Wolfgang Harms (painter)

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Wolfgang Harms (2020)

Wolfgang Harms (born May 3, 1950 in Unterbissingen , Bavaria) is a German painter whose oil paintings, wall paintings, graphics and drawings are mainly assigned to "fantastic realism". He lives and works in Nuremberg.

life and work

Wolfgang Harms in his studio

After apprenticeship and college in Augsburg, Harms studied from 1972 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg . From 1978 to 1983 he was assistant to Prof. Günter Voglsamer , who taught wall painting and free painting there. In 1981 he received a scholarship for the summer academy in Salzburg, where he met Ernst Fuchs , the co-founder of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. Harms, who at that time found himself confirmed by Fuchs in his conception of art, then developed his own style based on old masters' aesthetics and technology. In their technical perfection and intense splendor of colors, his panel paintings and wall paintings refer to the works of the great Renaissance artists. The distinctive design language is described as fantastic-realistic. Harms is also considered to be one of the most famous representatives of trompe l'oeil painting.

Harms became known to a broader public primarily through his wall paintings in public spaces. In 1986 the city of Nuremberg commissioned him with a design proposal for the reconstruction of Dürer's wall paintings in the historic town hall, which had been destroyed in World War II. The plans were never realized. In 1987 he painted an urban bunker, the so-called “Bleißweißbunker”, on behalf of the city. He designed some walls for Max Grundig in his Schlosshotel Bühlerhöhe near Baden-Baden, and then also in the Berlin Café Möhring on Kurfürstendamm. Several public and private orders for wall designs followed in several European countries and in Africa. In 1991 he painted part of the presidential palace in Abuja / Nigeria.

At the same time, he used an elaborate glaze technique to create numerous, in some cases large-format, panel paintings, on which he varied some of his preferred figurative motifs, such as the moon bird and blossom blower. They were mainly acquired by private clients. Harms designed cover pages for the environmental magazine Natur (No. 11, 1982: "Apples on the test stand", No. 2, 1983: "Seagulls. Mass increase through wealthy garbage", No. 3, 1983: "Red. Optical magnet in nature" No. 5, 1983, "Soils. Mines of Life").

The artist avowedly refuses to go to commercially oriented art fashions. He wished for, as he put it in an exhibition opening, “biodiversity not only in nature, but also biodiversity in art”.

Reviews / press reviews

"But then there are also the secret barbs, as it were of the type of pliers and saw teeth with which Wolfgang Harms armed his magnificently painted flowers and fruits."

- Jürgen Monschel : Süddeutsche Zeitung. 1979

"Wolfgang Harms. A painter prince who gets by without airs. He has his finger on the pulse of the times, but has a keen sense for the human emotional world. "

- Upper Austrian news. 2013

"The artist's representations of lush, overgrown mixed forms of birds, plants, people and architecture look like refined cut gemstones that shimmer in all possible colors and gradations."

- Bernd Zachow : Nürnberger Nachrichten. 2015

"With his work he counters the contradictions of our fast-moving times with the constant validity of art."

- Robert Haas : Mainpost. 2017

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 1975 to 1982 participation in the Munich Art Salon
  • 1978 Tyrolean summer, Innsbruck
  • 1980 European Gallery Onishi Nagoya, Japan
  • 1988 Wolframs-Eschenbacher Kulturtage
  • 1999 Benediktbeuern Abbey and Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
  • 2002 Künstlerhaus Nürnberg
  • 2005 Salon d'automne Paris and Galerie Bos, The Hague
  • 2006 House of Art, Munich
  • Salon des Artist Independants, Paris
  • 2007 "Master of eye delusion in contemporary painting", Fembohaus Nuremberg
  • 2009 “Dante's divine comedy”, Viechtach town hall
  • 2010 “Power of Imagination”, Riegersburg Baroque Palace, Austria
  • 2011 "art-imaginary-2011", Herrenhof Neustadt-Mußbach
  • 2013 Solo exhibition in Höchstädt Castle / Danube
  • 2014 “Interior Views of the World” - Pyramid Exhibition Center in the Center for Cultural and Contemporary History, Berlin
  • 2015 “fantastic art” gallery Jacobsa, Nuremberg
  • 2016 “kunstvereint” - Franconian artists in the Bavarian State Parliament, Munich
  • 2017 “Moon bird and blossom blower”, historic town hall, Kitzingen
  • 2019 “Fantastic Friends”, Galerie Jacobsa, Nuremberg

