Paul Wunderlich was born in Germany in 1927. He died in France in 2010
Wunderlich’s prolific works in painting, drawing, lithography and sculpture are linked to the second generation of Fantastic Realists, sometimes called Magical Realists, who were inspired by dream imagery.
After Picasso and Max Ernst no other artist has contributed as much to the sculpture of painters as Wunderlich. The thematic for his sculptures and objects is closely linked to his paintings, drawings and lithographs.
Wunderlich studied at the Hamburg Academy of Fine Art. He has been exhibited widely throughout the world. His work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Museum of Modern Art, Philadelphia, Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, Getty Museum, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C., Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, Musées des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Museum Ludwig, Köln, Museum Atheneum, Helsinki, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Kamakura Museum of Sculpture, amongst others.
Often borrowing from classical mythology, Wunderlich emphasized the human form within a context that blends together contemporary and historical references. With cool aloofness, he transports the viewer into a world of surreal eroticism, aesthetic symbolism and a dose of irony.
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Paul Wunderlich was born in Eberswalde, outside of Berlin on March 10, 1927. After secondary school, military service and a short stint as a prisoner of war, he studied at the Hamburg Academy of Fine Art from 1947 to 1951. Fresh out of art school, he was entrusted with managing the academy’s print workshop, where he made prints for Oskar Kokoschka and Emil Nolde, among others. After a three year stay in Paris he returned to Hamburg in 1963 as a professor of painting. He resigned from his professorship in 1968 to work as a freelance artist. Paul Wunderllich lived and worked together with his wife, photographer Karin Szekessy, in his home and studio high above the rooftops of Hamburg. They divided their time between that home and their second residence in the Provence of the South of France, where he died suddenly on June 6th 2010 surrounded by his family.
Paul Wunderlich belonged to a group of contemporary German artists with an international reputation. His work in painting, drawing, lithography and sculpture is appreciated worldwide. Wunderlich’s artistry was linked to “Fantastic Realism,” a unique and distinctive style developed around 1950 by a group of young European artists who chose images from their dream visions as subject matter. Often erotically charged, these fragmented universes brought together both exotic and everyday elements. In the tradition of the Surrealists, the Fantastic Realists chose to work with precise images and details culled from visual memory, then combined in strange and dreamlike ways. Unlike their contemporary Abstractionists or Expressionists, they emphasized communicating with pure imagery as opposed to gesture in paint. Their lines are clear even when the image is distorted. In Fantastic Realism, subjectivity is often emphasized with the image of an open head or torso out of which spills the fantastical landscape. The head or torso emphasizes the role of the individual and the personal nature of the reality projected.
Paul Wunderlich belonged to the second generation of Fantastic Realists, sometimes called Magical Realists. These artists have remained faithful to the tradition albeit with contemporary imagery. Paul Wunderlich, the most prominent among them, had developed a style slightly cooler in temperament and more analytical. Often borrowing from classical mythology, he emphasized the human form within a context that blends together contemporary and historical references. With cool aloofness, Wunderlich transports the viewer into a world of surreal eroticism and aesthetic symbolism. Again and again, Wunderlich spiced his Fantastic Realism with a startling dose of irony.
After Picasso and Max Ernst no other artist has contributed as much to the sculpture of painters as Paul Wunderlich. The thematic for his sculptures and objects is closely linked to his paintings, drawings and lithographs. Wunderlich sculptures and objects combine the simplicity of an idea with the refinement of the material, and imagination with perfection in shaping something into a perfect form.
As an artist, Paul Wunderlich remained faithful to his own artistic visions. Over a period of several decades, Wunderlich’s complex and comprehensive body of work enjoyed numerous exhibitions in museums worldwide.
