Alfred Traugott Moerstedt
The carefree nature of the mosaic

05. April 2025 — 14. June 2025 | in the cabinet

Alfred Traugott Moerstedt (1925–2005) was a painter, graphic artist and textile artist. Alongside Gerhard Altenbourg, he is considered one of the most important Thuringian artists of the second half of the 20th century. Moerstedt found his role models in the tradition of modernism. Between 1963 and 2005, he created an extensive body of work and was a co-founder of the famous »Erfurter Ateliergemeinschaft« (1963–1974). On the occasion of his 100th birthday, we are showing some of his imaginative pictorial creations.

  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Exotengepränge“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Ohne Titel (Einschlüsse Aufbrüche IV)“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Purpurfasern“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Stundenschlag“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Mutprobe“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Am Rande des Milleniums“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Schienenstränge“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Bandbreite“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Positionsbestimmung“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Harlekinade I“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Überraschungsmoment“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Dringlichkeitsphase“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Puppen-Bühnenstück“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Lose gebündelt“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Harlekinade II“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Guter Morgen“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Im Wirbelwind“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Der Rote Rest“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Kurzweil am Horizont“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Zeremoniell“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Konzentration“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Vorfall“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Schwebezustand“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Merkzeichen“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Nach oben“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Nobler Akkord“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Ein Sommer im Garten“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Äquatorparzellen“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Die Sorglosigkeit des Mosaiks“
  • Alfred Traugott Mörstedt – „Flaggen am Strand“

Introduction

At the beginning of his artistic career, Alfred Traugott Mörstedt found himself in a difficult situation, as official art and cultural policy ignored him at best. He saw no chance of exhibiting or publishing his works. So, together with friends, he explored the possibility of organising exhibitions and editions himself in the niche of the private sphere and the community of similarly minded people. This led to the legendary »Erfurter Ateliergemeinschaft«, which opened its first exhibition with works by Waldo Dörsch on 15 December 1963 in Rolf Dieß's former attic studio in Erfurt. Special artistic and aesthetic attention was paid to critical non-conformist art, which was subject to repression by the ruling cultural policy. Mörstedt remained committed to this straightforward path of self- determined creativity, which found its existential support in a more or less private circle of artists and art lovers. This is evident in his poetically condensed graphic and painterly improvisations, which seem to derive their appeal and aesthetic tension from the moment of form creation.