{"id":2874,"date":"2017-07-20T11:03:50","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T09:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.storms-galerie.de\/artists\/guenter-fruhtrunk\/biografie"},"modified":"2025-08-29T14:38:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T12:38:52","slug":"biography","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.storms-galerie.de\/en\/artists\/guenter-fruhtrunk\/biography","title":{"rendered":"biography"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t
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G\u00fcnter Fruhtrunk (1923-1982) created a distinctive and outstanding body of work with his geometric-abstract and non-representational paintings. His medium is color, which he aims to free from any ‘external determination,’ stripping it of all culturally inherited or individual meanings. His visual language seeks to activate the act of seeing, aiming for a state that Fruhtrunk himself described as ‘freedom of seeing.’ This Enlightenment impulse is combined in his work with high painterly sensitivity and quality. His painting thus proves to be one of the most enduring and inspiring positions in German post-war art.<\/p>\n

Fruhtrunk participated in documenta IV in 1968 and the Venice Biennale. In 1993, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin honored his work with a major retrospective, which was also shown at the Landesmuseum M\u00fcnster, the Bavarian State Painting Collections, and the St\u00e4dtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich. From 1967 to 1982, G\u00fcnter Fruhtrunk was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.<\/p>\n

Among the most recent museum highlights is the comprehensive retrospective for his 100th birthday, which was shown in 2023 at the Kunstmuseum Bonn and continued in 2024 at the Museum Wiesbaden. This exhibition featured around 60 works from all phases of the artist’s career and highlights the development of his work in three major sections: from the early works of the 1950s, through the striped paintings of the 1960s, to the works of the 1970s and early 1980s. Another important exhibition, “The Paris Years (1954\u20131967),” was shown at the Lenbachhaus Munich also in 2024.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column]\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/section>\n\n\t\n\t\t

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\n\n\t\t\t\t[vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]education<\/strong><\/p>\n

1954-56<\/strong>
\nStudied under Fernand L\u00e9ger and Jean Arp Paris
\n1945-50<\/strong>
\nStudied architecture and painting at Munich Technical University<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>\n

awards<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
1966<\/strong>
\nM\u00e9daille d\u2019argent, \u201ePrix d\u2019Europe\u201c, Ostende<\/div>\n
\n
1961<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
Prix Jean Arp, Colonge by the Cultural Circle of the Federation of German Industries<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
<\/div><\/div>\n

public collections<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kunsthalle Bielefeld
Kunstsammlung Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main
Museum im Kulturspeicher W\u00fcrzburg
Neue Galerie, Kassel
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
St\u00e4dtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
St\u00e4del Museum, Frankfurt am Main
Hamburger Kunsthalle
Galerie Neue Meister, Dresden<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>\n

ausgew\u00e4hlte einzelausstellungen<\/strong><\/p>\n

2024<\/strong>
G\u00fcnter Fruhtrunk. Retrospektive 1952\u20131982, Kunstmuseum Bonn; anschlie\u00dfend Museum Wiesbaden
\n2023<\/strong>
G\u00fcnter Fruhtrunk. Retrospektive 1952\u20131982, Kunstmuseum Bonn; anschlie\u00dfend Museum Wiesbaden
\nG\u00fcnter Fruhtrunk. Die Pariser Jahre (1954\u20131967), Lenbachhaus, Munich
\n2019<\/strong>
G\u00fcnter Fruhtrunk. Aus der Reihe, Kubus der Situation Kunst, Bochum
G\u00fcnter Fruhtrunk \u2013 Sammlung Maximilian und Agathe Weishaupt, Kunstmuseum Ahlen
\n2013<\/strong>
G\u00fcnter Fruhtrunk: La peinture vivante, Cambrai Museum, Cambrai
\n2012<\/strong>
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz
\n2010<\/strong>
Ein konkreter Maler, Lorenzelli Arte, Mailand
\n1993<\/strong>
Nationalgalerie, Berlin
St\u00e4dtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
\n1973<\/strong>
Fruhtrunk \u2013 Bilder: 1952\u20131972, St\u00e4dtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
\n1969<\/strong>
Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover
\n1964<\/strong>
Wilhelm-Morgner-Haus, Soest
\n1963<\/strong>
Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>\n

selected group exhibitions<\/strong><\/p>\n

1973<\/strong>
21. Jahresausstellung des Deutschen K\u00fcnstlerbundes, Berlin
\n1970<\/strong>
Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Jetzt \u2013 ein Signal unserer Zeit, Kunsthalle Cologne
1965<\/strong>
The Responsive Eye<\/em>, Museum of Modern Art, New York
\n1968<\/strong>
34. Biennale Venice
documenta IV, Kassel<\/p>\n

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