Erwin Heerich

Heerich ( born November 29, 1922 in Kassel, † November 6, 2004 in Meerbusch- Osterath ) was a German artist.

Biography

Heerich was born in 1922 in Kassel, where he spent his childhood. While still a high school student, he studied with an urban scholarship as a visiting student at the art school in Kassel and was trained in a pottery in Hann Munden. In 1941 he was drafted into military service and released in 1945 after multiple wounding.

Already in 1945 he took his artistic studies at again and attended from 1945 to 1950, the State Art Academy Dusseldorf in the sculpture class of Ewald Mataré. From 1950 to 1954 he was there, the master student studio with Joseph Beuys and began with the independent artistic work. At this time arose stylized animal sculptures, figurines and first drawings of plants and objects that were involved in a Maßwerksystem.

In 1950 he married Hildegard Müller, with whom he had four children. Since 1953 he lived in the sea Busch Buederich, 1964, he moved with his family to Duesseldorf - Osterath, where he lived until his death.

In 1954 he left the Academy of Fine Arts and continued working as a freelance artist and as a teacher. In 1957 he became assistant to Mataré in the Summer Academy of Oskar Kokoschka in Salzburg. From 1959 originated cardboard sculptures and drawings, prints and graphics in the free area isometric law. In 1961 he was hired as an instructor at the Department of Education laboring in Dusseldorf. In 1968 Heerich was represented with 10 cardboard sculptures on the documenta 4 in Kassel.

In 1969 he was appointed professor at the Art Academy in Dusseldorf and was a professor there until his retirement in 1988. Heerich In 1974 was a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin. In 1978 he was awarded for his work to Will Grohmann Award - Berlin. In 1980, he began planning the buildings on Museum Island Hombroich near Neuss and also created numerous sculptural works in public space.

In 1987 he received the Max Beckmann Prize of the City of Frankfurt am Main. 1989 was the sculpture monument from the Eifel basalt for the sculpture collection Viersen. In 1995 he was winner of the Stankowski Foundation. For his residence Meerbusch he created two sculptures of African granite: the bank in Buederich (2000) and a plastic TDC (so-called chair ) for the City Hall Park in Osterath ( 2003).

2004 died Heerich after a long illness at the age of 81 years at sea Busch Osterath in Dusseldorf.

Meaning, work and career

Heerich is one of the most important German sculptor of the second half of the 20th century. This reflects the response to his death in November 2004 in the national and international press. His works can be found in major museums and collections of modern sculpture.

As a student of Ewald Mataré at the Düsseldorf Art Academy he developed in the 1950s, a completely independent sculptural work, where he remained true to his own artistic line always faithful and never allowed himself to collect revenue from the "Zeitgeist ". As a two-time documenta participant, he attracted international attention. He was represented at exhibitions in New York and Tokyo, in Cairo and at the Biennale in Sao Paulo except in Europe. From 1968 to 1982 he taught as a professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. As an academic teacher and discussion joyful colleague he was here for many years one of the most influential personalities.

Heerich work went out of everyday objects such as animals, trees, puppets, chairs and umbrellas. But he never went to the mimetic image of the outer world, but he only ever had an interest in the architectural, as he himself described his sculptural concept in conversation with Heinz- Norbert Jocks.

At the beginning of his artistic activity under the influence Matarés works were created with a clear reference to the object world. Against 1960, he simplified his sculptures more and developed from figures, natural phenomena and everyday objects geometric bodies, which are all subject to a certain degree and can be regulated solely by units. The material he chose initially prefers brown box. During the sixties and seventies Heerich created with the help of his drawings and cardboard sculptures a repertoire of forms, from which he drew until his death again and again. This very own artistic world has called a " universe of space bodies " Christoph Brockhaus. The clarity of the concept allows the implementation of each design in a variety of sizes and techniques.

Heerich special artistic achievement is the discovery of banal material " box " as a material for sculpture. For this corruptible and actually worthless material he created sculptures of timeless validity. The geometrically exact cardboard sculptures were Heerich trademark. You are corresponding drawings based. Although its operation is based on a mathematical logic intuition plays an important role in Heerich. His sculptures often suggest acting rationally to the irrational. For his geometric and sterometrischen drawings and structures are often so complicated that the viewer no longer see through rationally, but only be able to detect in their sensual appearance. The first cardboard sculptures of " dolls chairs ", horses and figures on the beach can be another facet in Heerich recognize beings: Humor and immediate enjoyment of the game.

In the catalog for the Biennale in Sao Paulo Heerich described his artistic concept: " The duration of my project is not within the range of the made, but of what is thought ". This means that its idea can be implemented in a variety of materials and dimensions.

He got the opportunity to do so at the beginning of the 1980s. At that time, he has designed a number of buildings on Museum Island Hombroich near Neuss and realized in cooperation with the Düsseldorf architect Hermann H. Müller and the art collector and real estate agents Karl -Heinrich Müller. These buildings looked Heerich as a walk sculptures. With them he has pure form, uncompromising purist beauty and practical application together. He has understood the process of translating the ideas of the Bauhaus artists of the 1920s in their own language. Starting from simple geometric shapes such as circle, rectangle and square pavilions emerged as a decentralized showrooms for the collections of Karl -Heinrich Müller.

"Tower " and " Graubner Pavilion" are not stocked. As architecture of perfect harmony they count among experts and the public to the most beautiful modern buildings. They fit perfectly with their brick walls in the nature of a museum island. Heerich architecture, artificial forms, are in dialogue with the landscape, the nature and the light. The sculptural architectures have an inconspicuous outer skin, but inside unfold the simple, perfectly proportioned white spaces their convincing aesthetic effect.

Erwin Heerich name is inextricably linked with the cardboard sculptures and the total work of art museum Hombroich. He had many years here his studio. His estate was transferred to the Foundation Hombroich. After workup of the estate was the Heerich archive in Siza pavilion on the adjacent missile base with the exhibition Heerich in March 2010. Opens the processes of plastic thinking and made ​​available to the public. Heerich several buildings such as the Fontana - house designed for the Raktenstation.

Heerich created numerous sculptures for public and private clients. With its high artistic standards he was a no compromise in the placement of his sculptures. In contrast to the postmodern understanding he has of the complexity of modern life set against a unified artistic principle. He has placed in the artistic landscape of the second half of the 20th century character and standards, not only in the museum Hombroich, but with his entire body of work.

Heerich: Tower ( inside). Museum Hombroich

Heerich: Graubner pavilion. Museum Hombroich

Heerich: Graubner Pavilion ( inside). Museum Hombroich

Heerich: Snail. Museum Hombroich

Heerich: Snail (detail).

Heerich: Snail ( view from inside ).

Heerich: Untitled (1978). Museum Hombroich

Heerich: Sculptures field (detail). Museum Hombroich

Heerich: Fontana - house. Hombroich Missile Base

Heerich: Gate of basalt lava. South Park Düsseldorf

Exhibitions (selection)

E = solo exhibition

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