A.R. Penck in his studio in East London, July 1984 PHOTOGRAPH BY DANIEL BLAU. COURTESY DANIEL BLAU.
7 DIRECTOR’S FOREWORD 9 INTRODUCTION 13 STANDING UP FOR STANDART ―ULF JENSEN 21 EDINBURGH (NORTHERN DARKNESS III): THREE READINGS OF A ‘BOMBASTIC’ PAINTING 31 IN CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD CALVOCORESSI 39 PLATES 105 CHRONOLOGY 120 NOTES 121 EXHIBITED WORKS
A.R. Penck in his studio in East London, July 1984 PHOTOGRAPH BY DANIEL BLAU. COURTESY DANIEL BLAU.
7 DIRECTOR’S FOREWORD 9 INTRODUCTION 13 STANDING UP FOR STANDART ―ULF JENSEN 21 EDINBURGH (NORTHERN DARKNESS III): THREE READINGS OF A ‘BOMBASTIC’ PAINTING 31 IN CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD CALVOCORESSI 39 PLATES 105 CHRONOLOGY 120 NOTES 121 EXHIBITED WORKS
A . R. P ENCK (1939–2017) was an internationally acclaimed German artist who mainly worked in painting, drawing, prints and sculpture. His visual language, characterised by brusquely and expressively painted signs and symbols, is instantly recognisable. The artist was born as Ralf Winkler in Dresden, and made his first application to art academies at the age of sixteen. Rejected by the establishment for the decidedly un-academic style of his works and their political overtones, he persisted as an ‘underground’ autodidact, exerting a strong influence on younger generations of artists in his country. He adopted the pseudonym
A. R. Penck, Standartproblem West, 1984 Woodcut, sheet: 78 x 63 cm ASHMOLEAN COLLECTION (WA2004.107)
8
A. R. PENCK: I THINK IN PICTURES
A.R. Penck in 1968 to counter difficulties with East German authorities who banned his works from public exhibition. With the aid of friends in West Germany – notably gallerist Michael Werner – A.R. Penck’s works were smuggled to Cologne, where they were first exhibited in the same year. In 1980 he emigrated to the West. He lived first outside Cologne, then in London, Killala (Ireland), Düsseldorf – where he received a professorship at the Art Academy in 1988 – and Dublin, often dividing his time between different locations. A.R. Penck’s prolific artistic output was driven primarily by his desire to create a universal artistic language that addresses the issues facing modern man. Abiding interests in systems theory and cybernetics, as well as prehistoric cultures and science fiction, guided his art toward an investigation of the relationships between man and society’s systems of control and power. He was also a poet and writer, and a musician who co-founded the free jazz group Triple Trip Touch, in which he mostly played the drums. A.R. Penck’s first solo museum exhibition was organised in 1971 at Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld.
The following year he participated in documenta 5 (and contributed works to three subsequent documentas). He became an important figure in iconic exhibitions of the 1980s, such as A New Spirit in Painting (Royal Academy, London, 1981), Westkunst (Kölner Messehallen, Cologne, 1981) and Zeitgeist (Martin-Gropius Bau, Berlin, 1982). In 1984 he represented West Germany at the 41st Venice Biennale, together with Lothar Baumgarten. Retrospectives of A.R. Penck’s work were held at Berlin’s Nationalgalerie in 1988, before travelling to Kunsthaus Zürich, and at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt in 2007, travelling to Kunsthalle zu Kiel and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. In 2017 the Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence dedicated a major exhibition to the artist’s diverse works from different periods. Today, A.R. Penck is represented in collections worldwide, ranging from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden to the Museum of Modern Art, New York to Tate, London. While there are formal, thematic or conceptual similarities with other artists, Penck’s distinctive style, his focus on the systems theories of the 1970s and 1980s and his dual education – drawing on both East and West – have earned him, as Kevin Power wrote in 2007, ‘a special place in contemporary art history’.1 In the United Kingdom, however, A.R. Penck is an under-exhibited artist. His work has been included in recent group shows, such as Germany Divided at the British Museum, London in 2014, but, unlike other German artists of his generation (such as Georg Baselitz or Gerhard Richter), he has had no solo museum show in the country since smallscale exhibitions at the Tate Gallery, London in 1984, Kettle’s Yard Gallery, Cambridge in 1987 and Cornerhouse, Manchester in 1992. This exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology is not only the first solo show of Penck’s work in Oxford, but also the first solo display of his work at a museum in the UK for more than 30 years. The Ashmolean’s exhibition features a selection of paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures from 9