1927 |
Born March 10th in Eberswalde, Brandenburg, in Germany |
1945 |
Served in German Army |
1947 |
Studies graphic arts-University of Fine Arts, Hamburg, Germany |
1963 |
Professor of Graphic Arts-University of Fine Arts, Hamburg, Germany |
1951-60 |
Received a teaching contract for etching and lithography techniques |
1960-63 |
Lived and worked in Paris, produced numerous lithographs |
1963-67 |
Professor, Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste, Hamburg |
1965-70 |
Various exhibitions throughout the world |
1970 |
Stayed in New York |
1971 |
Married Karin Székessy |
1973 |
Lived and worked in Italy and France |
1976-81 |
Stayed in Switzerland and Belgium |
1981 |
Bought a house in Provence |
1983-86 |
Devoted himself intensively to sculpture |
1987 |
Concentrated on lithography |
1987-89 |
Large format color lithographs using new techniques |
1990 |
Sculpture, painting (including paraphrases in the style of Lukas Granach and The Ecole de Fontainebleau) |
1991 |
Exhibitions in London and Darmstadt |
1992 |
Large sculptures, exhibition in Copenhagen |
1992 |
Exhibition in Belgium |
1994-95 |
Retrospectives in several Japanese museums (Tokyo, Osaka, Hokkaido, Gifu). Further large and small sculptures. |
1996 |
Exhibitions in London and Barcelona, pastels and a book on angels based on poems by Alberti |
1997 |
Devoted time to animal sculpture |
2010 |
July 6th - Dies suddenly at his home in the South of France |
1949 |
Overbeck-Gesellschaft, Lubeck, West Germany |
1951 |
Hamburg Artists’ Club-Hamburg, Germany |
1955 |
Hamburger Kunstlerclub Die Insel, Hamburg, Kushiro City Art Gallery, Hokkaido |
1957 |
Congress for the Freedom of Culture-Hamburg, Germany |
1958 |
Galerie Nebelung, Dusseldorf, Orangerie, Eutin, West Germany |
1960 |
Dragonsrestall Gallery-Hamburg,Germany |
1962 |
Galerie Brusberg, Hannover Galerie Diogenes, Berlin Galerie Brockstedt, Hamburg |
1963 |
Print Club Gallery-Philadelphia, PA |
|
Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts |
|
Galerie Sydow, Frankfurt |
|
Galerie Niedlich, Stuttgart |
|
San Francisco Museum of Art, California |
|
Galerie Rothe, Heidelberg Germany |
|
Galerie Niepel, Dusseldorf |
|
Museum of Art, Miami, Florida |
|
Eric Locke Gallery, San Francisco |
1964 |
Galerie van de Loo, Munich, Germany Galerie Brechbuhl, Grenchen, Switzerland, |
1964 |
Arco Gallery-Rome, Italy |
|
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Mons, Belgium |
|
Galerie Ernst Hauswedell, Baden-Baden, Germany |
|
Galerie Neipel, Dusseldorf |
1965 |
Kaiserslautern, West Germany, Galerie Wilbrand, |
1965 |
Munster, West Germany |
|
Kubus-Austellung, Hannover |
|
Europa Center, Berlin |
|
Kunstverein, Dusseldorf |
|
Stadtische Galerie, Bochum, Germany |
|
Galerie Brusberg, Hannover |
|
Kunsthalle, Mannheim, Germany |
1967 |
Overbeck-Gesellschaft, Lubeck, |
|
Galerie Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich |
|
Galerie Toni Gerber, Berne |
|
Auckland City Art Gallery, New Zealand |
1968 |
Redfern Gallery, London |
|
Galerie Passepartout, Copenhagen |
|
Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam |
1968 |
Perls Gallery, Los Angeles |
|
Phoenix Gallery, Berkeley, California |
|
Kovler Gallery, Chicago |
1970 |
Galerie Brusberg, Hannover |
|
Staempfli Gallery, New York |
|
Kunsthalle, Recklinghausen, Germany |
|
Kunsthalle, Gelsenkirchen, Germany |
1971 |
Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm Galleriea Schwarz, Milan |
1971 |
Amos Andersonin Taidemuseo, Helsinki, Perls Gallery, Los Angeles |
1971 |
Tokyo Gallery-Tokyo, Japan, Berggruen Gallery-San Francisco, CA |
1972 |
Staempfli Gallery, New York |
|
Galerie Berggruen, Paris |
|
Galerie Andre Francois Petit, Paris |
|
Galleria La Bussola, Turin |
|
Anglolare Gallery of Contemporary Art, Milan, Italy |
1973 |
Redfern Gallery, London, Galerie Levy, Hamburg |
1973 |
Baukunst, Cologne, Staempfli Gallery-New York |
1974 |
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Art Contacts, Paris |
|
Kunsthalle, Kiel, Germany |
|
Nouvelle Vision Gallery-Tokyo, Japan |
|
University Gallery-Amherst, Mass |
1975 |
Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, West Germany |
|
Kunstverein, Augsburg, West Germany |
|
Galerie Cour, Saint-Pierre, Geneva |
|
Galerie Orangerie, Cologne |
1976 |
Veranneman, Kruishoutem, Belgium |
1976 |
Galerie Octave Negru, Paris |
1976 |
Galerie Uddenberg, Goteborg, Sweden |
1976 |
Galerie Berggruen, Paris |
1977 |
Redfern Gallery, London |
1978 |
Negru Gallery-Paris, France |
1980 |
Redfern Gallery, London |
|
Seibu Museum, Tokyo |
|
Kunsthalle, Kiel |
1983 |
Fondation Veranneman, Gent, Belgium |
1985 |
Le Bateau Lavoir, Paris, Galerie Sonet, Stockholm |
1987 |
Redfern Gallery, London |
|
Schleswig-Holsteinisches Museum, Schleswig |
1990 |
Hohmann Gallery, Hamburg |
|
Galerie Trigano, Paris (FIAC) |
1991 |
Redfern Gallery, London ‘New Paintings, Sculpture, Pastels & Prints’ |
1994 |
Gerhard Wurzer Gallery, Houston |
1995 |
Major retrospective exhibition - touring to four museums in Japan |
|
Mitaka City Art Gallery, Tokyo |
|
Navio Hankyu Museum, Osaka |
1996 |
Redfern Gallery, London |
1999 |
The Hart Gallery, Carmel, CA, Palm Desert, CA, Chicago, IL |
2009 |
Christian Hohmann Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA |
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