(b Reichenbach, Vogtland, 7 April 1927). German painter, printmaker and sculptor. Although self-taught as a painter, he served an apprenticeship in lithography and continued his training as a printmaker at the Hochschule in Leipzig. He taught at the Hochschule für Graphik und Buchkunst in Leipzig from 1956 to 1974, and from the 1960s he played a prominent role in the development of East German art. In order to express the dilemmas facing society and the individual in a difficult period, he made references to familiar myths, as in the Flight of Sisyphus (1972; Dresden, Gemäldegal. Neue Meister), and invented his own allegories; he achieved a distancing effect in these works by employing a restrained method of painting derived from poster art and characterized by smooth surfaces, sharp contours and garish, artificial colours. While referring to nature as a source of balance, he specialized in suburban landscapes that suggest opposition, tension and difficulty, as in Bratsker Landscape (1967; Berlin, Staatl. Museen, N.G.).

• Mattheuer, Wolfgang
  • Leipzig, §2: Art life and organization