![Spur-museum-cham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Spur-museum-cham.jpg)
Gruppe SPUR was an artistic collaboration formed by the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
painters
Heimrad Prem,
Helmut Sturm
Helmut Sturm (21 February 1932 – 20 February 2008) was a German painter.
He was born in Furth im Wald. From 1952 to 1958, he studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich. After this he joined Heimrad Prem, Lothar Fischer and Hans- ...
, and
Hans-Peter Zimmer
Hans-Peter Zimmer (23 October 1936 - 5 September 1992) was a German painter and sculptor. He was born in Berlin and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich.
He formed Gruppe SPUR in 1957 with the painters Heimrad Prem, Helmut Sturm and the ...
, and the sculptor
Lothar Fischer in 1957. They published a journal of the same name ''Spur''.
''Spur'' was subject to prosecution and was convicted "in the name of moral order".
The Spur group joined and collaborated with the
Situationist International, a restricted group of international revolutionaries, between 1959 and 1961. After a series of core divergences during 1960–1, the Spur members were officially excluded from the SI on February 10, 1962.
The events that led to the exclusion were: during the Fourth SI Conference in London (December 1960), in a discussion about the political nature of the SI, Spur group disagreed with the core situationist stance of counting on a
revolutionary proletariat;
the accusation that their activities were based on a "systematic misunderstanding of situationist theses";
the fact that at least one Spur member,
Lothar Fischer, and possibly the rest of the group, were not actually understanding and/or agreeing with the situationist ideas, but were just using the SI to get success in the art market;
and the betrayal of a common agreement on the Spur and SI publications.
The exclusion was the recognition that the Spur group's "principles, methods and goals" were significantly in contrast with those of the SI.
The Counter-Situationist Campaign in Various Countries
,'' Internationale Situationniste #8, 1963. This split however was not a declaration of hostilities, as in other cases of SI exclusions. A few months after the exclusion, in the context of Judicial prosecution against the group by the German state, Debord expressed his esteem to the Spur group, calling it the only significant artistic group in Germany since WW2, and at the level of the
avant-gardes in other countries.
The SPUR artists met first at the
Academy of Fine Arts Munich in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. They formed the group in 1957, which lasted until 1965.
Censorship, police, and juridical persecutions
Guy Debord remarked that while between 1920 and 1933 "Germany incontestably had the highest rank in the elaboration of art and, more generally, the culture of our era", from the post-war era to 1960, "Germany has been characterized by a total cultural void and by the dullest conformism". The Spur journal was a flourishing exception to such void and conformism, as it was, for the first time in decades, an artistic group that manifested a certain freedom of investigation, and as an "extremely worrisome symptom", this group was almost immediately the object of police and juridical persecutions.
Helmet Sturim, Dieter Kunzelmann, Heimrad Prem and H.P. Zimmer each received 5 months in prison.
Debord noted that Western Europe and the Scandinavian countries, had another level of intellectual tolerance, that such a trial was, at that moment, unthinkable in Paris or Copenhagen. That clumsy affair had already harmed the reputation of the Federal German Republic. Debord asserted that the pretext by which the Spur group was brought to trial, was "to make the Spur group, and all those who wish to pursue the same route, succumb to the ambient conformism."
Debord ridiculed that trial to the prosecutions of
Baudelaire and
Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...
for pornography and immorality in the 19th century France:
Relations with the Situationist International
The Spur group collaborated with the
Situationist International, a restricted group of international revolutionaries, between 1959 and 1961, when the Spur members joined the SI. After a series of core divergences during 1960–1, the Spur members were officially excluded from the SI on February 10, 1962.
After this, despite the two organizations having a "sufficiently large objective opposition between their respective principles, methods, and goals,"
Guy Debord expressed esteem to Spur, considering it the highest expression of
German art
German art has a long and distinguished tradition in the visual arts, from the earliest known work of figurative art to its current output of contemporary art.
Germany has only been united into a single state since the 19th century, and defining ...
and culture of post WW2.
[Letter](_blank)
from Guy Debord To the Spur group, 28 April 1962 However, after the exclusion and split, the two groups remained distinct and separated, and each was only responsible for its autonomous actions.
from Guy Debord to Rodolphe Gasche (member of the Spur group), 18 June 1962
The first contact with Situationist International happened through
Asger Jorn
Asger Oluf Jorn (3 March 1914 – 1 May 1973) was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International. He was born in Vejrum, in the northwest c ...
