and from whom he took private lessons. This was followed by studies at the Landeskunstschule Hamburg , painting and graphics with Willem Grimm and textile design with Maria May . Already during his studies, which soon "bore" him because of his academic orientation, Sonderborg began to work according to his ideas of art, mostly in nature and encouraged by his father.

The Hamburg art climate at that time was primarily determined by objective expressionism , whose “fathers” were Emil Nolde and Edvard Munch . In addition to their followers, a small group had formed which paid homage to a freer abstraction and which had its origin in Rudolf Steiner's theosophical thinking.

In addition, Sonderborg in Hamburg came into contact for the first time with an environment that still fascinates him today and offers him subjects: first of all, the great Elbe river and the port of Hamburg with its pontoons, ships and cranes, as well as the tracks of the freight stations, which later became the metropolises and their airports should come.

The beginnings

The first (group) exhibition at the Hamburger Kunstverein was scheduled as early as 1949, which was followed by another one in 1951, after the one at the Hamburg Völkerkundemuseum in 1950. In that year he also took the name of his hometown. As a result, he followed similar paths as the artists of the “Informel”, for example Karl Fred Dahmen , KO Götz , Gerhard Hoehme , Bernard Schultze , Emil Schumacher , Fred Thieler and Hann Trier . In 1982, however, he himself asked whether he was an “informal” artist at all, that is, someone who worked without exception according to the principle of the formless, which was directed against geometric abstraction from the mid-1940s onwards.

According to Werner Schmalenbach , “the art of such an excellent artist as Sonderborg cannot be labeled according to this criterion alone . [...] It is obvious that she pays homage to the tempo. But after all, that does not affect the mental content of the pictures, only the style in which the mental disquiet is expressed here ”.

In the 1950s / 1960s, when movement and speed had a decisive influence on the avant-garde arts, Sonderborg found the inspiration for his work more in the street than in the museum, in art history, in which he did not see any role models anyway. Sonderborg was a participant in documenta II (1959) and documenta III in 1964 in Kassel . Already represented in 1955 in the exhibition “Peintures et sculptures non figuratives en Allemagne d'aujourd'hui” organized by René Drouin in the Cercle Volney , he figured in 1960, also in Paris, in the monumental show “Antagonismes”.

ZEN 49 and Action Painting

Willi Baumeister , Rolf Cavael , Gerhard Fietz , Rupprecht Geiger , Willy Hempel and Brigitte Meier-Denninghoff founded the ZEN 49 group in 1949, which Baumeister believes Sonderborg had joined in 1953. Precipitations of this more contemplative and spiritual direction can be found in Sonderborg's work, for example in his seemingly meditative drawing, August 5, 1953 . On the other hand, it was also driven by an outside world that paid homage to the dynamism of the new era of the 1950s and expressed itself in appropriate characterizations such as “supersonic, September 25, 1953”. In general, in all of his creative phases there were quieter, inward-looking drawings and images that signaled “forward” parallel to one another.

Sonderborg often changed the center of his life, which led critics to suspect that he needed movement not only in his art, but also in his life. In Paris , the Mecca of artists in the 1950s and 60s, he had an apartment for a long time. But he also stayed in Chicago and Berlin again and again. It is well known that even at an advanced age he was still a swing boy who likes to eat well, “moves around the house” for days and frequented the local jazz clubs extensively.

According to Detlef Bluemler, this state of waiting and waiting often lasted days before the act of painting itself began. He preferred to use a hotel room or any other room in which he could spread out as a studio. On the floor he arranged canvases, drawing cardboard, paints, brushes, spatulas, windshield wipers, scrapers, knives and other utensils within easy reach. In the painting process itself he achieved “a high level of alertness and concentration”, which, however, “does not prevent him from a contemplative calm and overview that exists at the same time”. It often took hours to prepare everything. He often corrected the arrangement of the aids in order to be able to guarantee an exact sequence of movements later. In the course of these activities his inner tension grew and then suddenly discharged, so that he suddenly started with great energy and speed, similar to what the fans of action painting do. He made use of the quick drying of egg tempera or acrylic paint . If he thought the work was over, he gave it a title. Since the 1960s these titles in Sonderborg have only consisted of dates, for example in the form of May 3, 1963, 21.02-21.21 h . According to his own statement, he refused any interpretative information about his work and only wanted to point out when, where and at what time they were created.

Since Sonderborg had no permanent studio for a long time, but mainly worked in hotel rooms, he was also referred to as a painter without a studio .

He was fascinated by the dynamics of the maelstrom such as the Moskenstraumen between the islands of Lofoten , which he toured several times. In his pictures you can always find these circling, dynamic eddies.

Occasionally, Sonderborg's works appear almost representational, especially when he made use of pen and ink drawing . In doing so, for technical reasons, he had to go to work more deliberately and could not constantly stop and start again. Nevertheless, here, too, the scraping or masking of lines reveals an unusual style .

reception

The art-historical position of the Informel and especially that of KRH Sonderborg is received inconsistently . Like Götz, Hoehme, Schultze, Thieler and Trier, he was also not represented in the Royal Academy's London exhibition “German Art in the 20th Century” . This is surprising, as it affected those artists who, after the 12 years of Nazi terror, actually symbolized the regained artistic freedom. The Stuttgart State Gallery , which took over the exhibition from London, granted Sonderborg a large solo show in 1987, which the city had another show in its gallery, combined with the Molfenter Prize , in 1988.

