| 1930 |
born in Annaberg |
| 1941 |
since then occupation with art (Picasso, Legér, Schmidt-Rottluff, Klee, Kandinsky, Lissitzky) and philosophy (Marx, Steiner, Kropotkin, Bloch) |
|
acquisition of the Hebrew and Cyrillic alphabet through self-study |
| 1944 |
death of the father |
| 1945-1948 |
apprenticeship as a retail / art salesman |
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worked in his parents' paper workshop and art gallery |
| 1950 |
since then regular trips to West Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig |
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acquaintance with the art historian Will Grohmann in West Berlin |
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Letter exchange with Hans Arp, Fritz Winter and Bernard Schultze |
| 1951 |
since then, poems (″sound formations″);
examination of 20th century art theory and Jewish religious philosophy |
| 1953-1954 |
collaboration with the ″Volksstimme″ newspaper in Karl-Marx-Stadt |
| 1956 |
aesthetic texts on contemporary art and music |
|
″Picasso und die Frage der Verständlichkeit″ appears in the magazine ″Bildende Kunst″ |
| 1957-1958 |
work on gestural notation, automatic diary, and paper collages |
| 1959 |
termination of the family business |
|
first acoustic works using a reel-to-reel tape recorder (speech exercises: constellative articulations and dynamic coarticulations) |
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letter constellations on the typewriter (letter fields, phase models) and gestural writing works (circles, vibration texts) |
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beginning of a lifelong friendship with the poet Franz Mon |
| 1960 |
intense letter exchange with the Dadaist Raoul Hausmann |
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since then, friendship with Werner Schmidt, director of the Kupferstich-Kabinett of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD) |
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letter exchange with french artist couples Ilse and Pierre Garnier and Nela and Alain Arias-Misson |
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begin of work on the so-called ″Sprachblättern″ |
| 1961 |
restriction of his freedom of movement due to the construction of the Berlin Wall |
|
first attempts at double-sided writing (transparent paper written and labeled on both sides) |
| 1962 |
since then first exhibition successes in Western Europe ″Skripturale Malerei″ |
| 1963 |
cycle ″Geschichtsphilosophisches Kombinat″ |
| 1964 |
publication of the fundamental theoretical text ″Notizen zwischen der experimentellen Arbeit – zu ihr″ in Frankfurt am Main |
|
increasing restrictions imposed by the GDR authorities |
| 1966 |
since then in contact with Berlin art critic Lothar Lang |
| 1968 |
exploration of lithography |
| 1969 |
death of the mother |
|
Verband Bildender Künstler in Karl-Marx-Stadt classifies his Sprachblätter as “anti-socialist” and “anti-humanist” |
| 1972 |
begin of the friendship with Christa and Gerhard Wolf |
|
begin of work on transparents and double-sided offset lithographs |
| 1977 |
collaboration with the nonconformist artist group and producer gallery ″Clara Mosch″ in Karl-Marx-Stadt / Adelsberg |
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influenced by Thomas Ranft work with etching; ″Aurora-Mappe″ is published by Verlag der Kunst Dresden |
| 1978 |
2nd prize at the Graphic Arts Biennial in Krakow |
| 1980 |
since then, renewed focus on acoustic works |
| 1982 |
alongside visual art, work with speech operations and sound processes, Russian Futurism (Chlebnikov, Krutschonych), and shamanism |
| 1988 |
Graphic portfolio ″Aggregat K″ published by Verlag der Kunst Dresden |
| 1989 |
since the political reunification, Claus' work has received great public acclaim and recognition |
|
Max-Pechstein-Award of the city of Zwickau |
| 1991 |
member of the Akademie der Künste Berlin |
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honorary professorship of the federal state of Saxony |
| 1993 |
relocation from Annaberg to Chemnitz |
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Radio productions (Lautaggregat, WDR 1993; Basale Sprech-Operationsräume, BR 1996) |
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Jerg-Ratgeb-Award |
| 1994 |
becomes an honorary citizen of Annaberg-Buchholz |
| 1997 |
Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany |
| 1998 |
commission to design the lobby of the German Bundestag in the Reichstag building in Berlin |
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Gerhard-Altenbourg-Award |
|
dies on May 22 in Chemnitz |
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at his request, his estate is transferred to the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz |
| 1999 |
Establishment of the Carlfriedrich Claus Archive Foundation in the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz |
