Robert Rutman

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Robert "Bob" Rutman (born May 15, 1931 in Berlin ; † June 1, 2021 there ) was an internationally known German-American visual artist , musician and composer who began his career in the United States . He is considered a pioneer of multimedia - performance because he played on self-developed musical instruments or flexed. Rutman also made drawings, oil paintings, engravings and wire sculptures . He lived and worked in Berlin from 1990 until his death.

Life

Rutman was the child of a Jewish mother who emigrated from Nazi Germany in 1938 . The family first came to Poland, followed by a stay in England in 1939. After attending school there, Rutman went to the United States in 1950, had to do his military service in 1951 and was stationed in Heilbronn in the Federal Republic of Germany .

From 1955 to 1962 Rutman studied art in New York City and Mexico City . Soon after graduating from college, he founded an art gallery in New York. After he had departed from New York, he founded in Maine a multimedia gallery, but after four years of bankruptcy had to announce. In 1968, in Maine, Rutman made his first steel sculpture that can be played on using an arch . He called it Steel Cello and used it to give small concerts. Because of the great interest, he developed a wide variety of such new musical instruments in a short time. In 1975 Rutman finally founded the US Steel Cello Ensemble and has toured America and Europe since then. He continued his visual work in Boston , where he created most of his artistic work within a few years.

Rutman lived in Mexico for four years, where he married and fathered his son.

In 1990 Rutman moved permanently to Berlin and lived in the Berlin-Mitte district .

Brief description of the new sound body

Inspired by Rutmans instruments steel cellos of Dresdner Steel Quartet

The instruments are pre-bent metal panels, freely swinging bars or steel strings in fixed holders that are struck with a standard violin bow . Rutman borrows their construction, which is very heavy due to the material, from well-known designs such as a cello or percussion instruments and also names them like this: Steel Cello (cello made of steel), Bow chime ( loosely translated as bow sound generator), Buzz chime ( hum instrument) or Tabla , Chant bow chime and Horn , Three bow chimes . These are reminiscent of representations by Harry Bertoia . In addition, film excerpts will be played at the concerts.

Musical work (selection)

From the 1980s onwards, Rutman began putting together his own shows or pieces of music such as Dresden (1995; Commemoration of the Destruction of this City ), To Sleep By (1998), Song Of The Steel Cello (1999), Zuuhh Muttie Mum (1999) or Voyage by Heart . In 1999 he took part in the Berlin Atonal Music Festival , played in the shell of the Tiergarten tunnel and in many other mostly unusual places. With Voyage by Heart he performed in the Max-Taut-Aula in Berlin-Rummelsburg in January 2010.

Exhibitions of the slide works of art (selection)

  • Houston in Texas (1959)
  • Mexico City (1960)
  • New York (1963, 1964, 1983, 1985)
  • Boston (1962, 1978)
  • Barcelona (1990)
  • Berlin (1988, 1990, 1991)
  • Dresden (1995)

Collaboration with other artists (selection)

When developing his performances, Rutman repeatedly sought collaboration with important musicians, directors and composers. They included:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert Rutman at MusicBrainz (English)
  2. ^ Artist, musician and Berlin original: Robert "Bob" Rutman is dead. In: t-online.de . June 1, 2021, accessed June 5, 2021 .
  3. ↑ Biography Biography. In: rutman.de. June 2, 2021, accessed June 5, 2021 (English, German).
  4. ^ A b Robert Defcon, Max Dax : Robert Rutman: Interview. In: Alertmagazin.de. Archived from the original on February 11, 2013 ; accessed on June 5, 2021 .
  5. ↑ a b Multimedia in the Taut auditorium. Robert Rutman with Voyage by Heart. In: Berliner Abendblatt , edition for Lichtenberg, from January 16, 2010, page 10.
  6. ^ A b Robert Rutman / Us Steel Cello Ensemble-Bitter Suites, LP, 1979, USA. In: mutant-sounds.blogspot.com. March 21, 2007, accessed June 5, 2021 .
  7. ↑ Einstürzende Neubauten (Berlin 1st April 1980 - now): Chronology (II). In: FromTheArchives. May 5, 2020, accessed June 5, 2021 .
personal data
SURNAME Rutman, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rutman, Bob (nickname)
SHORT DESCRIPTION German-American visual artist, musician and composer
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin , Germany
DATE OF DEATH June 1, 2021
PLACE OF DEATH Berlin