Radu-Anton Maier

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Radu-Anton Maier, 2012

Radu-Anton Maier (born April 28, 1934 in Klausenburg ( Transylvania ) / Romania ) is a German painter , graphic artist , draftsman and book illustrator . He is one of the " luminaries of the explosive generation of the 1970s". His creations are a symbiosis of classic themes and modern techniques, characterized by the consistent break with a previous uniform tradition.

Life

Radu, as his stage name is, began his artistic training in 1956 at the " Ion Andreescu " art academy in Cluj-Napoca . Between 1952 and 1958 he studied painting and graphics with Professors Aurel Ciupe and Theodor Harsia. After successfully completing his “Diplom in Arte” (in Germany as DIA), he stayed at the academy as assistant to Prof. Ciupe and also worked for a few years in Prof. Corneliu Baba's studio in Bucharest .

A scholarship from the "Pietro Vannucci" art academy in Perugia / Italy in 1964 enabled him to enter into a direct dialogue with free European art . "A real artistic development was almost impossible during the student years in Romania - says the painter - because every budding artist was careful not to violate any taboo of effective socialist realism." As can be seen from this quote, a conflict with the socialist-realistic guidelines of the academy was already inevitable. A forty square meter fresco , painted by RADU for the Republica cinema in Cluj / Romania, was scraped off and covered overnight on the basis of a resolution by the Communist Party - on the grounds that the fresco was “decadent” and “class hostile”. Shortly afterwards, in protest, the painter left the country for good.

plant

The further development of the artist in Germany was accompanied by the constant search for new, artistic forms of expression. The landscapes of Radu, whether architecture or interpretations of ruins , whether desert or alpine structures , are not only deserted, but in their barreness even misanthropic. Radu's jagged rocks and eroded lava masses reflect a bizarre strangeness.

The artist's technique is multifaceted and multi-layered: there is almost no pure oil painting , pure watercolor , pure acrylic or tempera painting , but rather a mixture of all directions. Brushes are rarely used, rather knives, scrapers, razor blades, needles, milling cutters, templates, sandpaper, rubber rollers, and then airbrushes . Printing, impression, frottage and accrochage complete this extensive painting medium and "hand tool". Radu describes the up to eight superimposed layers of paint, insulating varnish and varnish as a mixed technique .

Stylistically, Radu's work is difficult - if at all - to assign to a trend; Due to his preference for ruins of Roman and Greek origin one is inclined - superficially - to locate him in the creative universe of Caspar David Friedrich, but the color range , the variety of technical means and, last but not least, an increasingly common, difficult to identify fear that is reflected in Radus' pictures - separates him from the classical romanticism of the 17th century.

On the surface, one could assign Radu to the Lyric Surrealists . Some elements from the fund of Marx Ernst or Paul Klee can also be identified. The critics had a relatively difficult time with Radu's work: He was accused of using the frequent forays into the past, to fields of ruins and archaeological excavation sites, merely as a "refuge" or as an evasion maneuver from the far more compelling problems of the present . Over the decades, however, one had been able to filter out environmentally critical attitudes quite clearly - especially from his cycle "Falling Down Monuments". The series “ Venice / Laguna malata”, which has been continuously expanded in the past decades , is more of a kind of agony protocol than an advertisement for the UNESCO World Heritage Site . Radu sees his pictures as discrete, intense, but not aggressive warnings to humanity.

His motto is:

"The artist touches on the problems - he does not solve them"

- Radu-Anton Maier

Exhibitions (selection)

Solo exhibitions

  • 1957 - Exhibition in Leningrad, Soviet Union.
  • 1958 - Exhibition in Kiev, Soviet Union.
  • 1958 - Exhibition in Cluj, Romania.
  • 1964 - Exhibition in Perugia, Italy.
  • 1966 - Exhibition in Iassy, ​​Miercurea-Ciuc and Arad, Romania.
  • 1967 - Large retrospective (over 80 exhibits), Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
  • 1967 - A large wall painting that extends over a width of 30 m is destroyed; the communist leadership had described the fresco as "bourgeois-decadent" (foyer of the “Republica” cinema, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania).
  • 1968 - Exhibition in the "House of Encounter", Munich.
  • 1968–1974 - Several single u. Group exhibitions.

Bern (Switzerland), Munich, Esslingen, Regensburg and Heilbronn.

