Per Kirkeby (1 September 1938 – 9 May 2018) was a Danish

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, poet, film maker and sculptor.

Biography

By the time Kirkeby completed a masters degree in arctic geology at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

in 1964, he was already part of the important experimental art school " eks-skolen." His interest in geology and other aspects of the natural world was fundamental to and characteristic of his art. Kirkeby worked as a painter, sculptor, writer, and printmaker. Kirkeby taught as a professor at the

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; german: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university in Karlsruhe, Germany. The institute is a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 w ...

(1978–89) and at

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 ...

in Frankfurt am Main (1989–2000). Per Kirkeby was a member of the

Danish Academy Danish Academy is an independent organisation founded in 1960 by a circle of Danish intellectuals "to promote Danish esprit and language, especially within the field of literature". It has up to 20 members, currently 18, and is based at Rungstedl ...

from 1982. In 1997 he became a Knight of the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...

. His works have been exhibited worldwide and are represented in many important public collections, e.g.

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

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 ...

;

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York;

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York,

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Personal life

From 1979 until 2002, Per Kirkeby was married to film producer

Vibeke Windeløv Vibeke Windeløv (born 22 December 1950) is a Danish film producer. She founded Refugees United in 2008 and served on numerous corporate boards, film festival juries and association committees. She produced the films of Lars von Trier for ten yea ...

. From 2005 until his death, he was married to copywriter Mari Anne Duus Jørgensen. He had four children: two daughters and two sons.

Career timeline

1962 Studies at the Experimental Art School in Copenhagen; works in the School on painting, graphic arts, 8 millimeter films and performance pieces 1974 Publishes ''Fliegende Blätter'' 1976 Participates in

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

(also in 1980, 1993, 1997 and 2005) 1977 One-man exhibition in the

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 1978 Professorship at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe The State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe () is an art school located in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History The Academy was founded in 1854 by Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden, with the landscape painter Johann Wilhelm Schirmer as ...

1979 Purchases a house on the island Laeso in the

Cattegat The Kattegat (; sv, Kattegatt ) is a sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish Straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Skåne in Sweden i ...

1982 One-man exhibition in the

Van Abbemuseum The Van Abbemuseum () is a museum of modern and contemporary art in central Eindhoven, Netherlands, on the east bank of the Dommel River. Established in 1936, the museum is named after its founder, Henri van Abbe, who loved modern art and wante ...

, Eindhoven; Documenta VII, Kassel 1988 Publishes books of essays on

Delacroix Delacroix is a French surname that derives from ''de la Croix'' ("of the Cross"). It may refer to: People * Caroline Delacroix (1883–1945), French-Romanian mistress of Leopold II of Belgium * Charles-François Delacroix (1741–1805), ...

Manet A wireless ad hoc network (WANET) or mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a decentralized type of wireless network. The network is ad hoc because it does not rely on a pre-existing infrastructure, such as routers in wired networks or access points ...

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

1990 Receives the Art Prize of NORD/LB, endowed for outstanding efforts in the subject of contemporary art 1996 Receives the Coutts Contemporary Art Foundation Award and the Henrik-Steffens-Award 1996 1999 Designs ''Swan Lake'',

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

2000 Professorship at the

, Frankfurt a.M. 2003 Receives Herbert-Boeckl-Preis for his lifework 2005 He marries Mari Anne Duus Jørgensen in Grundtvigkirken, one of the architectural turning points in Copenhagen that he has written extensively about. This marriage has proven extremely important for the continuation of his art and her research. 2007 Designs set and costumes for ''Romeo and Juliet'',

; first major exhibition in China at

Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art Shanghai Himalayas Museum ( zh, 上海喜玛拉雅美术馆), formerly known as Shanghai Zendai MoMA (), is a privately funded, non-profit art institute in Pudong, Shanghai, China, focusing on art exhibition, education, collection, research and ...

, Shanghai; "Per Kirkeby",

Arts Club of Chicago Arts Club of Chicago is a private club and public exhibition space located in the Near North Side community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States, a block east of the Magnificent Mile, that exhibits international contemporar ...

2008 "Per Kirkeby Retrospective",

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the most visited art museum in Denmark, and has an extensive permanent collection of modern and cont ...

