LITHOGRAPHS 1949-1967 - Auckland Art Gallery

LITHOGRAPHS 1949-1967

PAULWUNDERLICHLITHOGRAPHS 1949-1967AUCKLAND C ITY ART GALLERY 1967The AuDieterWundeZealandckland City Art GaBrusberg Gallery,lich's.lithographicIlery wishesHanover,Germanyoeuvre available forto express its thanks to thefor making Paulexhibition in NewOctober 1967INTRODUCTIONUntil very recently most German art of the past couple of decades hassomehow failed to convey to us a clear notion of the specific problemsthat a creative artist might have to face or solve in a nation that hadjust emerged from the terrors of a political dictatorship and adisastrous defeat. As early as 1946, especially in West-Berlin andMunich a few galleries, critics and artists had tried, for a while, torevive the cultural atmosphere that had once encouraged George

Grosz, Emil Nolde, Klee and Kokoschka. But those who were activein the movement were mainly survivors of the Weimar Republic'sExpressionist Bohemia. Whatever new works they now producedseemed strangely outdated, reminding one rather of the expressionistheyday before 1914 than of the work that was actually being producedin Germany when leaders of the Third Reich suddenly bannedmost forms of modern art.Suddenly, in the past two years, we have at last begun to discoverin the work of a few German artists some willingness to face thesehaunting memories of the immediate German past. One of theoutstanding examples is Paul Wunderlich.A graphic artist of quite unusual skill, he reveals to us in his lithographsthe preoccupations which quite properly haunt the sensitivemind of a young creative artist who was brought up in the Germanworld of violence, fear and horror. Interpreting in the terms of hisown dream-world the patterns he creates almost absent-mindedly,unconsciously or by accident in his work, he arrives at an art formwhich many a psychologist might be tempted to compare to thepatterns of cards for a Rorschach test. But here the cards havealready been fully interpreted by the artist and have real humanmeaning and content, though we can of course interpret them furtherin terms of our own dreams and fears.Some German critics have resented the "literary content" ofWunderlich's lithographs and paintings, or protested against theartist's alleged perversity and sadism. Wunderlich's series of lithographson themes of the gallows-poetry of Francois Villon and hislithographs of July 20, 1944 (attempt at Hitler's life) have provokedveritable storms of hypocritical protest. But all such virtuousindignation smacks of neurotic resistance to facts that should nowbe squarely faced by all Germans, especially writers and artists. Arethe tortures once inflicted on the inmates of Nazi prisons and concentrationcamps to be dismissed so blithely as mere literature ? Isa sensitive artist's failure to forget these outrages to be blamed nowas an expression of his own sadism ?Wunderlich's visionary lithographs reveal to us, in addition to thelarval, tortured or rotting human forms that haunt his memory,another world of more ethereal beings that are closely related to thosethat also haunted the works of Odilon Redon and other masters ofthe fantastic art. As in the works of James Ensor or of William Blake,we witness here a true Marriage of Heaven and Hell, an apocalypticbringing together of the Blessed and the Damned, of those who dwellamong the angels and those condemned to be the victims of demons.True, such preoccupations with the macabre and the fantastic areessentially romantic. But German art, at its very best, has often beenof a very romantic nature, and a German artist — after the wastedyears of Nazi cultural dictatorship — can surely re-discover his truecharacter more successfully through such experiments, romantic asthey may appear to us outsiders, than through slavish imitation offads and fashions imposed from Paris or New York and of all thatwe expect modern art to be.EDOUARD RODITIfl@§,& & \•MB*''" *- : rMAIW,.^Bte/^CJ ^i ^/^^ttl-A.42