  • 1970 - "Oil painting in mixed media and collages", House of Encounter, Munich.
  • 1970 - Exhibition in the "Galerie pro Arte", Munich.
  • 1971 - Exhibition by the " Siemens Stiftung ", Munich.
  • 1972 - Exhibition in the "Galerie des Atelier-Theater", Bern ( Switzerland ).
  • Since 1973 - Participation in the exhibitions of the Esslingen Artists' Guild in the " Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie ", Regensburg .
  • 1974 - Exhibition - Gallery Symposium of the Arts, Mannheim .
  • 1974 - Exhibition in the Transylvanian Museum , Horneck Castle .
  • 1976 - Exhibition at "Galerie No. 18", Essen .
  • 1977 - Mixed media painting, exhibition in the " Transylvanian Museum " Schloss Horneck / Gundelsheim.
  • 1979–1981 - Periodic exhibitions in the Antares Gallery, Munich .
  • 1983 - Exhibition in the "Galerie Möring", Wiesbaden.
  • 1983 - Exhibition at the Lincoln Gallery, New York , USA .
  • 1984 - Anniversary exhibition "The small retrospective", gallery in the Ismaning Palace pavilion , Munich.
  • 1986 - Exhibition in Le Vigan, France .
  • 1988 - Exhibition - Galerie pro Arte, Munich.
  • 1989–1990 - Exhibitions on the premises of the government of Upper Bavaria , Munich.
  • 1991 - After almost a quarter of a century, for the time, an important, politically meaningful action exhibition in Cluj-Napoca.
  • 1995 - Large solo exhibition, with over 140 exhibits, Cluj-Napoca.
  • 1997 - Exhibition in the National Museum, Cluj-Napoca.
  • 1998 - Exhibition at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Cluj-Napoca.
  • 1999 - Exhibition in the "Frezia" gallery, Dej.
  • 2001 - Exhibition - Brukenthal Museum , Sibiu .
  • 2002 - 2nd exhibition - Galerie Frezia, Dej.
  • 2003 - Exhibition “Painting, Graphics, Mixed Media”, National Museum Cluj.
  • 2005 - Exhibition "Transfiguration of the Real", Casa Vernescu, Bucharest .
  • 2007 - Exhibition “Laguna Malata I”, Cluj-Napoca.
  • 2008 - “Laguna Malata II” exhibition, “Frezia” Dej gallery.
  • 2009 - “Personala RADU”, CASA ARTELOR gallery, Cluj-Napoca.
  • 2009 - Founding of the RADUART gallery, Fürstenfeldbruck .
  • 2010 - "Forever Virtual. Works by the painter Radu Maier ”, Gallery of the Consulate General of Romania, Munich.
  • 2010 - Opening of the RADUART gallery and the RADU vernissage in the Raduart gallery in Fürstenfeldbruck. The exhibition contains a cross-section of the artist's activity over the past 10 years.

Group exhibitions

  • 1962 - Timișoara exhibition .
  • 1963 - Exhibition in Bucharest.
  • 1975 - Large art exhibition, Munich
  • Since 1975 she has regularly participated in the Great Art Exhibition in Munich.
  • 1977 - "Landscapes", annual exhibition of the artists' guild, East German Gallery Regensburg.
  • 1978 - Exhibition “Paris meets Munich”, Galerie Antares, Munich.
  • 1979 - Large art exhibition, Munich
  • 1979 - "Eight artists exhibit: Landscapes", Studio-Galerie Frechen .
  • 1979 - Exhibition in the "Galerie Antares", Munich.
  • 1982 - Great German Art Exhibition , Munich.
  • 1986 - Exhibition in the "Galerie im Schlosspavillon" (with Elisabeth Enders and Silvia Sachse), Ismaning, Munich.
  • 1997 - once four. Sculptures and paintings by Liane Axinthe, Sandra Dunca, Elena Vlad-Loth, Radu Maier - Exhibition by the Bavarian Insurance Chamber and the Professional Association of Visual Artists Munich and Upper Bavaria e. V.
  • 2004 - "Faith has survived", Residenz , Munich.
  • 2004 - Exhibition on the premises of the Ministry of Labor, Munich.
  • 2005 - Exhibition “Bavaria-Venice” - Istituto Romeno di Cultura e Ricerca Umanistica , Venice, Italy.
  • 2009 - "Apoziția 40", Gallery of the Consulate General of Romania, Munich.
  • 2011 - Exhibition Artists from Transylvania - Borders that Unite in the Raduart gallery . Eleven contemporary artists from Transylvania show painting , graphics , object art and sculptures in a joint exhibition .
  • 2011 - Exhibition Galerie Raduart lets flowers speak! in the Raduart gallery in Fürstenfeldbruck.
  • 2012 - Exhibition Artists from Transylvania - Borders that Unite in the Raduart gallery . Seven contemporary artists from Transylvania show paintings, graphics and sculptures in a joint exhibition.

photos

  • Ad majorem

  • Canale della Giudecca

  • The rubber horizon

  • Asfintzite IV

  • Porta desserto

  • Are we ready yet?

State and private collections

A considerable part of Radu-Anton Maier's work can be found in museums , galleries and private collections in Germany, Romania, Italy, England, Sweden, Austria, France, Australia, Brazil, Hungary and the USA.

Honors

  • 1999 - Due to his artistic activity, which spanned more than 30 years, Radu-Anton Maier is made an honorary citizen of Cluj-Napoca.
  • 2000 - The ASLA Academy from Großwardein (Academy for Science, Literature and Art) awards Radu-Anton Maier the Grand Prize for Painting of the year 2000.
  • 2003 - Radu-Anton Maier is also awarded the Order of Cavalier of the Arts by the ASLA Academy.

