Helmut Sturm (21 February 1932 – 20 February 2008) was a German painter. He was born in

Furth im Wald Furth im Wald (in Czech ''Brod nad Lesy'', resp. ''Bavorský Brod'') is a town in Bavaria, Germany, near the Czech border in the Bavarian Forest, northeast of Cham, and southwest of Domažlice. The city is known as ''Drachenstadt'' (Dragon City) ...

. From 1952 to 1958, he studied at the

Akademie der Bildenden Künste The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien) is a public art school in Vienna, Austria. History The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private academy modelled on the Accademia di Sa ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. After this he joined

Heimrad Prem Heimrad Prem (27 May 1934 – 19 February 1978) was a German painter born in Roding, Oberpfalz. From 1949–1952 he studied decorative painting at Schwandorf and then studied painting with Josef Oberberger and sculpture with Toni Stadler at t ...

Lothar Fischer Lothar Fischer (November 8, 1933 – June 15, 2004) was a German sculptor. He was born in Germersheim, Palatinate (region), Palatinate. Between 1952 and 1958 he studied under Professor Heinrich Kirchner at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Ak ...

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 ...

in founding

Gruppe SPUR Gruppe SPUR was an artistic collaboration formed by the German painters Heimrad Prem, Helmut Sturm, and Hans-Peter Zimmer, and the sculptor Lothar Fischer in 1957. They published a journal of the same name ''Spur''. ''Spur'' was subject to pr ...

, which in 1959 entered the

Situationist International The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

. He had a six-month scholarship in

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 ...

before returning to Munich for the SPUR exhibition in Galerie van de Loo. He collaborated with Hans Platschek,

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 ...

Jørgen Nash Jørgen Nash (March 16, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was a Danish artist, writer and central proponent of Situationism. Life He was born in Vejrum, Jutland, Denmark, baptized Jørgen Axel Jørgensen, the brother of Asger Jorn. He later changed his ...

, Constant,

Maurice Wyckaert Maurice Wyckaert (1923–1996) was a Belgian artist born in Brussels. He is a neo-expressionistic, lyrical abstract painter, gouache designer and printmaker. He was educated at the Academy of Brussels (1940–47 and 1949–50) and in Saint-Jos ...

Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio (1902–1964) was an Italian painter, the formulator of industrial painting, and a founding member of the Situationist International. He was also a scholar of popular culture, archaeology, nomadism, and botany. Mirella B ...

and

Guy Debord Guy-Ernest Debord (; ; 28 December 1931 – 30 November 1994) was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic of work, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situationis ...

. In 1961 he stayed with Nash at Oerkelljunga,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

with Prem, Zimmer and

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 ...

. After the SPUR group was expelled from the Situationist International, they continued to do collaborative work, linking up with ''Wir'' in 1966 to form Geflecht. Sturm developed colorspatial anti-objects and had his first solo exhibition in the Galerie van de Loo, Munich. From 1970 he worked as an Art educator, developing a Child Forum with Galerie van de Loo. In 1975 he set up the ''Kollektiv Herzogstrasse'' with Prem. From 1980 to 1982, he was guest professor at the

Hochschule der Künste The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...

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 ...

, taking over

Hann Trier Hann Trier (1 August 1915 in Düsseldorf – 14 June 1999 in Castiglione della Pescaia in Tuscany) was a German artist, best known for his giant ceiling painting in the Charlottenburg Palace. He was married to the sociologist Renata Mayntz and was ...

's class. He continued to exhibit across Germany and from 1985 to 1998 was professor at the

, Munich. He died in February 2008 in Munich.

References

Helmut Sturm's obituary
1932 births 2008 deaths People from Furth im Wald Academic staff of the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters {{Germany-painter-stub