Gunter Christmann (23 April 1936 – 19 November 2013) was a German-born Australian painter.
Born in Berlin, Christmann emigrated to
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in 1959. Regarded as a painter's painter, Christmann has been making
abstract and
figurative paintings since the early 1960s and has exhibited frequently since 1965 throughout Australia and overseas.
He has been labelled as one of the major Australian artists of his generation and 'one of Australia's best kept secrets'
by art historian and curator Mary Eagle. Christmann rose to prominence with his inclusion in the landmark exhibition ''The Field'' at the
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum.
The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...
in 1968. From his hard edged colourfield paintings of the 1960s he went on to produce the "sprinkle" paintings of the 1970s.
Throughout his different phases Christmann has maintained a fascination with the world around him, feeding off contemporary life, with his more recent works incorporating a ‘'tag" graffiti style that is drawn across his paintings, sometimes in almost obsessive repetition.
Exhibitions
Gunter Christmann started his career in the mid-1960s showing at Argus Gallery,
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
in 1965 and Central Street Gallery,
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
in 1966. Since then he has held over 40 solo shows and participated in over 70 group exhibitions throughout Australia and overseas. Christmann has exhibited with many high-profile commercial galleries throughout his career, the longest-standing being
Niagara Galleries, Melbourne with whom he has exhibited continuously since 1984.
Historic moments in his career include his inclusion in ''
The Field'' exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, as well as his participation in the ''XI Biennale'' of
São Paulo, Brazil
SAO or Sao may refer to:
Places
* Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD
* Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso
* Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...
in 1971, and the ''First'' and ''Fourth Biennale of Sydney'' in 1973 and 1982. Christmann has participated in art fairs across Australia and New Zealand, most notably the Melbourne Art Fair in 2012 and the Auckland Art Fair in 2011. A posthumous retrospective of his life's work entitled ''Gunter Christmann: Now and Then'' was shown in 2014 at
Heide Museum of Modern Art
The Heide Museum of Modern Art, also known as Heide, is an art museum in Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum houses modern and contemporary art across three distinct exhibition buildings and is s ...
.
Collections
Christmann's work is included in most major public collections in Australia, including extensive holdings in the
National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
,
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
and the National Gallery of Victoria and other state galleries. He is represented internationally in the collections of the
Berlinische Galerie
The Berlinische Galerie is a museum of modern art, photography and architecture in Berlin. It is located in Kreuzberg, on Alte Jakobstraße, not far from the Jewish Museum.
History
The Berlinische Galerie was founded in 1975 ,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, H.R.M. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands' Collection and the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and the
Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to:
Africa
* Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi
Asia East Asia
* Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...
,
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christmann, Gunter
1936 births
2013 deaths
20th-century Australian sculptors
Australian painters
German sculptors
German male sculptors
Abstract painters
20th-century German painters
20th-century German male artists
German male painters
21st-century German painters
21st-century German male artists
21st-century Australian sculptors