Gerhard Hoehme

Basic Data

Gerhard Hoehme was a painter, draftsman, graphic artist, object artist and university lecturer who became a stylistically influential representative of the Informel movement in the 1950s and was one of the first conceptual artists in Germany.

• Date of Birth: February 5, 1920
• Birthplace: Greppin, Germany
• Died on: June 29, 1989
• Nationality: German, German Art
• Studies: Art School Burg Giebichenstein, Art Academy Dusseldorf
• Teachers: Herbert Post, Otto Coester
• Similar Artists: Karl Otto Götz
• Era: Modern Art
• Style: Informalism, Lyrical abstraction

Gerhard Hoehme Art For Sale

Gerhard Hoehme Drawing Untitled I

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Gerhard Hoehme Drawing Untitled II

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Gerhard Hoehme Drawing Untitled III

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Biography

Gerhard Hoehme's works are characterized by an experimental character as well as gestural spontaneous painting. He often used unusual pictorial formats and materials, such as wood, wire, or plastic strings, which emerged from his paintings. In addition, he broke the boundaries of Informel with the inclusion of text and writing elements in his abstractions. 

Gerhard Hoehme was born on February 5, 1920 in Greppin near Dessau. After an apprenticeship as a banker, Hoehme initially served as a fighter pilot in World War II. His enthusiasm for flying and his tendency to look at things from above were later incorporated into many of his works.

For some time Hoehme was in American captivity. He then decided to study at the Burg Giebichstein art academy in Halle an der Saale from 1948 and in 1952 transferred to the renowned Düsseldorf Art Academy, where he studied with the graphic artist Otto Coester. The early works of his student days are still strongly oriented towards French Tachism.

Then he met the gallery owner and art critic Jean-Pierre Wilhelm, who introduced him to Jean Fautrier and Jean Dubuffet. Since then, he also committed himself to informal painting. Together with Wilhelm he founded the "Galerie 22", through which an intensive exchange between musicians, literary figures and artists of the Informel could take place. Hoehme also became a leading member of the Düsseldorf art association "Gruppe 53".

From 1957 on, Gerhard Hoehme further developed his artistic style by following the tradition of "shaped canvas" and not only using unusual picture formats, but also mixing his colors to explore their spatial structures. In 1959 the painter participated in documenta II in Kassel and in 1960 was awarded the Villa Massimo prize in Rome, where he met artists such as Cy Twombly, Robert Motherwell and Alberto Burri. Fascinated by the Italian way of life, he moved into his second home in Nemi from 1963.

Between 1960 and 1984 Hoehme taught as a professor of free painting at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. Among his best-known students were Chris Reincke or Sigmar Polke. In addition, the painter explores three-dimensionality in his art through the combination of spatial elements and painted surfaces. In addition to classical paintings, he now also creates spatial objects in which he integrates various materials. In the following years he created his "pattern sheets" as well as his first "damask paintings". In addition, he published various texts, such as his Manifesto of Relations or "Signposts in the Unknown".

In 1974 Gerhard Hoehme moved to Düsseldorf Neuss-Selikum, was called to the Academy in Berlin in 1984 and received the Paul Klee Professorship at the University of Giessen in 1984. In 1989 the abstraction artist died in Neuss.

In 1998, his wife established the Gerhard and Margarete Hoehme Foundation with the support of the Düsseldorf Department of Cultural Affairs, which provides scientific and restoration services for the painter's estate. To mark the 100th anniversary of Hoehme's birth, the Academy Gallery of the Düsseldorf Art Academy organized a major retrospective of the painter's work in 2020.

