Background
Gotthard Graubner was born on June 13, 1930 in Erlbach, Germany.
Gotthard Graubner was born on June 13, 1930 in Erlbach, Germany.
Graubner studied at the Academy of Arts, Berlin from 1947 to 1948 and at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, where he was a student of Wilhelm Rudolph, from 1948 to 1949. In 1954 Graubner left East Germany.
From 1954 to 1959, he studied painting at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he was first a student of Otto Pankok with Günther Uecker and Bert Gerresheim becoming his classmates. Later Graubner became a master pupil of Georg Meistermann. In 1959, when Meistermann left the Academy, Graubner became one of Karl Otto Götz's first students, his classmates being HA Schult and Kuno Gonschior. In 1959, Graubner left the academy.
After leaving the academy, Graubner worked with Heinz Mack, as an art teacher at the Lessing Gymnasium, Düsseldorf, for some years.
Graubner's art was characterized by his unique philosophy and the use of color in his work. He began developing his own style in 1959.
In the 1960s, Graubner mounted picture-size colored cushions onto his paintings and used Perlon fabric in an attempt to enhance the spatial effect of color surfaces. These works were displayed in Alfred Schmela's gallery in Düsseldorf.
In 1965, he was appointed at the Academy of Fine Arts, Hamburg, where he became Professor of Painting in 1969.
There was a major Graubner exhibition at the Kunsthalle Hamburg in 1975. In 1977, the Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf presented the exhibition, "Gotthard Graubner: Farbräume, Farbkörper, Arbeiten auf Papier". His works were also shown at the Kunsthalle Tübingen and the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden in 1980. In the 1980s, Graubner's paintings were presented in exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Art, London, entitled "A New Spirit in Painting" (1981) and "German Art in the Twentieth Century: Painting and Sculpture 1905-1985". Besides, in 1982, Graubner participated in the Venice Biennale. In 1987, the Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf, presented his paintings of the mid-80s.
In 1988 the Federal President of Germany ordered two works from Graubner. Graubner was also commissioned to create a cushion picture for the German Bundestag. In 1990, the Kunsthalle Bremen exhibited his works on paper.
Meanwhile, from 1976 to 1992, Graubner hold a professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts, Düsseldorf. Among his many Düsseldorf students were Chen Ruo Bing, Mechthild Hagemann, Doris Helbling, Jana Vizjak, Hans-Willi Notthoff, and others.
After his retirement, Graubner lived and worked in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel, where he had his studio. He exhibited together with Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke at the Galerie Schönewald and Beuse, Krefeld in 1992. In three years, his paintings were shown at the Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken.
In 2000, Graubner's drawings were presented at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and his other works at the Goethe-Institut, Istanbul, the CaixaForum Barcelona and the Ankara State Art and Sculpture Museum. The Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe exhibited his watercolors in 2001. In a year, his work was shown in a major exhibition at the Wiesbaden Museum.
The Art Museum of the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, and the Art Museum of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, presented his paintings and watercolors in 2005.
His last years he spent on the island of the Museum Insel Hombroich, Neuss, near Düsseldorf. Gotthard Graubner died on May 24, 2013 in Neuss, Germany.
Gotthard Graubner was best known for his works "Kissenbilder", "Erster Nebelraum - Hommage à Caspar David Friedrich" and further "Fog Spaces" ("Nebelräume").
He was awarded the August Macke Prize of the city of Meschede in 1987 and the North German Art Prize in 1988. In 2001, he was awarded the Otto Ritschl Prize that honours a life's work in colour painting.
Currently, his work can be seen in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Quotations: “Color unfolds as a color organism. I observe it taking on a life of its own; I respect its own set of laws.”
In 1996 Graubner became a member of the Saxon Academy of Arts, Dresden.
