Manfred Besser

Manfred Johannes Besser (born February 26, 1945 in Fürstenwerder (today Żuławki ) near Danzig ; † August 20, 2020 in Dahlenburg -Ellringen) was a German artist and curator .

Life and education

Manfred Besser was born in Fürstenwerder in 1945. In 1946 he and his family moved to Schleswig-Holstein.

After a long stay in Fontainebleau near Paris, he wished to become a painter in 1960. In 1964 Manfred Besser moved to Hamburg, where he studied from 1965 for three years at the Academy of Fine Arts with Willem Grimm . A year later his pictures were shown in a first exhibition in Jönköping, Sweden. During and after his studies, Manfred Besser worked continuously in the Port of Hamburg. The hustle and bustle and the special atmosphere of the port have accompanied him steadily in life and have had a lasting impact on his artistic work. It was fitting that he opened the Galerie Brücke 9 directly at the Landungsbrücken in 1972.

After a year, the gallery was closed again and Besser went to London and Paris, where he found inspiration for his next project: The office of fine artist materials . This art supplies shop, inspired by the English and French styles, has been one of the best-known places to go for artists from Hamburg and the surrounding area for 20 years. Artists like Paul Wunderlich , Horst Janssen , Gerhard Fietz and Udo Lindenberg bought their art supplies and sought advice from their specialist until 1998.

art

Since the 1980s, recurring motifs in his artistic work have been the water and the harbor. Manfred Besser lived by the great river all his life and worked at the port for more than ten years. The processing in his painterly works does not represent a critical examination, but rather a reproduction of the atmosphere and the so special port architecture. At the same time Manfred Besser dealt with landscape motifs. The focus was not on the natural depiction, but on the non-representational and even expressionistic expression. In 1998 Manfred Besser undertook his famous Elbe trip with friends in an open boat from Bad Schandau to Neu Darchau. A year later he created his pictures on the banks of the Elbe: “I made some sketches with clammy fingers on the way - nothing great, but I have most of it in my head,” Manfred Besser noted in his diaries. His pencil drawings, wood prints, line cuts, oil and acrylic works have been shown in numerous galleries and museums across Germany.

African collection

Manfred Besser also had an important collection of African art. Besser acquired the first sculptures in a barter deal in the Kontorer Feiner Künstlerwerkstoffe, later this was followed by an examination of the work of the Brücke artists, Nolde, Picasso and Gauguin, who integrated all the influences of African and Oceanic art into their works and thus increased interest in African cult objects still increased. The collection now includes more than a thousand exhibits, the artistic work was not visibly influenced.

Beyond art

First and foremost, Manfred Besser was an artist. But he was also a manager, collector and curator. He has curated 40 exhibitions especially for Udo Lindenberg and advised the German musician on artistic issues. In cooperation with the trust foundation Gerhard Fietz , Manfred Besser looked after the estate of Gerhard Fietz and had curated over 30 exhibitions for the important German artist of the post-war period.

Exhibitions (selection)

1966	In Jönköping, Sweden
1990	"Pictures from the edge of the harbor"
1993	"Arcadia's Gardens"
1995	"Pictures from 20 years"
2000	"City, Country, River", Museum of Hamburg History
2003	Heike Hinkelmann Gallery, Hamburg
2011	"Natur - Pur", Elbchaussee Eight Gallery, Hamburg
2014	Cismar Monastery, together with Klaus Fußmann

Curation (selection)

1986	"Patient and doctor: the sick person in the mirror of art"
2011/12	" Udo Lindenberg : Udo. The Exhibition". Neuhardenberg Castle, Museum of Arts and Crafts Hamburg and Augustusburg Hunting Lodge
2012	Gerhard Fietz : Every picture is a symbol
2014	Gerhard Fietz : Images of Russia

Individual evidence

1. ↑ memorial page. Accessed August 30, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Obituary notice. Accessed August 30, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Honor for Manfred Besser
4. ^ Stations in the life of Manfred Besser
5. ↑ Motifs by Manfred Besser
6. ↑ Nordlicht - paintings and drawings from 30 years - exhibition catalog, 2014.
7. ^ Stadt Land Fluss - Pictures from the banks of the Elbe exhibition catalog, Dresden 1999.