Björn Engholm , who was also a friend of the artist, is one of the collectors of Sonderborg's work . Wolfgang Kermer donated the works of the Städtische Galerie Neunkirchen that had been assigned to him over the course of decades by mutual agreement .

Awards

Exhibitions - during lifetime - (selection)

During his lifetime, KRH Sonderborg was, like Willi Baumeister , the most internationally exhibited contemporary German artist.

  • 1956: Hanover and Stockholm
  • 1957: Cologne, Berlin, Paris and Munich
  • 1958: Venice (Biennale)
  • 1959: Essen
  • 1960: Paris and Venice (Biennale)
  • 1961: New York "First One Man Show in USA"
  • 1963: São Paulo
  • 1978: Aalborg, Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum
  • 1993: Baden-Baden

Exhibitions -after his death- (selection)

  • 2012: Fürstenfeldbruck
  • 2019: Hamburg-Blankenese
  • 2019: Emil Schumacher Museum , Hagen, September 15, 2019 to February 9, 2020: "KRH Sonderborg - Images of Time and Space"

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ingeborg Ruthe: Painting like with dynamite: KRH Sonderborg is 80: Tatort picture area. Berliner Zeitung, April 5, 2003, accessed on June 22, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Peintures et sculptures non figuratives en Allemagne d'aujourd'hui , exposition du 7 avril au 8 may 1955, Cercle Volney, 7, rue Volney, Paris (invitation card). The exhibition catalog, which lists the works of 34 painters and three sculptors from the Federal Republic of Germany, is not at hand at the moment.
  3. ↑ Comité des arts du Congrès pour la liberté de la culture: Antagonismes . Musée des arts décoratifs, Palais du Louvre - Pavillon de Marsan, Paris, février 1960. Catalog par Julien Alvard et Frédéric Benrath, introduction de Herbert Read , p. 100, ill. P. 78.
  4. ↑ a b Alexander Klar: KRH Sonderborg, painter without a studio. Art gallery in Emden, Emden 2003.
  5. ↑ Homage to the artist KRH Sonderborg. Die Welt, April 19, 2013, accessed June 22, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Lars Rostrup Bøyesen: Sonderborg Malerier og tegninger . Information notification, no. 71, May 1978 (with catalog)

Literature (by date of publication)

  • Ulrich Schumacher and Rouven Lotz (eds.): KRH Sonderborg - Images of Time and Space, exhibition catalog Emil Schumacher Museum in Hagen, Dortmund 2019, ISBN 978-3-86206-778-7 .
  • Donation Wolfgang Kermer : inventory catalog. ed. from the Städtische Galerie Neunkirchen, Neunkirchen 2011, ISBN 978-3-941715-07-3 .
  • Alexander Klar: KRH Sonderborg, painter without a studio. Art gallery in Emden, Emden 2003.
  • Werner Meyer (Ed. For the Württembergischer Kunstverein ): KRH Sonderborg. , Cantz, Stuttgart 1992.
  • Johann-Karl Schmidt : Sonderborg 'I am Al Capone' In: KRH Sonderborg. Cantz, Stuttgart 1988.
  • Klaus Gallwitz Editorial Director: KRH Sonderborg , In: Contemporary Art in the Deutsche Bank , Frankfurt / M. 1987, pp. 238f
  • Helmut Heißenbüttel : The doubts of the informal. In: Kat. KRH Sonderborg, Chicago Series 1986. Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart 1987, p. 9.
  • Georg-W. Költzsch (Ed.): German Informel. Symposium Informel, 2nd edition. Berlin 1986, p. 123.
  • Hans Platschek: KRH Sonderborg: A prehistory. In: Kat. KRH Sonderborg. XPO Galerie, Hamburg 1985, p. 6ff.
  • Wolfgang Kermer : Complete list of literature and exhibitions . In: Kat. KRH Sonderborg . Ulmer Museum, Ulm 1977, pp. 30-32, 34-36, 39, 42, 44.
  • Werner Haftmann : KRH Sonderborg. In: Kat. KRH Sonderborg. Ulmer Museum, Ulm 1977, p. 10.
  • André S. Labarthe: Tuer un rat: Sonderborg . Éditions SMI, Collection “L'Art se raconte”, Paris 1974.
  • Otto Hahn: KRH Sonderborg , Stuttgart 1964 (translation from the French by Lore Eckhardt).
  • Una E. Johnson: Drawings of the Masters. 20th Century Drawings, Part 11.1940 to the Present, New York 1964, p. 138.
  • Werner Schmalenbach (Ed.): KRH Sonderborg. , Sao Paulo, VII Bienal Brasil., 1963 (Spanish language edition)
  • Will Grohmann : KRH Sonderborg. In: Quadrum. 1961, No. 10, p. 131.
  • Werner Schmalenbach: KRH Sonderborg. In: Hermann Reusch et al. (Ed.): Young artists 1958/59. Cologne 1958, p. 51.
  • KRHS In: Cat. Active-abstract, New Painting in Germany. City Munich Gallery 1957.
  • Exhibition catalog: KO Götz - KRH Sonderborg , introduction by Werner Schmalenbach. Kestner Society , Hanover, 1956
  • Gottfried Sello : Elegant, discreet and - up to date: On exhibitions by Pierre Bonnard, Götz and Sonderborg , in DIE ZEIT , issue 49/1956
  • Werner Haftmann: Painting in the 20th Century. Munich 1954, p. 463.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Sonderborg, KRH
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hoffmann, Kurt Rudolf (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter of the Art Informel art direction
DATE OF BIRTH April 5, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Sønderborg
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 2008
Place of death Hamburg