Gerhard Altenbourg, Spiel auf  zweierlei Ebenen,
1956. Aquarell, Chinesische Tusche, blau Tinte,
Kreide auf rosa Ingres-Papier. © NachlaB Altenbourg,
Galerie Brusberg Berlin.
 

With this retrospective exhibition of the works of Gerhard Altenbourg, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is in a certain sense breaking new ground, for it is paying tribute, for the first time ever, to an artist from the former GDR. The oeuvre of the draughtsman and graphic artist Gerhard Altenbourg, born in 1926, spans the period from the founding of the GDR (in 1949) to the reunification of Germany. In the course of almost four decades, Altenbourg produced a richly diversified oeuvre, often assuming a conciliatory role between the visual arts and literature. His graphic works in particular, with their unusual motifs, expressed a mixture of depression and optimism. Although he was regarded with suspicion by the official bodies of the GDR, his work gained more and more recognition. His wide reception in the Federal Republic of Germany is largely ascribable to the untiring commitment of Dieter Brusberg. Gerhard Altenbourg, who spent all his life in Altenburg (Thuringia), died in 1989 as a result of a car accident.
 

The best of Altenbourg's works on paper, which he produced in the utmost seclusion, will be shown in this forthcoming retrospective. Two of the tasks we have set ourselves in organizing this exhibition is to clearly visualize Altenbourg's beginnings and to mount as complete a presentation as possible of Altenbourg's large works of the fifties which were often as high as 3 metres. It is in these works, for example, that a finely woven web of allusions betrays the artist's intimate knowledge of Western art. References in Altenbourg's works to Klee and Wols and to Surrealism and Art brut merge in an enigmatic conception of reality.

During the middle years of his creative work, Altenbourgs world of images takes on a greater narrative density, combining the grotesque and the inscrutable with the humorous and the lyrical. His themes include landscapes, heads, figures and scenic depictions. After 1955/56, his colours become stronger, more intense, and are accompanied by an ever denser treatment of the surface. From the end of the sixties, his drawings then become more sparing and laconic in expression, often with several superimposed levels of meaning. His late oeuvre, in the eighties, is characterized by much looser structures, tectonic sequences and gestural strokes which dynamize the composition. Generously sweeping, silvery lines finally free his compositions from all restraint and tension.

On show at the forthcoming retrospective will be approximately 120 works from all of the artist's creative periods. A special section will be devoted to Altenbourg's art books. The exhibition has been organized in collaboration with the Kupferstich-Kabinett der Staatlichen Kunst-sammlungen Dresden and the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich. Curator: Armin Zweite. The exhibition will be accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue containing illustrations of all exhibited works.

The exhibition has been supported financially by the Kulturstiftung der Länder.

The patron of the exhibition is Wolfgang Thierse, President of the Bundestag.