Detail 78GPaul Wunderlich was born 1927 in Berlin. He studied at theHochschule fur Bildende Kiinste in Hamburg. 1960 to 1964 hetaught graphic art at the same school. 1961 to 1963 he lived firstin Paris and then in Italy. 1963 he was appointed to a professorshipin Hamburg, where he now lives. Wunderlich was awarded a fellowshipby the Kulturkreis of the German Industrialists Association in1954, the national Kunstpries der Jugend for graphic art in 1960,the Collins Prize of the city of Philadelphia for lithography in 1962and the International Forum Award in Tokyo in 1964. In 1963 he hadone-man shows at the Prints Club of Philadelphia, the San FranciscoMuseum and the Museum of Modern Art, Miami. In Germany hispersonal exhibitions have been in Hamburg (1957, 1960, 1962),Diisseldorf (1958, 1961, 1963), Berlin and Hanover (1962),Frankfurt (1963) and Munich (1964) as well as in Lubeck,Worpswede, Heidelberg, and Kaiserslautern. In 1965 he showed inRome. During this time he has participated in international exhibitionsin Paris (1957, 1961), Washington DC and five further U.S. cities(1962), Philadelphia (1963) and Tokyo (1964). Wunderlich isrepresented in the Museums of Modern Art in New York and Miamiand in the San Francisco Museum as well as in the graphics collectionsof some fifteen museums in Federal Germany.

CATALOGUE 6 Portrait. 19557 Portrait G.K. 19551 Head. 19492 Christa I. 19503 Christa II. 19514 My grandmother. 19545 Herr Walter. 1955Detail 1258 I surrender. 19599 Birgit. 195910 Man by the wall. 195911 Frightened! 195912 Small woman with large man. 195913 Telephone doodles. 195914 Behind the wallpaper. 195915 Girl singing. 195916 Birgit in difficulties. 195917 Hope, how fickle .. . 195918 Family. 195919 A relatively infrequent surprise. 195920 Margrit (virgin shaking her head). 19592221 Blind man's buff. 195922 Figure on grey. 195923 Man with white eagle. 195924 Figure. 1959

252627282930Homunculus. 1959Headstand. 1959In front of the wall. 1959Man with a bird on his head. 1959Figure on yellow. 1959Figure in black japan. 195945464748495020 July 1944, Page 7. 195920 July 1944, Page 8. 1959The amputated uncle. 1959.My friends at the baths. 1 959Fat woman. 1959Girl-friends. 195931323334353637383940A man. 1959Yalta. 1959Children playing. 1959Venus of Sielbeck. 1959Head. 1959DrAisen. 1959Poet. 195920 July 1944, Titlepage. 195920 July 1944, Page 1. 195920 July 1944, Page 2. 195951525354555657585960Male figure. 1959Herr B. 1960Small head. 1960My fishmonger. 1960Karl. 1960Rasputin and his daughter. 1960Colleagues. 1960Semper idem. 1960Rodrigo and his parents. 1960Daibolo-player. 19604142434420 July 1944, Page 3. 195920 July 1944, Page 4. 195920 July 1944, Page 5. 195920 July 1944, Page 6. 195961626364Mannequin in red. 1960Deep decollet6 1960Mona Lisa. 1960Solomon's loveletter. 196044

65 On a green chair. 196066 Sandwich-lady I. 196067 Sandwich-lady II. 196068 a deux. 196069 Green Lisa. 196070 who is who? 196071 Centaur (dedicated to Arno Schmidt). 196072 Dragonerstall poster. 196073 Lady Butterfly (hommage a Paul Reisert). 1 96074 Bookmark. 196075 Ursula is kind I 196076 Ursula 60. 196077 The red dream. 196078 Girl-friends 60. 196079 Pinned with roses. 196080" Mona Lila. 196081 Double Liz. 196082 She introduces herself. 196083 From L's sketchbook. 196084 Adam and Eve. 196085 Three men on a sofa. 196086 Roses for the Public Prosecutor. 196087 Man with eagle. 196188 Flirt. 196189 Separated. 196190 Baroque-eagle. 196191 One picks no flowers in the churchyard. 196192 Sitting on the table. 196193 Ursula 61. 196194 Short-story. 196195 What she has dreamt. 196196 Le petit dejeuner. 196197 X-rays. 196198 Marose. 196199 Salmon a la Paul. 1961100 Noli tangere circulos meos. 1961101 Knife-thrower. 1961102 Twist. 1961103 Anatomy. 1961104 Creation d'une femme I. 196182

105 L'ascension. 1961106 PiU. 1961107 Portrait painter. 1961108 Painter dreaming. 1961109 Don't shoot! 1961110 Strip-tease. 1961111 African sketch-page. 1961112 Algerian wall (toute seul). 196292>..o-

