Hermann Waldenburg, (born February 22, 1940 in Waldenburg, Silesia as Hermann Vogt) is a German artist and designer.

LIFE: 

After secondary school, Hermann Waldenburg trained as a typesetter in Bochum. In addition, he attended evening semesters at the Folkwang Werkkunstschule in Essen. From 1960 to 1961 he studied with Manfred Henninger at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart and from 1961 to 1967 with Wolf Hoffmann at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, becoming a master student of Hann Trier in 1966. From 1963 to 1964 he traveled through Central America and Mexico. From 1965 he became a member of the self-help gallery Potsdamer in Berlin. In 1968 he adopted the stage name Waldenburg. From 1969 to 1970 he received a scholarship from the DAAD in Madrid and from 1973 to 1974 a scholarship from the Villa Massimo in Rome. In 1973 Waldenburg received the Böttcherstrasse Art Prize in Bremen and in 1974 the Prize of the Federal Republic of Germany at the 4th International Graphic Biennale in Florence. In 1978 he became a member of the German Association of Artists, in whose annual exhibitions he took part nine times between 1972 and 1988. From 1985 to 2005 he received a professorship for free and applied drawing and painting at the University of Applied Sciences for Design in Augsburg. In 1985 Hermann Waldenburg ended his artistic activity and turned to designing furniture and everyday objects. From the mid-1980s he was one of the protagonists of a new German design. In 1988 he became a member of the Designwerkstatt Berlin. In 1989 he developed prototypes for an office utensil program for Knoll International, New York. In 1990 Waldenburg published the photo book Berlin Wall Pictures with photos from 1984 to 1990 with Nicolai Verlag. The book was published in three editions, also in English and French translations. In 1991 he received the competition prize for a monument to remind and commemorate the Bavarian Quarter in Berlin-Schoeneberg. In 2013, Waldenburg's second volume of photographs, Mauerkunst, was published. Graffiti and object art in Berlin from 1989 to 1994, also in the Nicolai Verlag.[5] Hermann Waldenburg has been married since 1967, has two children and lives in Berlin.

ARTWORK: 

In his early work, Waldenburg directly expresses the torment of the creature through the depiction of animal skeletons and skinned bodies, as in the paintings Animal Experiment, tempera and oil on linen, 115 × 110 cm from 1967 or Chicken Breeding II, tempera and oil on linen, 100 × 80 cm from 1968. In these works, the painter often places his motifs individually or in pairs in front of monochrome surfaces. From the late 1960s, Waldenburg turned to depicting serially arranged plants and descriptions of plantation-like fields. The objects depicted are stylized and reduced to almost complete uniformity, reminiscent of patterns such as in the painting Plantation with Water Pipes, oil on linen, 75 × 100 cm from 1973. In contrast to the two-dimensional depictions of the landscapes, which are often limited by a horizon, The objects develop a high plasticity. Later, strings of styrofoam blocks, perforated sheets or architectural elements are added, occasionally in combination with stylized cameras and microphones. The artist uses the machine-made food objects or consumer items such as cardboard bowls with leftover ketchup to raise awareness of the deformation and industrial exploitation of nature by humans. At the same time, the works also reflect the increasing conformism of society.

A well-known work by Waldenburg as a designer is the ejection seat from 1984/85, a chair made of gray synthetic leather with springs mounted on an aluminum sheet.

solo EXHIBITIONS:

• 1967: Hermann Waldenburg. Sonderschau Große Berliner Kunstausstellung
• 1969: Hermann Waldenburg, Galerie Rutzmoser, München
• 1970: Hermann Waldenburg, Galerie Egam, Madrid
• 1971: Hermann Waldenburg, Goethe-Institut Verona, Rom, Bologna
• 1971: Hermann Waldenburg, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin
• 1971: Hermann Waldenburg, Studio Jaeschke, Bochum
• 1971: Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (mit Klaus Fußmann und Arnulf Hoffmann)
• 1972: Hermann Waldenburg, Goethe-Institut New York, Neapel
• 1973: Hermann Waldenburg, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Cambridge
• 1973: Waldenburg, Galerie Gabriele von Loeper, Hamburg
• 1974: Hermann Waldenburg, Studio Jaeschke, Bochum
• 1974: Hermann Waldenburg, Galerie APEX, Stuttgart
• 1975: Waldenburg, Galerie Gabriele von Loeper, Hamburg
• 1977: Hermann WaldenburgKneiding Kunsthandel, München
• 1979: Hermann Waldenburg. Gemälde 1968–1978, Märkisches Museum, Witten
• 1980: Hermann Waldenburg, Instituto Aleman, Madrid
• 1981: Hermann Waldenburg. Bilder 1961–1981, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin
• 1982: Waldenburg, Studio Jaeschke, Bochum
• 1983: Hermann Waldenburg, Galerie Hella Nebelung, Düsseldorf
• 1984: Waldenburg, Gustav-Lübcke-Museum, Hamm
• 2003: Hermann Waldenburg, Galerie MZ, Augsburg
• 2014: Hermann Waldenburg. Fotos der Berliner Mauer, Galerie MZ, Augsburg
• 2015: Arte en el Muro. Graffitis y objetos de arte en Berlín. Fotos de Hermann Waldenburg, Centro Joaquín Roncal, Saragossa

group EXHIBITIONS: 

• 1968: Große Münchener Kunstausstellung
• 1969: Kunstpreis junger westen 1969, Kunsthalle, Recklinghausen
• 1971: Dokumentation, Galerie Potsdamer, Berlin
• 1971: Landschaft, Landschaft, Kunstverein Celle
• 1972: Goethe-Institut, Teheran
• 1972: Museum San José, Costa Rica
• 1972: Kunstverein, Hannover
• 1973: Museum, Bochum
• 1974: Goethe Museum, Rom
• 1974: Landschaft. Gegenpol oder Fluchtraum, Städtisches Museum Leverkusen, Schloss Morsbroich, Haus am Waldsee Berlin
• 1975: Grafik der Gegenwart 1960–75, Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin
• 1975: Zeitgenössische Deutsche Grafik, Museum Tel-Aviv
• 1976: Freunde danken Werner Haftmann, Nationalgalerie, Berlin
• 1977: Künstler drucken, Internationale Buchausstellung, Leipzig
• 1978: Italienbilder, Villa Massimo, Rom
• 1978: Standpunkte zur Realität. 7 Berliner Künstler, Neue Residenz, Bamberg
• 1979: Neue Sezession, Darmstadt
• 1980: 30 Jahre BBK, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Berlin
• 1980: Standpunkte zur Realität, Saarlandmuseum, Saarbrücken
• 1981: Standpunkte zur Realität, Gustav Lübcke Museum, Hamm
• 1981: Kunstverein, Augsburg
• 1981: Museum der Stadt Krakau
• 1981: Bilder für den Bund, Kunsthalle, Bonn
• 1992: Mahnen und Gedenken im Bayerischen Viertel (2), Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin
• 2011: Bildvertrauen. Studio Jaeschke Ausblick-Rückblick, Kunstmuseum, Bochum
• 2012: Aufbruch Realismus. Die neue Wirklichkeit im Bild nach ’68, Kunsthalle Vogelmann, Heilbronn
• 2017: Let’s buy it, Ludwig Galerie Schloss Oberhausen

ARTWORK IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:

• Sammlung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland[6]
• Nationalgalerie, Berlin
• Kunsthalle Bremen
• Städtisches Museum Göttingen
• Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin[7]
• Märkisches Museum, Witten
• Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern
• Staatliche Museen zu Berlin-Kupferstichkabinett
• Stadt Hannover
• Grafische Sammlung, Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig
• Museum Bochum