Introduction
Manfred Luther is an exceptional figure in the recent art history of Dresden and, indeed, in East German Modernism as a whole. Intellectually, Luther sought a meta-synthesis of scientific knowledge from philosophy, mathematics and physics that would describe and interpret the world and its phenomena. He sought an appropriate artistic expression for this kind of theory of everything, in order to bring visual art and thought into harmony. In 1960/1961, he invented the concept of »Idee Konkrete Zeichnungen« (Concrete Drawings) and established a system of signs consisting of six basic geometric figures, which, due to its elementary validity, seemed suitable for conveying his philosophical theses, which culminate in the central statement: »All philosophical considerations begin with matter and end with matter«.
He developed his entire artistic oeuvre based on this paradigm of dematerialisation and objectification, beginning with the large-format »24 Tuschzeichnungen«, completed in 1968, which regularly combine the six basic figures. In the semiotic relationship between idea, sign and image, but also in terms of his aesthetics of reception, Manfred Luther achieves a quality with this idea that sets him apart from the realm of constructive- concrete art and identifies him as a precursor of conceptual art, which emerged somewhat later, primarily in the USA. His occasional reference to the fact that his pictures are »more about understanding than about pleasing« clearly gives priority to the idea over the form, a central feature of conceptual art.
In the non-conformist art of the GDR in the 1960s and 1970s, only A.R. Penck and Carlfriedrich Claus were as interested as Manfred Luther in the preposition of a philosophical concept, in a mutually interpenetrating unity of idea and image. A.R. Penck (1939–2017), who also developed his own sign system of pictograms, symbols and hieroglyphs with »Standart«. Carlfriedrich Claus (1930–1998), who drew on his psychological and linguistic-philosophical position to create the visual poetry of his »Sprachblaetter« which oscillate between calligraphy and (spiritual) landscape. Internationally, the return to the Bauhaus, De Stijl and the beginnings of constructivism from 1960 onwards was a defining phenomenon. Sol LeWitt (1928–2007), a pioneer of the American Minimal Art and Conceptual Art movements, produced print series from 1970 to 1985, relatively contemporaneous with Luther's »Combinations« and »Geometric Figures«, which were similarly conceived as unfoldings of reduced construction kits.
The exhibition aims to place Manfred Luther's personality and work more clearly in the context of conceptual art. Many of the unique and distinctive features of his artistic work, not least his striking special position within Dresden's constructivist- concrete art scene, become clear as a result. Entire parts of his oeuvre were, imperceptibly promoted by the previously accepted interpretation as a constructive-concrete position, in which, it should be conceded here, the artist himself played a significant role, literally marginalised or not noticed at all. Thus, groups of works, such as the stylised faces or the small-format »Improvisationen« were either not published at all or downplayed as early works.
Over the course of his life, Luther allowed himself to become increasingly open and expansive after the asceticism of the »24 Tuschzeichnungen«. While his desire for change and playfulness in the »Paraphrasen« of the 1970s still followed the strict laws of serial combinatorics, about a decade later it intensified in the spirals of the series »Ab ovo. Vom Uranfang an« to almost a reversal. The spiral images, freely dripped in lacquer paint, stand in stark contrast to the purist clarity and purity, to the constructed nature of the canon of forms with which the »Idee Konkrete Zeichnungen“ began, both in terms of painting technique, with the chaotic informality of the drip painting style, and in terms of perceptual aesthetics, with their vagueness and diffuseness.
The famous circular paintings of the 1980s and 1990s are often described as the late peak of the already mature artist's career. Conceptually, these paintings from the series »Cogito ergo sum« represent the culmination of his artistic vision, while their aura resembles that of icons. The iconic effect stems from a material aesthetic enhancement that is unparalleled in Manfred Luther's work. Despite the ever-same circular strokes on changing backgrounds, no other group of works displays such a strong individualisation, such an enhancement of beauty. The old notion that the outer form is secondary and must remain subordinate to content and idea is thrown to the wind here. The circles float transcendentally in an elaborately crafted, often preciously shimmering pictorial space.
Luther's works can be read as “meditations” in the sense of spiritual exercise, in the sense of a practice of reflection and contemplation. Their subject matter is spiritual in nature; it is thought itself. His artistic working method also sometimes bears the hallmarks of meditative practices: the rather inefficient, self- flagellating production of the »24 Tuschzeichnungen« by means of pen strokes laid over each other again and again in a relief- like manner. The combination of hundreds of variations and derivations from the kit of geometric figures. The constant repetition of certain meaningful pictorial objects and compositions. There are elements of contemplative immersion, of the harmony of emotion and reason, here of course with the aim of reflection, spiritualisation and increased insight.
However, when applied to Luther's art, ›meditation‹ also works in the opposite direction, focusing in a double sense on the viewer's intellectual effort. In this respect, we would like the title »Concrete Meditations« to be understood as an invitation to perceive Luther's art not only in its aesthetic form, but also to explore it in a comprehensible way.