113 Sad man. 1962114 He becomes old (without vanity). 1962115 T.V. 1962116 For Jeremy. 1962117 Congratulation (felicitation). 1962118 Crazy horse saloon. 1962119 Bosom-friends. 1962120 Creation d'une femme II. 1962121 Creation d'une femme II. 1962122 The listener in the wall (for Dorothee). 1962123 Litho from the Brusberg-Catalogue(P.W. 1962). 1962124 Poster. 1962125 Brusberg poster. 1962126 Four heads. 1962127 Poster for Ursula. 1962128 Leda, Title-page. 1962129 Leda, Page 1. 1962130 Leda, Page 2. 1962131 Leda. Page 3. 1962132 Leda. Page 4. 1962133 Leda, Page 5. 1962134 Creation d'une femme III. 1962135 Rendez-vous technic I. 1962136 Rendez-vous technic III. 1962137 Rendez-vous technic II. 1962138 Lolita. 1962139 Le vieux monsieur. 1962140 Painter and model I. 1962141 Painter and model II. 1962142 Poster (in the sights). 1962143 Brockstedt poster. 1962144 From my sketchbook. 1962145 Peintre. 1962146 Les deux, 1st version. 1962147 Les deux, 2nd version. 1962148 Kunst • Knoll International (Poster). 1963149 Creation dune femme (Sydow poster). 1963150 Niepel poster 63. 1963151 ex libris. 1963152 Olivia Twist. 1963153 Figures in a room. 1963154 La dame rose. 1963155 Small anatomy, Title-page. 1963156 Small anatomy. Page 1. 1963157 Small anatomy. Page 2. 1963158 Small anatomy. Page 3. 1963159 Small anatomy. Page 4. 1963160 Small anatomy. Page 5. 1963161 Small anatomy. Page 6. 1963162 Black roses for Ursula. 1964163 Swan's head. 1964164 Swans. 1964165 Aurora — hommage a Runge. 1964166 Per aspera ad astra. 1964167 Niepel poster 65. 1965168 Bosomfriends I. 1965169 Bosomfriends II (Goldfinger). 1965170 Eve I. 1965171 Title-page for D.B.'s portfolio. 1965172 Poster (Hanover, Bochum, Berlin). 1965173 Stockings (Page 1, D.B.'s portfolio). 1965174 Head with swan (Self-portrait). 1965175 Adam. 1965176 Eve II. 1965177 Head with shell I. 1965178 Head with shell II. 1965179 Head with shell III. 1965180 Latete. 1965181 Leda 65. 1965182 The snail. 1965183 Shell, man and woman. 1965184 Leda and the swan. 1965185 La chaise. 1965186 La chaise. 1965187 Grey stages. 1959188 Rendez-vous technic IV. 1962189 corpus delicti I (homme). 1966190 corpus delicti II (femme). 1966191 carina lupa (black-white). 1966192 carina lupa. 1966193 The thumb. 1966194 Torso 66. 1966195 Head with mask. 1966196 The beautiful sisters. 1966197 The angel with the index finger. 1966198 Nude on red chair (Dusseldorf poster). 1966199 Visiting. 1966200 Woman with high coiffure. 1966201 With head and crab. 1966

202 Tapir. 1966203 Jeu de paume. 1966204 Bonaparte's master-key. 1966205 Le torteau tatou

206 The day of Bonaparte. 1966207 Pythagoras. 1966208 Come on angel (viens mon ange). 1966209 Innocent. 1966210 The beautiful photographer (Brusberg poster)211 Chair. 1966212 Mary Wig man. 1966213 L'index. 1966214 Jacket for Mickinn's 'Indian Summer'. 1967215 Small figure (for catalogue supplement 67).201•W

216 Writing page for D.B. 1967217 'Zebra-chair'. 1967218 Behind the curtain. 1967219 untitled. 1967220 impossible! 1967221 In front of the curtain. 1967222 The blue angel. 1967223 untitled. 1967224 What a position. 1967225 'Paul, shut up!" 1967218onc/5'pno-cr*-