Karl Bungert

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Karl Bungert (born June 6, 1928 in Dortmund , † May 31, 1979 in Berlin ) was a German painter. He is considered a representative of the brut or Outsider Art .

life and work

Karl Bungert spent his youth in Wolbeck and, after high school, studied theology and philosophy at the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster for three years . In 1955 he moved to Darmstadt and, at the suggestion of his friend Hanns Hoffmann-Lederer, attended the Werkkunstschule Darmstadt , which he left after a short time and from then on worked as an autodidact. In 1957 he moved to Amsterdam , lived in Berlin for a few years from 1961 and returned to Amsterdam in 1964. During this time he also had his first solo exhibition with rather naive drawings and gouaches in the Clasing Gallery in Münster. In 1969 he finally moved to Antwerp.

His work has now become more striking: “Wide black lines outline simple shapes that form figures and things. There is no modeling. The inner surfaces are evenly filled, the strong colors - which are joined by white and black - are combined with a rich contrast. ”His artistic theme was the human being as a robot, a slave victim of greed for power and insatiable sexuality. The "desires, frustrations and obsessions projected onto the outside world are given the status of fundamental elements of social criticism". In 1970 he exhibited, curated by Flor Bex, together with Wout Vercammen, Filip Francis, Luc Deleu and others in the building of the newly opened Empire Shopping Center in Antwerp. His work was removed by the regulatory authorities the next day because of its content, which had been marked as obscene and provocative. The same happened to him a few months later at his exhibition in the Tour de Medi (Zuidertoren) in Brussels, where the works were immediately taken down again.

At the instigation of his brother Herbert Bungert, who had supported him throughout his life, Helmut R. Leppien became aware of the work of Karl Bungert and in 1971 he organized his first museum exhibition in the Kunsthalle Cologne . In the following years, Karl Bungert lived and worked in increasing isolation. After his suicide in 1979, his name and his work were forgotten. It was not until 2009 that his pictures were made available to a wider public again through a retrospective at the Verbeke Foundation, Belgium.

Karl Bungert lived in Antwerp until his death. He had a son with Anne-Maria Elisabeth De Rooy, daughter of the Flemish poet Adriaan De Roover . His grave in the cemetery in Münster-Wolbeck has now been lifted.

Solo exhibitions

  • 1964: Galerie Clasing, Münster: Karl Bungert - watercolors and drawings
  • 1968: In the rooms of the “Vestzaktheater” (vest pocket theater) De Trapkes, Breda, Netherlands: Karl Bungert
  • 1971: Kunsthalle Köln: Karl Bungert, November 12, 1971 - January 30, 1972
  • 1972: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands: Bungert - drawings and gouaches, December 2, 1972 - January 21, 1973
  • 1974: Städtische Galerie Schloss Oberhausen: Bungert - A person is ticking in the clockwork of the machines, January 19 - March 3, 1974
  • 2009: Verbeke Foundation, Kemzeke, Belgium: Karl Bungert (1928–1979) - A retrospective, 23 May - 15 November 2009
  • 2019: Hachmeister Galerie, Münster, Karl Bungert - Outsider, May 25 - July 20, 2019

Group exhibitions

  • 1971: Galerie Het Vacuum, Antwerp, Belgium, March 19 - March 31, 1971
  • 1971: Galerie 5 Penta, Antwerp, Belgium: Artworker Star 1–2, November 12 - December 31, 1971
  • 1973: Empire Shopping Center, Antwerp, Belgium: 11 Antwerpse kunstenaars en de groep Ercola, September 15 - October 16, 1973
  • 1975: Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen: The individual and the mass, May 22nd - July 10th 1975
  • 1976: Kunsthalle Recklinghausen
  • 1994: Hachmeister Galerie, Münster: art brut - works on paper, together with: Dubuffet, Soutter, Bungert, Wölffli, Nedjar

literature

  • Bungert - A person is ticking in the clockwork of machines, catalog for the exhibition in the Städtische Galerie Schloss Oberhausen, 19.01. - 03.03. 1974
  • Art Brut, catalog for the exhibition: art brut - works on paper, 22.04. - 11.06. 1994

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For the biographical data see: Thomas Grochowiak, Karl Bungert, in: Bungert - A man ticks in the clockwork of machines, catalog for the exhibition in the Städtische Galerie Schloss Oberhausen, 19.01. - 03.03. 1974
  2. ↑ Helmut R. Lips in: Leaflet for the exhibition Bungert, Kunsthalle Köln, November 12, 1971 - January 30, 1972
  3. ↑ Flyer for the exhibition: Karl Bungert (1928–1979) - A Retrospective, Verbeke Foundation, Kemzeke, Belgium, 23.05. - November 15 2009, p. 5
  4. ↑ Arend Rossenschoon in: Wonen-TA-BK, tijdschrift voor huisvesting en omgeving, No. 4, 1973, p. 4 and p. 29. Cf. also: Karl Bungert, Künstler und Gesellschaft, in: Leaflet for the exhibition Bungert, Kunsthalle Cologne, November 12th, 1971 - January 30th, 1972
  5. ↑ Flyer for the exhibition: Karl Bungert (1928–1979) - A Retrospective, Verbeke Foundation, Kemzeke, Belgium, 23.05. - November 15 2009, p. 4. Cf. also: Antwerp art info 3, Verlag Foundation Puttendes, International Artist Promotion Services, Antwerp 1973, p. 0051, and: [1]
personal data
SURNAME Bungert, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH June 6, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Dortmund
DATE OF DEATH May 31, 1979
Place of death Berlin