A . R. P ENCK (1939–2017) was an internationally acclaimed German artist who mainly worked in painting, drawing, prints and sculpture. His visual language, characterised by brusquely and expressively painted signs and symbols, is instantly recognisable. The artist was born as Ralf Winkler in Dresden, and made his first application to art academies at the age of sixteen. Rejected by the establishment for the decidedly un-academic style of his works and their political overtones, he persisted as an ‘underground’ autodidact, exerting a strong influence on younger generations of artists in his country. He adopted the pseudonym
A. R. Penck, Standartproblem West, 1984 Woodcut, sheet: 78 x 63 cm ASHMOLEAN COLLECTION (WA2004.107)
8
A. R. PENCK: I THINK IN PICTURES
A.R. Penck in 1968 to counter difficulties with East German authorities who banned his works from public exhibition. With the aid of friends in West Germany – notably gallerist Michael Werner – A.R. Penck’s works were smuggled to Cologne, where they were first exhibited in the same year. In 1980 he emigrated to the West. He lived first outside Cologne, then in London, Killala (Ireland), Düsseldorf – where he received a professorship at the Art Academy in 1988 – and Dublin, often dividing his time between different locations. A.R. Penck’s prolific artistic output was driven primarily by his desire to create a universal artistic language that addresses the issues facing modern man. Abiding interests in systems theory and cybernetics, as well as prehistoric cultures and science fiction, guided his art toward an investigation of the relationships between man and society’s systems of control and power. He was also a poet and writer, and a musician who co-founded the free jazz group Triple Trip Touch, in which he mostly played the drums. A.R. Penck’s first solo museum exhibition was organised in 1971 at Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld.
The following year he participated in documenta 5 (and contributed works to three subsequent documentas). He became an important figure in iconic exhibitions of the 1980s, such as A New Spirit in Painting (Royal Academy, London, 1981), Westkunst (Kölner Messehallen, Cologne, 1981) and Zeitgeist (Martin-Gropius Bau, Berlin, 1982). In 1984 he represented West Germany at the 41st Venice Biennale, together with Lothar Baumgarten. Retrospectives of A.R. Penck’s work were held at Berlin’s Nationalgalerie in 1988, before travelling to Kunsthaus Zürich, and at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt in 2007, travelling to Kunsthalle zu Kiel and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. In 2017 the Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence dedicated a major exhibition to the artist’s diverse works from different periods. Today, A.R. Penck is represented in collections worldwide, ranging from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden to the Museum of Modern Art, New York to Tate, London. While there are formal, thematic or conceptual similarities with other artists, Penck’s distinctive style, his focus on the systems theories of the 1970s and 1980s and his dual education – drawing on both East and West – have earned him, as Kevin Power wrote in 2007, ‘a special place in contemporary art history’.1 In the United Kingdom, however, A.R. Penck is an under-exhibited artist. His work has been included in recent group shows, such as Germany Divided at the British Museum, London in 2014, but, unlike other German artists of his generation (such as Georg Baselitz or Gerhard Richter), he has had no solo museum show in the country since smallscale exhibitions at the Tate Gallery, London in 1984, Kettle’s Yard Gallery, Cambridge in 1987 and Cornerhouse, Manchester in 1992. This exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology is not only the first solo show of Penck’s work in Oxford, but also the first solo display of his work at a museum in the UK for more than 30 years. The Ashmolean’s exhibition features a selection of paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures from 9
A. R. Penck and Fruitmarket Gallery director Mark Francis in front of the artist’s unfinished painting Edinburgh (Northern Darkness III), March 1987 PHOTOGRAPH BY TIM O’SULLIVAN, PUBLISHED TO ACCOMPANY JOHN THACKARA, ‘VIEW FROM THE GALLERY’, OBSERVER MAGAZINE, MAY 1987, P.51.
