Zachęta National Gallery of Art

curator: Joanna Kiliszek
co-operation on the part of Zachęta: Katarzyna Kołodziej, Julia Leopold

The Neo Rauch exhibition in the Zachęta National Gallery of Art is the first full overview of the painting of an artist who is an outstanding phenomenon of the German and European scene. This show will also be one of the relatively few presentations of German art made in Poland over recent years.

To mark the occasion of Neo Rauch’s 50th birthday, two simultaneous exhibitions dedicated to his work were held from April in the Museum der Bildende Künste Lepizig and also in the Pinakothek der Moderne in Münich. With reference to these, a retrospective of the painter’s work will be held in Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw. The exceptional quality of Neo Rauch’s painting has up until now not been presented in Poland from such a wide perspective as will be the case in Zachęta. The exhibition will encompass several dozen works made from 1993 to today.

Rauch’s paintings, principally maintained within a bright colour-scheme, present most often figurative scenes playing themselves out on several superimposed surfaces. In his painting is visible the influence of two traditions in German painting: expressionism and symbolism. Neo Rauch’s exceptional position on the art scene is created by the fact that, by drawing on the specificity of German realism, he always succeeds in discovering in European mythology the image of a person and developing it in many diverse ways. He succeeds in connecting concrete contemporary issues with those of fundamental human conditions.

The exhibition under the patronage of Prof. Władysław Bartoszewski, the Minister for International Dialogue of the Polish Prime Minister’s Office and the German Ambassador in Poland, Mr. Rüdigera Freiherr v. Fritscha.

The exhibition will be accompanieb by a richly illustrated Polish-English catalogue with esays by the curator and Mathias Flügge – well-known German art-critic specialized in the Middle-Eastern Europe.

Neo Rauch. Biography

• 1960 born in Leipzig
• 1981–1986 studies painting at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig with Professor   Rink
• 1986–1990 master student (Meisterschüler)
• 1993–1998 Assistant at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
• 2005–2009 Professorship Painting/Graphics at Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
• since 2009 Honorary Professor at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig

Lives and works in Leipzig.

Awards:

• 1997 Art Award by Leipziger Volkszeitung, Germany
• 2010 Award by Foundation Bibel und Kultur, Germany
• 2005 Art Award Finkenwerder, Germany
• 2002 Vincent van Gogh Bi-annual Award for Contemporary Art in Europe, Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht, The Netherlands

Solo-Exhibitions (selection):

• 2011 Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany
  Begleiter, Nationalgalerie Zacheta, Warsaw, Poland
• 2010 Palais Beauharnais, Deutsche Botschaft Paris, France
  Begleiter, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
• 2009 Schilfland, Galerie EIGEN  + ART, Berlin, Germany
• 2007 para, Max Ernst Museum, Brühl, Germany
  para, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
  Neo Rauch. Neue Rollen. Rudolphinum, Prague, Czech Republic
• 2006 Neo Rauch. Neue Rollen. Bilder 1993 bis heute, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany
  Der Zeitraum, Galerie EIGEN + ART, Leipzig, Germany
• 2005 CAC, Malaga, Spain
  Sammlung der Leipziger Volkszeitung, Honolulu Academy of Arts
• 2004 Neo Rauch, Albertina Wien, Vienna, Austria
• 2003 Currents, The Saint Louis Art Museum, USA
• 2002 Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, The Netherlands
• 2001 Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany
• 2000 Randgebiet, GfzK, Leipzig/ Haus der Kunst, München/ Kunsthalle Zurich, Switzerland
• 1997 Art Award, Leipziger Volkszeitung, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Germany
• 1993 Galerie EIGEN + ART, Leipzig, Germany