Literature (selection)

Mentions and analyzes of the art of Wolfgang Harms:

  • Claus Brusen, Claude Verlinde: Imaginaire I: magic realism 2008–2009. Fantasmus-Art, Solsbaek 2008, ISBN 978-87-992147-1-6 , pp. 68, 69.
  • Claus Brusen: Imaginaire II: magic realism 2010. Fantasmus Art, Saeby 2010, ISBN 978-87-992147-4-7 , pp. 76, 77, 78, 79.
  • Claus Brusen, Michael Hiep: Imaginaire III: Contemporary magic realism Fantasmus Art. Saeby 2011, ISBN 978-87-992147-8-5 , pp. 90, 91.
  • Claus Brusen: Imaginaire IV. 2011. ISBN 978-87-993936-1-9 , pp. 12-25.
  • Gerhard Habarta: Lexicon of Fantastic Artists…. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2009, ISBN 978-3-8370-8427-6 , p. 200.
  • Moon bird and flower blowers. Catalog book 2017, Kulturverein PAM Kitzingen.
  • Kuno Schumacher: "Interior views and world views" Representative art in Germany. Catalog book 2014.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The highest technical perfection. In: Rother newspaper. November 11, 2005.
  2. ↑ Siegfried Sebelka: PAM presents fantastic things . In: Mainpost. Kitzingen, June 10, 2017
  3. ↑ Gert Fürtenberger: Moon birds and fleeing cubes, exhibition by Wolfgang Harms confronted with an overflowing, lush fantasy world. In: Fürth News. 12/1997.
  4. ↑ eye illusions. In: Schwabacher Tagblatt. October 10, 2002
  5. ↑ Beautiful illusory worlds. (shout) In: Nürnberger Nachrichten. May 16, 2007.
  6. ↑ Evelyn Scherfenberg: Magician of the walls. In: Nürnberger Nachrichten, weekly magazine, Easter 1997.
  7. ^ Peter Schmitt: Art in the mills - scandal about the painting of the Nuremberg town hall hall. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. March 2, 1989.
  8. ↑ Claudine Stauber: The painter invited people to the studio with an advertisement. In: Nürnberger Nachrichten. June 21, 2000.
  9. ↑ Cityscape Initiative Nuremberg: Facade paintings on the lead white bunker disappear. In: Cityscape Initiative Nuremberg. February 16, 2018, accessed on June 25, 2020 (German).
  10. ^ Benno Kroll: Bühlerhöhe: Visiting Max Grundig. In: Bunte. Issue 36, September 1, 1988, p. 25.
  11. ↑ Elisabeth von Walderdorff: Bühlerhöhe - Max Grundig's millionaire dream. In: Ambiente. 9/88, August 26, 1988.
  12. ↑ The radio king's court painter beautified the walls…. In: Berliner Zeitung. April 8, 1989
  13. ↑ Mage of the Walls is in constant use. In: Cuxhavener Nachrichten. March 3, 2001.
  14. ↑ With the help of fantastic dreams to your own self. In: Franconian Day. August 10, 1996.
  15. ^ Oversized landscape, Wolfgang Harms is working on a seven meter wide painting. In: Nürnberger Nachrichten. September 14, 2010.
  16. ↑ Josef Schneider: The fantastic-realistic moon bird. In: Ellwanger Zeitung. October 15, 2001.
  17. ↑ Robert Schmitt: Against leveling off. In: Schwabacher Tagblatt. January 21, 2009
  18. ↑ Painting that is close to reality. June 8, 2013 ( nachrichten.at ).
personal data
SURNAME Harms, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH May 3, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Unterbissingen , Bavaria