GRUPPE 53, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen Düsseldorf, 1956
Members of Gruppe 53: Peter Brüning, Fathwinter (since 1955), Albert Fürst, Winfred Gaul (since 1955), Konrad Klapheck, Herbert Götzinger, Heinz Mack, Otto Piene, Peter Royen, Gerhard Hoehme
Opening: January 6, 1956, 6 p.m.
Duration: January 6–February 5, 1956
Dimensions: 10.6 x 15 cm (folded out 10.6 x 30 cm)
Further Information: “Ausstellung jüngerer Düsseldorfer Künstler und deren Freunde aus Westfalen, Frankreich und Italien. […] Es spricht Pierre Restany, Paris, mit Lichtbildern ‘Lyrismus und Abstraktion als neue Ausdrucksformen der Malerei’.” [transl. “Exhibition of young artists from Düsseldorf and their friends from Westphalia, France and Italy … Pierre Restany will give a lecture with images ‘Lyrism and abstraction as new forms of expression in painting.'”]
Originally named Künstlergruppe Niederrhein 53 e.V., the association was founded in 1953 by the five artists Fritz Bierhoff, Alfred Eckhard, Karl Heinz Heuner, Otto Pesch, and Walter Ritzenhofen in Düsseldorf. Two years later the name was shortened to Gruppe 53. Throughout its existence the members counted Peter Brüning, Winfried Gaul, Gerhard Hoehme, Horst Egon Kalinowski, Herbert Kaufmann, Rolf Sackenheim, Friedrich Wertmann, Karl Fred Dahmen, among others. Guest artists included Bernard Schultze und Emil Schumacher. Gruppe 53 quickly became one of the central movements of Germany’s Informal Art, and held exhibitions every year at the Düsseldorfer Kunstverein from 1956 to 1959. Gruppe 53 was dissolved in 1959, when Otto Piene and Heinz Mack left to start the group ZERO.
ALW, HR
Images: Images of the invitation and all other archival documents on this page are part of the online collection of Archiv der Avantgarden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.