A ‘BOMBASTIC PAINTING’ .1 These are the words
of art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon in 1987 in an exhibition review in the Independent, and they aptly describe the impression of A.R. Penck’s overwhelming, monumental work. Colourful, dynamic and restless, Edinburgh (Northern Darkness III) presents us with a busy collage of abstracted scenes and signs, floating on bright colour fields (p.27–28 ). Black Standart stick figures, symbols and geometric forms, all painted in a two-dimensional style, are combined with outlines of human figures executed in a more naturalistic way. Stone-like shapes, skulls and
bones are complemented by vivid circular and serpentine forms recalling Matisse’s cut-outs as much as Miro’s swirling works of Surrealism. Approximately one-third of the panoramic painting composition is dedicated to a green colour field on its left side. It is filled with two depictions of large stones in light orange and red, a black snake, small white skulls and curved lines in black and white, partly reminiscent of bones. A portrait on a red rectangle shows a bold man whose forehead is dominated by a stain. His serious face expresses a sense of determination. The middle of the painting is dominated by a large, elongated Standart stick figure, painted on red, orange and green sections that are surrounded by light blue and white, conveying the impression of a floating island. The black stick figure leans forward energetically
20
A. R. PENCK: I THINK IN PICTURES
and holds an arrow in both hands, pointing at two cone-like forms. His erect penis is pointing forward in the same angle as his arms holding the arrow. Simultaneously he uses a third arm to carry a circle with an equilateral cross behind his back. Nearby, an eagle appears to be approaching in one fell swoop. The figure is surrounded by a conglomerate of geometric signs, mathematical equations and small stick figures; a human face with a robotic face above his head creates a science-fiction-like mood. On the right side of the painting, a curvy naked woman dominates the space. With large eyes and curly hair, she is facing the viewer. Above her shoulders and next to her knees we recognise two small, child-like figures. The woman’s open arms and legs suggest that she
walks forward energetically, perhaps coming out of the small house painted close to her legs. The colours of the painting are pure and intense, and they are combined with stark black and white. Red and green fields are positioned next to each other, resulting in a strong contrast of complementary colours that creates a vibrant atmosphere. Consisting of approximately the same amount of red, green, light orange and light blue, the composition is well balanced. The dispersion paint is mostly applied opaquely; however, large brush strokes are visible in the light blue sections, evoking an impression of the artist’s vigorous painting process. Overall the painting is dominated by curves and round forms which suggest an organic feeling and a strong sense of movement. The large size, panoramic format and bright colours are typical of A.R. Penck’s painting practice in the 1980s – a fertile decade following his emigration to the West in August 1980. In
21
A. R. Penck and Fruitmarket Gallery director Mark Francis in front of the artist’s unfinished painting Edinburgh (Northern Darkness III), March 1987 PHOTOGRAPH BY TIM O’SULLIVAN, PUBLISHED TO ACCOMPANY JOHN THACKARA, ‘VIEW FROM THE GALLERY’, OBSERVER MAGAZINE, MAY 1987, P.51.
A ‘BOMBASTIC PAINTING’ .1 These are the words
of art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon in 1987 in an exhibition review in the Independent, and they aptly describe the impression of A.R. Penck’s overwhelming, monumental work. Colourful, dynamic and restless, Edinburgh (Northern Darkness III) presents us with a busy collage of abstracted scenes and signs, floating on bright colour fields (p.27–28 ). Black Standart stick figures, symbols and geometric forms, all painted in a two-dimensional style, are combined with outlines of human figures executed in a more naturalistic way. Stone-like shapes, skulls and
bones are complemented by vivid circular and serpentine forms recalling Matisse’s cut-outs as much as Miro’s swirling works of Surrealism. Approximately one-third of the panoramic painting composition is dedicated to a green colour field on its left side. It is filled with two depictions of large stones in light orange and red, a black snake, small white skulls and curved lines in black and white, partly reminiscent of bones. A portrait on a red rectangle shows a bold man whose forehead is dominated by a stain. His serious face expresses a sense of determination. The middle of the painting is dominated by a large, elongated Standart stick figure, painted on red, orange and green sections that are surrounded by light blue and white, conveying the impression of a floating island. The black stick figure leans forward energetically
20
A. R. PENCK: I THINK IN PICTURES
