Artist Spotlight on Lothar Baumgarten
Pigment geschichtet (Pigment stacked), 1968 Chromogenic print Image: 21 5/8 x 32 3/8 in. (54.9 x 82.2 cm) Courtesy: Lothar Baumgarten Estate and Marian Goodman Gallery Photo credit: Cathy Carver (5255)
Lothar Baumgarten was born in Rheinsberg, Germany, in 1944 and died in Berlin in 2018. He studied at the Staatliche Akademie für bildende Künste, Karlsruhe (1968) and at the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (1969–71), where he was a student of Joseph Beuys. Between 1978 and 1980, he lived for a period of 18 months among the indigenous Yanõmami people in the Orinoco region, Venezuela.
Eine Reise oder ‘Mit der MS Remscheid auf dem Amazonas’/ Der Bericht einer Reise unter den Sternen des Kühlschranks (A Voyage or ‘with the MS Remscheid on the Amazon’/ The Account of a Voyage under the Stars of the Refrigerator), 1968-1971 Single slide projection; 81 35mm images, color and black and white; 14 min. Dimensions variable Courtesy: Lothar Baumgarten Estate and Marian Goodman Gallery Photo credit: Cathy Carver (7508)
Lothar Baumgarten exhibited internationally and has had significant solo shows held in museums such as the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina, Palacio de Cristal, Madrid, Spain (2016); Fundación Botín, Santander, Spain (2012); Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany (2011); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2009); Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Spain (2008); Museum Kurhaus, Kleve, Germany (2006); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA (2003); Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (2001)
Der Jaguar kann niemals Seine Flecke verlieren, 1970 Chromogenic print Image: 21 5/8 x 32 1/4 in. (54.9 x 81.9 cm) Courtesy: Lothar Baumgarten Estate and Marian Goodman Gallery Photo credit: Cathy Carver (5240)
Lothar also exhibited at the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan (1996); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA (1993); Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, USA (1987); Musée National d’Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (1987); and ARC/Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France (1986). Lothar Baumgarten also participated in Documenta V (1972), VII (1982), IX (1992), X (1997) and was the recipient of the MFI Prize, Essen, Germany (2003); the Lichtwark Prize, City of Hamburg, Germany (1997); The Golden Lion, First Prize of the 41st Venice Biennale, Italy (1984); the Prize of the State of Nordhein-Westfalen (1976); and the Prize of the City of Düsseldorf, Germany (1974).
Feuerschwamm (Polyporus fomentarius), 1968 Gelatin silver print Image: 7 1/2 x 5 3/8 in. (19.1 x 13.7 cm) Courtesy: Lothar Baumgarten Estate and Marian Goodman Gallery Photo credit: Cathy Carver (7524)
"My critical approach does not intend to offer autobiographical solutions to universal problems. I believe art should encourage us to question the status quo and the structures that allow it to persist." – Lothar Baumgarten
Images and Text Courtesy: Lothar Baumgarten Estate and Marian Goodman Gallery. For more information about Lothar's remarkable art and contribution to not just the art world, please visit the Marian Goodman Gallery for more information here.