Publications (selection)

Criticism of the work (selection)

  • Monograph Discipline - Meditation - Lyrism - Radu-Anton Maier. By Titu Popescu, with contributions by Cornelius R. Zach, Ionel Jianou, Günter Ott, José Fernandez-Rojo and Erich Pfeiffer-Belli, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-88356-062-6 .
  • Ocatvian Barbosa, Dicționarul artiștilor români contemporani. Bucharest, 1976.
  • Clujeni ai secolului XX. Dictionar esential , Casa Cartii de Stiinta, Cluj-Napoca, 2000.
  • Personalitati clujene (1800-2007). Dictionar , Casa Cartii de Stiinta, Cluj-Napoca, 2007.
  • Radu's belated warnings to humanity. in Münchner Merkur, 5, 1981.
  • Expozitia jubiliara a pictorului Radu Maier. by Pavel Chihaia, Cuvantul romanesc, December 1984.
  • ˈ Concrete Painting ’and Organic Visions’. by Gertrud Adams, excerpt from Stadtanzeiger No. 83 v. 29, 1985.
  • Symbol and Reality, A Munich painter from Transylvania: RA Maier. by Günter Ott, Spiegel
  • The painting universe by Radu Anton Maier. by Cornelius R. Zach, in "Südostdeutsche Vierteljahres Blätter", special print from series 1/1985, 34th year.
  • Transfusions in art. by Günter Ott, in special print Deutsches Ärzteblatt - medical communications, September 3, 1983.
  • Adrian M. Darmon: Autour de l'art juif: encyclopédie des peintres, photographes et sculpteurs. Carnot, 2003, ISBN 2-84855-011-2 .
  • "Radu Maier și legendele unei lumi posibile", Pavel Chihaia.
  • Marele absent și lumina lui lină. Nicolae Florescu.
  • Expoziția Radu Maier. by Viorica Gui-Marica, Steaua, 4/1991.
  • Un mare artist, Radu Anton Maier. by Dr. Alexandra Rus, Adevărul , November 5, 2003.
  • Les artistes roumains en occident. by Ionel Jianou, Gabriele Carp, Ana Maria Covric, Lionel Scantéyé, Paris, 1986.
  • Radu Maier se aventurează în lumină. by Dorin Petrișor, Ziarul de Cluj, May 1999.
  • Julia Huss: The roots of an artist. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich), May 4, 2018.
  • Hans Werner Schuster: Visions congealed into the picture - airbrush painting by Radu-Anton Maier shown in Dinkelsbühl. In: Siebenbürgische Zeitung (Munich), June 12, 2018.
  • Claus Stephani: Face to face . On the sidelines of a portrait exhibition by Radu Anton Maier. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung für Romania (Bucharest), Vol. 27, No. 6622, June 14, 2019, p. 7.

Interviews (selection)

  • Rooted - uprooted. Claus Stephani in conversation with the German-Romanian painter and graphic artist Radu-Anton Maier. In: General German newspaper for Romania (Bucharest), November 27, 2017.
  • Radu Anton Maier, Ars Poetica. Tribuna, 1/15. November 2009.
  • Țara în care m-am născut a fost și este pentru mine o oază. Part I and II, interview by Svetlana Teleucă, Luceafarul.
  • Înțelept și resemnat - sau resemnat din / prin înțelepciune. Interview by Svetlana Teleucă, Revista UNU, No. 1–2 (155–156), January – February 2003.
  • La Cluj sunt omul din Vest, iar în Germania sunt încă "exotic". Interview with Radu Anton Maier, Mesagerul transilvan, May 1999.
  • Cu Radu Maier despre o anume necesară <deformare> a realității. Interview by Nicolae Florescu, Jurnalul literar, September 1994.
  • Accente - Radu Anton Maier. Jurnalul literary, September 1994.

Web links

Commons : Radu-Anton Maier  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Prof. univ. Dr. Alexandra Rus., Radu. Venice. Laguna Malata . Interview on the occasion of the solo exhibition, Klausenburg, 2007.
  2. ↑ Monograph "Discipline - Meditation - Lyrism - Radu-Anton Maier". By Titu Popescu, with contributions by Cornelius R. Zach, Ionel Jianou, Günter Ott, José Fernandez-Rojo and Erich Pfeiffer-Belli, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-88356-062-6 .
  3. ↑ http://adz.ro/kultur/artikel-kultur/artikel/von-angesicht-zu-angesicht
  4. ↑ http://www.adz.ro/kultur/artikel-kultur/artikel/verwurzelt-entwurzelt
personal data
SURNAME Maier, Radu-Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, graphic artist, draftsman and book illustrator
DATE OF BIRTH April 28, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Cluj , Transylvania , Romania