and holds an arrow in both hands, pointing at two cone-like forms. His erect penis is pointing forward in the same angle as his arms holding the arrow. Simultaneously he uses a third arm to carry a circle with an equilateral cross behind his back. Nearby, an eagle appears to be approaching in one fell swoop. The figure is surrounded by a conglomerate of geometric signs, mathematical equations and small stick figures; a human face with a robotic face above his head creates a science-fiction-like mood. On the right side of the painting, a curvy naked woman dominates the space. With large eyes and curly hair, she is facing the viewer. Above her shoulders and next to her knees we recognise two small, child-like figures. The woman’s open arms and legs suggest that she
walks forward energetically, perhaps coming out of the small house painted close to her legs. The colours of the painting are pure and intense, and they are combined with stark black and white. Red and green fields are positioned next to each other, resulting in a strong contrast of complementary colours that creates a vibrant atmosphere. Consisting of approximately the same amount of red, green, light orange and light blue, the composition is well balanced. The dispersion paint is mostly applied opaquely; however, large brush strokes are visible in the light blue sections, evoking an impression of the artist’s vigorous painting process. Overall the painting is dominated by curves and round forms which suggest an organic feeling and a strong sense of movement. The large size, panoramic format and bright colours are typical of A.R. Penck’s painting practice in the 1980s – a fertile decade following his emigration to the West in August 1980. In
21
A.R. Penck, Standart-West 1, 1981 Acrylic on canvas, 300 x 200 cm GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER
RICHARD CALVO C ORES S I C B E , Director and Senior Curator at Gagosian Gallery,
London, was Assistant Keeper of Modern Art at the Tate Gallery, London from 1979 to 1987. He proposed the acquisition of A.R. Penck’s large-scale paintings Osten (East) and Westen (West) to the Tate in 1981 and curated a solo exhibition by the artist in 1984 – the last museum solo show of his work in Britain before this exhibition at the Ashmolean. He talked to the author about A.R. Penck’s work, the 1980s art world and the political background. This is a shortened version of their conversation at Gagosian Gallery on 4 December 2018, in which they looked at his Penck archival files together. Lena Fritsch: A.R. Penck was an important figure in the now iconic exhibitions A New Spirit in Painting at the Royal Academy of Art, London in 1981 (p.32) and Zeitgeist at Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin in 1982 (p.111), which showcased the strong, expressive and loud German paintings of the moment and presented a revived interest in painting on a global scale. He was also included in the New Art at the Tate Gallery exhibition in London in 1983, before you curated a solo show of A.R. Penck’s work one year later, also at the Tate. When did you first see A.R. Penck’s work? Richard Calvocoressi: The Royal Academy exhibition in 1981 was the first exhibition to show this group of German artists in London: it had Baselitz in it, Penck, Kiefer, Polke, Richter, Lüpertz. That was the first time I saw these artists’ work. Shortly after I visited Michael Werner’s gallery in Cologne. Michael showed me two paintings by Penck: Osten and Westen (pp 34–35). Back in London, I recommended them to Alan Bowness, Director at the Tate. We asked the gallery to reserve the paintings until Alan went to Cologne in May, for the opening of the Westkunst exhibition. So you bought these two great paintings before deciding to do an exhibition of his works? Yes, we acquired them in 1981. They are great, aren’t they? It was exactly the time that Penck had come over – he had left East Germany in 1980. The two paintings are about the different experiences he had in the East and West, about the different systems and their structures. At the same time I was also responsible for the Tate buying paintings by Baselitz and Kiefer. In 1982 Waddington Galleries staged the first Penck solo show in London and they asked me to write the catalogue essay. It was a wonderful show. Following this, there was the Zeitgeist exhibition that you mentioned. In early ’83 I spent two months in Berlin and got to know an interesting man: Jürgen Schweinebraden, who had come over from East Germany at around the same time as Penck. He 31
A.R. Penck, Standart-West 1, 1981 Acrylic on canvas, 300 x 200 cm GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER
RICHARD CALVO C ORES S I C B E , Director and Senior Curator at Gagosian Gallery,