, Denmark 2009 "Per Kirkeby Retrospective",

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

, London 2013 Sustains a serious brain injury in a domestic fall accident 2015 Announces that he has given up all further attempts to resume painting after the accident, but still does create small etchings. Per Kirkeby lived and worked in

Hellerup Hellerup () is a very affluent district of Gentofte Municipality in the suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. The most urban part of the district is centred on Strandvejen and is bordered by Østerbro to the south and the Øresund to the east. It compr ...

Læsø Læsø ("Isle of Hlér") is the largest island in the North Sea bay of Kattegat, and is located off the northeast coast of the Jutland Peninsula, the Danish mainland. Læsø is also the name of the municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') on that ...

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 ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Selected exhibitions

"Per Kirkeby", Kunsthalle Krems (2018) "Per Kirkeby: Sculptures en brique", Palais des études
Beaux-Arts de Paris
(2017) "Kirkeby på Læsø – om Læsø i Per Kirkebys kunst", Læsø Kunsthal, Østerby, Denmark (2016) "Per Kirkeby komplet. Det raderede livsværk"
Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark
(2015) "Per Kirkeby – Samlingen"
ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark
(2012) "Per Kirkeby"
Tate Modern, London
(2009) "Per Kirkeby",

, Humlebæk, Copenhagen (2008) Designs settings and costumes for ''Romeo and Juliet''
New York City Ballet
(2007) "Per Kirkeby"
Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai
(2007) "Per Kirkeby", Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago (2007) "Per Kirkeby"'','
Statens Museum for Kunst
Copenhagen (2006) "Per Kirkeby: Prototypes of Nature"
Kunsthalle im Emden, Emden
(2006) "Per Kirkeby"
Kunsthalle zu Kiel
Kiel, Germany (2006) "Per Kirkeby / Crystal – Reflections, Connections and References", Aargaouer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland (2006) "Homage to Chillida"

(2006) "Per Kirkeby: Retrospettiva dei Disegni", Accademia Tedesca in Roma

Rome (2004) "Per Kirkeby: Natur und Gestalt. Retrospektive der Zeichnungen und Aquarelle", Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg v.d.H. (2003); Städtisches Kunstmuseum Singen, Germany (2004) "Per Kirkeby. Monotypes", University Art Gallery, University Massachusetts Dartmouth, North Dartmouth, MA (2002) "DC: Per Kirkeby. 122 x 122 – Gemälde auf Masonit", Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2002) "Per Kirkeby. Die Karlsruher Jahre", im Hallenbau A, Städtische Galerie Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe (2000) "Per Kirkeby. Radierungen, Holzschnitte, Monotypien • 1980-2000"

Berlin (2000) "Per Kirkeby. Schilderijen, sculpturen en modellen in brons/Peintures, Sculptures et modèles en bronze", Paleis voor Schone Kunsten/Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, (1998) "Per Kirkeby. Peintures 1992-1996", Maison des Arts Georges Pompidou, Centre d'art contemporain, Cajarc-Lot, France (1996) "Retrospektive", Ludwig Museum, Cologne (1987) "Per Kirkeby: Recent Paintings and Sculpture", Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (1985) "An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture"
Museum of Modern Art
New York (1984) "Per Kirkeby", Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven (1982) "Per Kirkeby", Kunsthalle Bern (1978) "Fliegende Blätter"
Museum Folkwang
Essen (1977)
Statens Museum for Kunst
Copenhagen (1975)

References

External links

Per Kirkeby: Paintings and Bronzes from the 1980s
360° views of exhibition at Michael Werner, New York {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkeby, Per 1938 births 2018 deaths Danish sculptors Danish male artists Danish contemporary artists Artists from Copenhagen People from Læsø Municipality Abstract painters Goethe University Frankfurt faculty Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts Danish watercolourists Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog Pop artists Abstract sculptors 20th-century Danish painters 21st-century Danish painters 20th-century sculptors 21st-century sculptors Recipients of Ingenio et Arti Recipients of the Thorvaldsen Medal Recipients of the Prince Eugen Medal Honorary Members of the Royal Academy Male sculptors 20th-century Danish male artists Neo-expressionist artists