Schriftenreihe der Forschungsstelle Informelle Kunst – serie

Abstract paintings along with their often ambiguous visual language are not only difficult to grasp for viewers, but also for art historians to interpret. This is because an abstract work requires a more intensive examination than for example figurative representations. Nevertheless, artists have dealt with events of contemporary history or personal experiences in abstract paintings. These include K. O. Götz, Michael Morgner, Georg Karl Pfahler, Gerhard Richter, K. R. H. Sonderborg, Dieter Tucholke and Günther Uecker. Selected works by these artists show how the relationship between abstraction and reality was defined after 1945. Also, how specific functions have developed to represent contemporary historical events. Contemporary History in Abstract Painting after 1945 in the Federal Republic and the GDR K. O. Götz, Michael Morgner, Georg Karl Pfahler, Gerhard Richter, K. R. H. Sonderborg, Dieter Tucholke, Günther Uecker Publications of the Research Center for Informal Art Look inside

Bilingual edition (English/German) / Zweisprachige Ausgabe (deutsch/englisch) Informal art developed into the dominant art movement in Europe from the early 1950s to the early 1960s. The art historical view of this art movement, which is detached from classical principles of form and design, has so far mostly focused on its male representatives. The volume now takes a new look at the art of Informel and honors high-profile positions by 16 female artists. In addition to well-known names such as Maria Lassnig, Brigitte Meier-Denninghoff, Judit Reigl and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, long-forgotten artists are being rediscovered. Using art-sociological questions about networks, participation in exhibitions and reception, the mechanisms of the art world are also investigated. Look inside Exhibitions “Forgotten artistic positions of the 50s and 60s”Neue Galerie Kassel: 11.10.2024 – 26.1.2025Kunsthalle Schweinfurt: 20.2.2025 – 22.6.2025Emil Schumacher Museum, Hagen: 31.08.2025 – 11.01.2026

The book traces the eventful history of a show that took place 70 years ago and marked the international breakthrough for many of the participating artists: Peintures et sculptures non-figuratives en Allemagne d’aujourd‘hui at the Cercle Volney, Paris. The private initiative of the Parisian gallery owner René Drouin and his German supporter, Wilhelm Wessel, was an experiment in cultural diplomacy between France and Germany in 1955. The concept was deliberately directed against the canonized view of art promoted by the Deutsche Kunstrat (German Art Council) and leading museum directors, and placed the representatives of the middle and young generations of Art Informel on an equal footing with the established old masters of abstraction. Look inside With historical views of the exhibition and sources on the history With works by Willi Baumeister, Rupprecht Geiger, K. O. Götz, Norbert Kricke, Brigitte Meier-Denninghoff, Marie-Louise von Rogister, Emil Schumacher, Fritz Winter and othersExhibition, Emil-Schumacher-Museum Hagen, 04/13/2025 – 08/03/2025

The focus of this study is on the question of how the painting body directly inscribed itself into abstract paintings of the 1950s. Did this approach, from 1952 to 1959, lead to the emergence of a similarly conceived idea of painting in various places? Going beyond an analysis of the networks surrounding Götz, Shiraga, Pollock, and Mathieu, the study establishes for the first time a constructive intersection: The confrontation of painting processes with a history of choreography. This approach makes the circulation of embodied concepts across linguistic boundaries tangible. The publication subjects the “universal language of abstraction,” notions of innovation, and norms of masculinity to a critical revision and contributes to studies on the performativity of the image. Transdisciplinary History of the Connection Between Choreography and PaintingTranscultural Study on Karl Otto Götz, Georges Mathieu, Jackson Pollock, and Kazuo ShiragaCritical Revision of Concepts of Innovation and the “Universal Language of Abstraction”