Wieland Förster

The sculptures of the great European sculptor Wieland Förster are among the icons of 20th-century sculpture. His works continue the tradition of sculpture since August Rodin, who elevated the fragment to an art form. They creatively incorporate influences from sculptors of classical modernism such as Brancusi, Arp, and Moore. Wieland Förster depicts pain, suffering, and martyrdom on the one hand, and beauty, sensuality, and eros on the other — the metaphors of barbarism and humanity.

Wieland Förster

curriculum vitae

1930 born in Dresden
1944-1946 apprenticeship as a Technical Draftsperson in Dresden
1946-1950 sentenced by the secret service of the USSR Inner Ministry (NKDW) for alleged possession of weapons to 7.5 years of forced labor (special stockade in Bautzen)
1950-1953 working as a Technical Draftsperson
1953-1958 Study of sculpture at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste (HfBK) Dresden under Walter Arnold, Gerd Jäger and Hans Stegerd
1959-1961 master student at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin (East) under Fritz Cremer, since then freelance work
1960 first lithographs
1961 early termination of the master student period in the course of the ″formalism debate″
1962 first etchings and sculptures for public spaces
1966 Will-Lammert-Preis of the Akademie der Künste (AdK) Berlin (East)
1967 short stay in Tunisia
1968-1973 exhibition, purchase and publication bans by GDR state authorities
1974 elected member of the Akademie der Künste (AdK) Berlin (East) at the suggestion of Konrad Wolf
Käthe-Kollwitz-Preis of the AdK Berlin (East)
1976 Nationalpreis der DDR für Kunst und Literatur III. Class
1977 Kleist-Kunstpreis of the City of Frankfurt (Oder)
1978-1990 5th Vice President of the AdK Berlin (East), responsible for the training of master students
1983 Nationalpreis der DDR für Kunst und Literatur II. Class
1985 promotion to the status as a professor
1991 since then member of the PEN-Center Germany
withdrawal from the AdK Berlin (East) in protest against the lack of a public and truthful reappraisal of its history
1992 establishment of the Wieland Förster Archiv at the AdK Berlin (East)
1996 founding member of the Sächsische Akademie der Künste (SAK) Dresden
Art Prize of the City of Dresden
1999 Art Prize of Brandenburg
2000 Bundesverdienstkreuz I. Class of the Federal Republic of Germany
2001 contract on behalf of the Wieland-Förster-Stiftung at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD) with the donation of 58 sculptures
2007 termination of artistic work, abandonment of the studio
since then active as an author in Oranienburg
2009 honorary award of Brandenburg for his life's work
2010 honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Potsdam
2012 Verdienstorden of Brandenburg
2020 Kulturpreis of the district of Oberhavel for his life´s work
Collection

Exhibition at the Galerie Himmel

Collection
Gerlint Soeder & Erhard Frommhold

23. November 2024 — 25. January 2025

further exhibitions

1967 Staatliches Museum Schwerin
1974 Zentralinstitut für Astrophysik, Potsdam
1980 Altes Museum, Berlin
1982 Kunsthalle Södertälje (Schweden)
1985 Centre culturel de la RDA à Paris
1986 XIII. Biennale Venedig, mit Sabina Grzimek (participation)
1990 BAWAG Fondation, Wien
1991 Schwedenspeichermuseum, Stade
Städtisches Museum Lindau/Bodensee
1993 Torhausgalerie Braunschweig
1994 Deutsche Bank, Berlin
1995 Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, Magdeburg
1996 Kunstverein Speyer
1998 Albertinum, Dresden
1999 Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle/Saale
2000 Alexanderkirche, Marbach
Marienkirche Frankfurt/O.
2001 Galerie Ludwig Lange, Berlin
Galerie Profil, Weimar
Galerie Hintersdorf, Berlin, mit Gerda Lepke (participation)
2003 Kurt-Tucholsky-Gedenkstätte, Rheinsberg
2004 Sächsische Akademie der Künste, Dresden
2005 Georg-Kolbe-Haus, Berlin
2009/2010 Skulpturensammlungen, Dresden
2014 GALERIE HIMMEL, Dresden
Eröffnung des Wieland-Förster-Zimmers in Oranienburg
2015 Gerhard-Marcks-Haus, Bremen »Figur tut weh. Positionen um Wieland Försters Große Neeberger Figur«
Gedenkstätte Bautzner Straße, Dresden »Wieland Förster. Jahrhundertbilanz.«
2020 Angermuseum Erfurt
Kunsthaus Dahlem, Berlin
Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, Magdeburg
2022 GALERIE HIMMEL, Dresden
2024 GALERIE HIMMEL, Dresden, mit Gerda Lepke (participation)