Exhibitions

• 18.09.21 – 23.10.21 150 Jahre Landschaftsmalerei – Schlichtenmaier, SCHLOSS DÄTZINGEN.
• 10.09.20 – 31.10.20 FREITOD - Kunstsaele Berlin.
• 06.09.20 – 31.12.20 100 Jahre Gerhard Hoehme - Schloss Reuschenberg.
• 06.02.20 – 26.04.20 Gerhard Hoehme – Retrospektive - Kunstakademie Düsseldorf & Akademie-Galerie, Düsseldorf.
• 18.01.20 – 29.02.20 GERHARD HOEHME - UNTERWEGS. Bilder, Papierarbeiten, Objekte - Galerie Georg Nothelfer, Berlin.
• 30.06.19 – 04.08.19 DIE GROSSE 2019 - DIE GROSSE KUNSTAUSSTELLUNG NRW DÜSSELDORF.
• 25.05.19 – 01.03.20 gestalten - ein Jahrhundert abstrakte Kunst im Westen - Kunsthaus NRW Kornelimünster, Aachen.06.04.19 – 11.09.19 Negativer Raum - ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe.
• 06.04.19 – 11.09.19 Negativer Raum - ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe.
• 30.05.19 – 04.09.19 DIE GROSSE 2019 - DIE GROSSE KUNSTAUSSTELLUNG NRW DÜSSELDORF.
• 10.11.17 – 20.01.18 STRANGE BEAUTY - BECK & EGGELING INTERNATIONAL FINE ART Düsseldorf.
• 16.09.17 – 28.10.17 Gerhard Hoehme - Zwischen Ding und Raum / Between Thing and Space - Galerie Georg Nothelfer, Berlin.
• 16.09.17 – 04.02.18 Auf unbekanntem Terrain. Landschaft in der Kunst nach 1945 - Museum für Aktuelle Kunst - Sammlung Hurrle, Durbach.
• 16.09.17 – 31.10.17 Deutschland 8 – German Art in Beijing - CAFA Art Museum, Beijing °.
• 23.04.16 – 14.05.16 Gerhard Hoehme - Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim.
• 12.10.14 – 25.01.15 Gerhard Hoehme: Der Ätna-Zyklus - Saarlandmuseum - Moderne Galerie & Studiogalerie, Saarbrücken.

Literature

• Gerhard Hoehme – Epiphanie des Informel, Ulrich Schumacher, Rouven Lotz (Publ.), Dortmund 2018.
• Gerhard Hoehme, Der Ätna-Zyklus, Roland Mönig (Publ.), Ausst.-Kat. Saarlandmuseum, Moderne Galerie, Saarbrücken 2014.
• Gerhard Hoehme. Relationen. Texte, 1952-1987, Gottfried Boehm & Susanne Rennert (Publ.), Cologne 2011.
• Gerhard Hoehme, Aquarelle, Ausst.-Kat. Kunstverein „Talstrasse“, Halle/Saale 2005.
• Gerhard Hoehme. Catalogue Raisonné, Margarete Hoehme & Dieter Ronte & Christoph Schreier (Publ.), Ostfildern-Ruit 1998.
• Egon Heuer, Gerhard Hoehme, Die Druckgrafik, Wolfgang Zemter (Publ.), Märkisches Museum der Stadt Witten, Witten 1992.
• Gerhard Hoehme 1948-1983. Notizen zu Werk, Zeit und Person. Mit einem Vorwort von Giulio Carlo Argan, Hans Peter Thun, Stuttgart 1983.
• Gerhard Hoehme, Werk und Zeit 1948-1983, Guilio Carlo Argan, Hans Peter Thurn, Stuttgart/Zurich, 1983.

Collections

Germany

• Berlin - Kunstsaele Berlin
• Essen - Museum Folkwang
• Kiel - Kunsthalle zu Kiel
• Bonn - Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
• Leverkusen - Museum Morsbroich
• Aachen - Kunsthaus NRW
• Karlsruhe - ZKM | Karlsruhe
• Bochum - Kunstmuseum Bochum
• Erlangen - Kunstpalais Erlangen
• Leipzig - gfzk | Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst
• Frankfurt - DZ BANK Kunstsammlung
• Mainz - Landesmuseum Mainz
• Mönchengladbach – Museum Abteiberg
• Otterndorf - Museum gegenstandsfreier Kunst
• Witten - Märkisches Museum
• Hamburg - REINKINGPROJEKTE Hamburg
• Berlin - nbk Neuer Berliner Kunstverein

Weblinks

• Gerhard Hoehme Kunstaspekte Exhibition and collection overview.
• Gerhard and Margarete HOEHME Foundation