Manfred Stumpf (born November 25, 1957, in

Alsfeld Alsfeld () is a town in the center of Hesse, in Germany. Located about north of Frankfurt, Alsfeld is in the center of Hesse and part of the densely populated Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. It is well known for its well-preserved old ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

) is a German

draftsman A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British and Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman or drafting technician in American and Canadian English) is an engineering technician who makes detailed technical drawings or plans for m ...

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...

ist, and

digital artist Digital art refers to any artistic work or practice that uses digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process, or more specifically computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960s, various names ...

. He started to study 1976 with Thomas Bayrle at the

Städelschule The Städelschule (), Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, is a tertiary school of art in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It accepts about 20 students each year from 500 applicants, and has a total of approximately 150 students of visual a ...

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, since 1978 with Hans Haake at the

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and since 1979 with Bazon Brock at the

University of Applied Arts A university of applied sciences (UAS), nowadays much less commonly called a polytechnic university or vocational university, is an institution of higher education and sometimes research that provides vocational education and grants academic de ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. He currently resides in

Romrod Romrod is a small town in the Vogelsbergkreis in central Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Through the town flows the river Antrift. Neighbouring communities Romrod borders in the north on the town of Alsfeld, in the east on the community of S ...

in the

Vogelsbergkreis The Vogelsbergkreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the middle of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Schwalm-Eder, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Fulda, Main-Kinzig, Wetteraukreis, Gießen and Marburg-Biedenkopf. History The district was created in 1 ...

and

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

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 ...

. In 1995, Stumpf became professor for figure drawing and conceptual drawing in the faculty for Visual Communication and is leading interdisciplinary projects with Prof. Dieter Mankau at the HfG Offenbach.

Works

''"Searching for a mandatory, symbolic visual depiction, Stumpf discovered early

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and the

Byzantine Art Byzantine art comprises the body of Christian Greek artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of Rome and lasted ...

. He uses these conventionalized symbols for his art and fills them with actual topics."'' Stumpf's developed

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

"Entry into

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

" (1986) emerged from there and has been sent—during the project "Contempler"—in a

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

around the world and is still varied by him until today. Right from the start, Stumpf used the

technical pen A technical pen is a specialized instrument used by an engineer, architect, or drafter to make lines of constant width for architectural, engineering, or technical drawings. " Rapidograph" is a trademarked name for one type of technical pen. T ...

Rotring Rotring (stylized rOtring) is a former Germany, German manufacturing company of technical drawing tools and writing implements. Established in 1928 as a fountain pen manufacturer, Rotring is currently a brand owned by Newell Brands after its acq ...

to work on his clear, flawless and filigree A-4-

drawing Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...

s. As to develop new visual depictions, he used a

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

later as well—e.g. the screensaver Angeline (1994/96)—and so moved into a " spiritual/ virtual" world. In 1987, he dissolved the element of the

palm leaf The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...

from his icon and transferred it onto wooden objects, covered them with red paint and placed them in his hometown

on an acre, near the

Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...

A5 as

hieratic Hieratic (; grc, ἱερατικά, hieratiká, priestly) is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BC until the ris ...

signs. The

donkey The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...

from "Entry into Jerusalem" lives an independent life as a motif as well, for example on the huge

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

at the underground station ''Habsburgerallee'' in

, where he carries a clock, a computer display or an

atomic nucleus The atomic nucleus is the small, dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom, discovered in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford based on the 1909 Geiger–Marsden gold foil experiment. After the discovery of the neutron i ...

. The mosaic was created in 1992 and displays 66 donkeys on a ca. 7874-inch wall area. In 2005, Stumpf created a

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

window for the Waldhufen church in Winterkasten (Germany), which represents the "

Resurrection of Jesus The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lo ...

at Easter". The colors of the window "symbolize the transition from the dark to the light in everybodys life." For the year 2021 Manfred Stumpf plans to present Jesus' parable "A camel is more likely to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the

Kingdom of God The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" b ...

" before the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#Intern ...

. A steel needle is said to protrude 23 meters above the ECB, in front of which a bronze camel will sit. When viewed from above, the needle should look like an upturned palm tree and thus symbolize the

Tree of life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A History ...

or the Kingdom of God,

Eternity Eternity, in common parlance, means Infinity, infinite time that never ends or the quality, condition, or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside time, whereas ...

. The sculpture "Camel and Eye of the Needle" should be walkable and thus experienceable.Lilith Becker, ''Ein Kamel vor der EZB''
evangelisch.de, 2019-09-26 There is a long tradition to the usage of the

line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...

. We can track it from the

Egyptian Hieroglyphs Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...

with its clear and sharp outlines to

Middle Age In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Paintings, along drawings of

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

, the Pop Art, until today.

Scholarships

* 1991 Stipendium der Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkacho), Tokyo * 1989

Villa Massimo Villa Massimo, short for Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo ( it, Accademia Tedesca Roma Villa Massimo), is a German cultural institution in Rome, established in 1910 and located in the Villa Massimo. The fellowship of the German Academy in Rom ...

, Rome * 1985 Stipendium für junge Bildende Künstler, Alsfeld * 1982 Jahresstipendium der Frankfurter Künstlerhilfe e.V.

Awards

* 1988 Reinhold Kurt-Kunstpreis der Frankfurter Sparkasse * 2015 Marielies Hess-Kunstpreis

Exhibitions (selection)

Collections (selection)

* Artothek Nuremberg * Sammlung Hanck, Düsseldorf *

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

, Frankfurt am Main *

Museum für Moderne Kunst The Museum für Moderne Kunst (''Museum of Modern Art''), or short MMK, in Frankfurt, was founded in 1981 and opened to the public 6 June 1991. The museum was designed by the Viennese architect Hans Hollein. Because of its triangular shape, it i ...

(MMK), Frankfurt am Main *

Museum Folkwang Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patr ...

, Essen * Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn

Bibliography

* Manfred Stumpf, Jean-Christoph Amman (Hrsg.), Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, "Sketchbook for the icon 'Entry into Jerusalem'", ''Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern'', 1996, * Manfred Stumpf, "OKTOGON", ''Museum Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden'', 1987 * Manfred Stumpf; Thomas Trescher, "Palm", ''Edition Wilk, Frankfurt am Main'', 1987 * Manfred Stumpf, "Manfred Stumpf, Der heilige Kosmonaut, Zeichnungen", ''Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt am Main'', 1985? * Manfred Stumpf, "Der heilige Kosmonaut, Zeichnungen", ''Edition Wilk, Frankfurt am Main'', 1984 * Domenig, Krüger, Sanovec, Sommer, Stumpf, "Domenig, Krüger, Sanovec, Sommer, Stumpf: Malerei, Zeichnung, Film", ''Galerie Ak, Frankfurt am Main'', 1983 * Hendricks, Deren, Stumpf, "Zeichnungen von Hendricks, Deren, Stumpf", Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund, 1985

Notes

External links

*
Prof. Manfred Stumpf at the HfG of Main

"Manfred Stumpf at the Church of Christ in Bad Vilbel", Art in Churches, 2011
* Rainer Lind
''Interview with Manfred Stumpf (Video in German language)''
August 2014
"Manfred Stumpf Enter Jerusalem", ''Saint Louis University, MOCRA'', September-November 1997
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stumpf, Manfred 1957 births Living people People from Alsfeld German contemporary artists German conceptual artists German digital artists German draughtsmen