. Jorn, one of the most prominent members of the SI, discovered the SPUR-paintings at a gallery managed by art dealer
Otto Van de Loo.
Nothing to talk about
'', (essay/interview on Dieter Kunzelmann
Dieter Kunzelmann (14 July 1939 – 14 May 2018) was a German left-wing terrorist. In the early 1960s he was a member of the Situationist-inspired artists' group Gruppe SPUR. He was one of the founders of Kommune 1 in 1967. At the end of th ...
) Art-Ist 08, Istanbul, Turkey, Halil Altindere and Sezgin Boynik (editors) Later on, the Spur members come to join and became members of the Situationist International, forming the majority of the members of the German section of the SI.
A major point of divergence came up from the Spur group during The Fourth SI Conference in London (December 1960). The discussion of a report by
Attila Kotányi, leads to posing the question: "To what extent is the SI a political movement?" Various responses state that the SI is political, but not in the ordinary sense. The discussion becomes somewhat confusing. Debord proposes, to bring out the opinion of the Conference, that each person responds in writing to a questionnaire asking if he considers that there are "forces in the society that the SI can count on? What forces? In what conditions?" This questionnaire is agreed upon and filled out. When, a day later, the Spur members present a joint response to the questionnaire, in which they reject the concept of a
proletarian revolution
A proletarian revolution or proletariat revolution is a social revolution in which the working class attempts to overthrow the bourgeoisie and change the previous political system. Proletarian revolutions are generally advocated by socialists, ...
, it generates a sharp debate:
The Fourth SI Conference in London
'
Internationale Situationniste #5 (December 1960)
This position was critiqued by Debord, Nash, Kotányi, and Jorn. The majority of the S.I. seems to be against it, and the Spur members are asked to formalize their position so it can be brought to a vote. But, when the Spur group returned from their deliberation, they retract the preceding declaration.
Debord starts to suspect that the Spur members were not understanding and/or agreeing with the situationist ideas and that they were instead using the SI to get success in the art market.
As a consequence, during the Fifth SI Conference held in
Gothenburg, Sweden, 28–30 August 1961,
Asger Jorn
Asger Oluf Jorn (3 March 1914 – 1 May 1973) was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International. He was born in Vejrum, in the northwest c ...
(signing himself as "George Keller") proposed to unify the S.I. publications in the various countries (including ''Spur'') as a single journal, to be translated in four editions in English, French, German and Swedish. The reaction of the Spur members to this proposal was mentioned in the conference report:
Despite Spur's agreement to add
Attila Kotányi and
Jacqueline de Jong
Jacqueline de Jong (born 1939) is a Dutch painter, sculptor and graphic artist. She was born in the Dutch town of Hengelo to Jewish parents. Faced with the German invasion, they went into hiding. After an abortive escape attempt to England, he ...
to the editorial committee
of Spur, the following issue #7 was printed five months later without Kotányi and de Jong's knowledge. Issue #7 featured considerable divergences with the SI ideas, marking a distinct regression from the preceding #5 and #6 issues. These events led the following month, February 1962, to the exclusion from the SI of those responsible.
The arguments for the exclusion, declared in a letter on February 10, 1962, were that "fractional activity of this group is based on a systematic misunderstanding of situationist theses",
The Exclusion of the Spurists
', Internationale Situationniste #8, 1963.
'
Internationale Situationniste #7 (April 1962) that they were using the Situationists to succeed on the art market
and that to achieve this they had "perfectly disregarded the discipline of the S.I.".
On the accusation of using the SI to "arrive" as artists, Spur member
Dieter Kunzelmann
Dieter Kunzelmann (14 July 1939 – 14 May 2018) was a German left-wing terrorist. In the early 1960s he was a member of the Situationist-inspired artists' group Gruppe SPUR. He was one of the founders of Kommune 1 in 1967. At the end of th ...
admitted that it applied for sure to
Lothar Fischer, but rejected that it was true for the other Spur members present at the Fifth SI Conference in
Gothenburg.
References
External links
On the Trial of Spur
{{Authority control
German artist groups and collectives
Situationist International
Modern art
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich