1927-2010

Paul Wunderlich was one like no other creative artists of our time to the really stylish visual artists of modernity. In 1960, confiscated the Hamburg public prosecutor of his works as "offensive". Three years later, the fledgling Paul Wunderlich as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts is appointed. Numerous awards such as the Edwin-Schaff Prize honours the Graphic Biennials in Ireland, Taiwan and Bulgaria have made Wunderlich international acclaim. As the only German artist, he was elected into the French "Académie des Beaux Arts". Paul Wunderlich lived and worked until his death in June 2010, alternately in Hamburg and France.

Sculptor and painter born in 1927 in Eberswalde near Berlin, studied painting at the art school in the Orangery of Eutin Castle. Immediately after the war, he went to the Hamburg Academy of fine arts and studied graphics. After completing his education, he stayed there just as a drawing teacher and became a professor in 1963.

At the beginning of the 50s he met Emil Nolde and Oskar Kokoschka and expressed under their guidance the reproductions of their works. He even developed a very unconventional style, the Mannerist and surreal, but also elements of the Art Nouveau and Art Deco. His themes was referring to the German history, for example in the cycle "20.July 1944 ". Later it was erotic and has sexual motives, the more important it with delicacy and also a track morbidity items. In 1960, such print series for alleged immoral pursued by the public prosecutor's office.

In the 60s, he began to work for photographs by Karin Szekessy. In 1968 he gave up his Professorship, he made several study trips to New York and in the Switzerland. Since then he worked at commemorated aestheticized everyday objects, which were in line with the cleverly elaborated imagery of his paintings.

"His works are recognized all over the world, appreciated, and purchased by a wide audience", writes Paul Wunderlich biographer Jens Christian Jensen, "art connoisseurs agree: Paul Wunderlich is the main master of fantastic realism, and one of the few seminal artists of our time."

"From the platitudes that are spread about his life's work has only a substance: the knowledge that Paul Wunderlich was the unmatched after Picasso masters of lithography." (Prof. Heinz Spielmann)

If one looks for the greatest masters in the control of the lithographic technique in its ways, no doubt. Deserved the laurel Paul Wunderlich "(Carl Vogel)

Designation for an art object (sculpture, installation), which is produced according to the will of the artist in multiple copies in a limited and numbered edition.

Artist's multiple contributed to "democratization" of art as the work was made available and affordable for a wider audience.

An alloy of copper with other metals (especially with tin) used since ancient times.

Bronze casting:

When casting bronze, artist usually applies the lost-wax technique which is dating back more than 5000 years. It's the best, but also the most complex method of producing sculptures.

Sculpture "The Book Reader" by Ernst Barlachs is shown here as an example:

First, the artist forms a model of his sculpture. It is embedded in a liquid silicone rubber composition. Once the material has solidified, the model is cut out. The liquid wax is poured in the negative mould. After cooling down, the wax casting is removed from the mould, provided with sprues and dipped into ceramic mass. The ceramic mass is hardened in a kiln, and the wax flows out (lost mould).

Now we finally have the negative form, into which the 1400 ° C hot molten bronze is poured. After the bronze had cooled down, the ceramic shell is broken off and the sculpture comes to light.

Now the sprues are removed, the surfaces are polished, patinated and numbered by the artist himself or, to his specifications, by a specialist. Thus, each casting becomes an original work

For lower-grade bronze castings, the sand casting method is often used which, however, does not achieve the results of more complex lost wax technique in terms of surface characteristics and quality.

Related links:
Sand casting