London, was Assistant Keeper of Modern Art at the Tate Gallery, London from 1979 to 1987. He proposed the acquisition of A.R. Penck’s large-scale paintings Osten (East) and Westen (West) to the Tate in 1981 and curated a solo exhibition by the artist in 1984 – the last museum solo show of his work in Britain before this exhibition at the Ashmolean. He talked to the author about A.R. Penck’s work, the 1980s art world and the political background. This is a shortened version of their conversation at Gagosian Gallery on 4 December 2018, in which they looked at his Penck archival files together. Lena Fritsch: A.R. Penck was an important figure in the now iconic exhibitions A New Spirit in Painting at the Royal Academy of Art, London in 1981 (p.32) and Zeitgeist at Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin in 1982 (p.111), which showcased the strong, expressive and loud German paintings of the moment and presented a revived interest in painting on a global scale. He was also included in the New Art at the Tate Gallery exhibition in London in 1983, before you curated a solo show of A.R. Penck’s work one year later, also at the Tate. When did you first see A.R. Penck’s work? Richard Calvocoressi: The Royal Academy exhibition in 1981 was the first exhibition to show this group of German artists in London: it had Baselitz in it, Penck, Kiefer, Polke, Richter, Lüpertz. That was the first time I saw these artists’ work. Shortly after I visited Michael Werner’s gallery in Cologne. Michael showed me two paintings by Penck: Osten and Westen (pp 34–35). Back in London, I recommended them to Alan Bowness, Director at the Tate. We asked the gallery to reserve the paintings until Alan went to Cologne in May, for the opening of the Westkunst exhibition. So you bought these two great paintings before deciding to do an exhibition of his works? Yes, we acquired them in 1981. They are great, aren’t they? It was exactly the time that Penck had come over – he had left East Germany in 1980. The two paintings are about the different experiences he had in the East and West, about the different systems and their structures. At the same time I was also responsible for the Tate buying paintings by Baselitz and Kiefer. In 1982 Waddington Galleries staged the first Penck solo show in London and they asked me to write the catalogue essay. It was a wonderful show. Following this, there was the Zeitgeist exhibition that you mentioned. In early ’83 I spent two months in Berlin and got to know an interesting man: Jürgen Schweinebraden, who had come over from East Germany at around the same time as Penck. He 31
Untitled, 1971 Ink on paper, 29.8 x 21 cm
Untitled, 1971 Ink on paper, 29.8 x 21 cm
GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER
GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER
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A. R. PENCK: I THINK IN PICTURES
43
Untitled, 1971 Ink on paper, 29.8 x 21 cm
Untitled, 1971 Ink on paper, 29.8 x 21 cm
GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER
GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER
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A. R. PENCK: I THINK IN PICTURES
43
Untitled, 1974 Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 cm
Untitled, 1974 Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 cm
GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER
GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER
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A. R. PENCK: I THINK IN PICTURES
53
Untitled, 1974 Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 cm
Untitled, 1974 Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 cm
GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER
GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER
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A. R. PENCK: I THINK IN PICTURES
53
London, 1980 Ink and gouache on paper, 30 x 39.8 cm
London, 1980 Ink and gouache on paper, 30 x 39.8 cm
GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER
GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER
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65
London, 1980 Ink and gouache on paper, 30 x 39.8 cm
London, 1980 Ink and gouache on paper, 30 x 39.8 cm
GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER
GALERIE MICHAEL WERNER
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A. R. PENCK: I THINK IN PICTURES
65
Der Jäger (The Hunter), 1990 Colour woodcut, sheet 80.5 x 60.5 cm
Der Jäger (The Hunter), 1990 Colour woodcut, sheet 80.5 x 60.5 cm
ASHMOLEAN COLLECTION (WA2004.108.3)
ASHMOLEAN COLLECTION (WA2004.108.4)
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A. R. PENCK: I THINK IN PICTURES
101
Der Jäger (The Hunter), 1990 Colour woodcut, sheet 80.5 x 60.5 cm
Der Jäger (The Hunter), 1990 Colour woodcut, sheet 80.5 x 60.5 cm
ASHMOLEAN COLLECTION (WA2004.108.3)
ASHMOLEAN COLLECTION (WA2004.108.4)
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101
A. R. Penck retrospective exhibition at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 2007 © SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT, 2007, PHOTO: NORBERT MIGULETZ
• His work is exhibited worldwide, including at the
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, in Seoul, Aachen, Porto and Mexico City. • The large-scale solo exhibition A.R. Penck: German Darkness and Contemporary Symbol opens at Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, travelling to Hiroshima and Kochi.
Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, Markus Lüpertz, A.R. Penck, at Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art in 2006. • Since retiring from the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf in 2003, the artist spends most of his time in Ireland. 2007–8
1999–2006
• A.R. Penck’s paintings are now characterised by
slightly smaller-scale formats and the stick man figures begin to disappear. • In 1999 the exhibition Erinnerung, Modell, Denkmal, focusing on Penck’s sculptural work, is staged at Städtische Museen Heilbronn, Heilbronn and at Gerhard Marcks Haus, Bremen. • His work is exhibited in numerous other small exhibitions, mostly in Germany but also overseas, for example at Galerie Michael Werner, New York. Group shows featuring his work include Georg 116
A. R. PENCK: I THINK IN PICTURES
• A large retrospective exhibition opens at Schirn
Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, before travelling to Kunsthalle Kiel and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. At Städtische Galerie Dresden, the exhibition Being and Essence. The Unknown A.R. Penck presents early works from the Jürgen Schweinebraden Collection. Both exhibitions are accompanied by extensive catalogues with new essays. 2009–16
• Numerous gallery shows (for example at Galerie Michael Werner in Märkisch Wilmersdorf, New
The artist in front of his painting Übergang (L) (Crossing (L)), 1988
York and London) and small-scale museum exhibitions are organised, such as A.R. Penck, Vergangenheit, Gegenwart, Zukunft at Museum Ludwig, Cologne (p.118–119) • In 2014 Penck’s work is included in the group exhibition Germany Divided: Baselitz and his Generation, at the British Museum, London. Exhibition curator John-Paul Stonard describes Penck in the catalogue as an artist who remains an elusive figure.36 2017
• Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence,
organises a major retrospective, Rites de Passage, accompanied by an extensive catalogue. • A.R. Penck dies on 2 May after a long illness in Zurich. He is survived by his wife and children. • John-Paul Stonard praises A.R. Penck’s work and his relentless and bloody-minded pursuit of freedom37 in a tribute published in the Apollo art
magazine. In an extensive obituary in the Guardian, Oliver Basciano writes that Penck’s work fell out of favour after his 80s heyday, but in recent years regained relevance and is seen as an influence on many contemporary artists.38 2019
• The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
organises the first solo show of A.R. Penck’s work in Oxford – and the first solo display of his work at a museum in the UK for more than 30 years. • A large-scale exhibition is dedicated to his work, opening in October at the Albertinum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, before travelling to the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag the following year. It includes never before shown early films and music works.
117
A. R. Penck retrospective exhibition at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 2007 © SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT, 2007, PHOTO: NORBERT MIGULETZ
• His work is exhibited worldwide, including at the
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, in Seoul, Aachen, Porto and Mexico City. • The large-scale solo exhibition A.R. Penck: German Darkness and Contemporary Symbol opens at Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, travelling to Hiroshima and Kochi.
Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, Markus Lüpertz, A.R. Penck, at Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art in 2006. • Since retiring from the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf in 2003, the artist spends most of his time in Ireland. 2007–8
1999–2006
• A.R. Penck’s paintings are now characterised by
slightly smaller-scale formats and the stick man figures begin to disappear. • In 1999 the exhibition Erinnerung, Modell, Denkmal, focusing on Penck’s sculptural work, is staged at Städtische Museen Heilbronn, Heilbronn and at Gerhard Marcks Haus, Bremen. • His work is exhibited in numerous other small exhibitions, mostly in Germany but also overseas, for example at Galerie Michael Werner, New York. Group shows featuring his work include Georg 116
A. R. PENCK: I THINK IN PICTURES
• A large retrospective exhibition opens at Schirn
Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, before travelling to Kunsthalle Kiel and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. At Städtische Galerie Dresden, the exhibition Being and Essence. The Unknown A.R. Penck presents early works from the Jürgen Schweinebraden Collection. Both exhibitions are accompanied by extensive catalogues with new essays. 2009–16
• Numerous gallery shows (for example at Galerie Michael Werner in Märkisch Wilmersdorf, New
The artist in front of his painting Übergang (L) (Crossing (L)), 1988
York and London) and small-scale museum exhibitions are organised, such as A.R. Penck, Vergangenheit, Gegenwart, Zukunft at Museum Ludwig, Cologne (p.118–119) • In 2014 Penck’s work is included in the group exhibition Germany Divided: Baselitz and his Generation, at the British Museum, London. Exhibition curator John-Paul Stonard describes Penck in the catalogue as an artist who remains an elusive figure.36 2017
• Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence,
organises a major retrospective, Rites de Passage, accompanied by an extensive catalogue. • A.R. Penck dies on 2 May after a long illness in Zurich. He is survived by his wife and children. • John-Paul Stonard praises A.R. Penck’s work and his relentless and bloody-minded pursuit of freedom37 in a tribute published in the Apollo art
magazine. In an extensive obituary in the Guardian, Oliver Basciano writes that Penck’s work fell out of favour after his 80s heyday, but in recent years regained relevance and is seen as an influence on many contemporary artists.38 2019
• The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
organises the first solo show of A.R. Penck’s work in Oxford – and the first solo display of his work at a museum in the UK for more than 30 years. • A large-scale exhibition is dedicated to his work, opening in October at the Albertinum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, before travelling to the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag the following year. It includes never before shown early films and music works.
117
A.R. Penck in front of his studio in East London, July 1984 PHOTOGRAPH BY DANIEL BLAU. COURTESY OF DANIEL BLAU.
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A. R. PENCK: I THINK IN PICTURES