Walter Stöhrer

WALTER STÖHRER ” LA FUREUR DU GESTE “

Born on January 15th 1937 in Stuttgart and died on April 10th 2000 in Scholderup, Walter Stöhrer initially trained as an advertising graphic designer from 1952 to 1954, before joining the Karlsruhe Academy of Arts in 1955. There he took classes with HAP Grieshaber and embraced the New Figuration movement, which was opposed to abstraction, the dominant movement of the time. Influenced by the CoBrA movement, Pollock’s “psychoanalytical drawings”, Dubuffet or Art Brut, he developed in his painting and engraving a rapid, furious gesture between composition and spontaneity. If his paintings come immediately to mind, his more graphic creations, especially his engravings, should not be omitted. His work remains resolutely unique in the art of the 20th century and had a great influence on the artistic creation of the time. In 1959, he settled permanently in Berlin. From 1981 to 1982, he was invited by the UdK, the Berlin University of the Arts, to teach as a visiting professor. In 1984, he became a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts and in 1986 he was appointed as an associate professor at the Berlin University of Fine Arts. Between 1962 and 2000 he won numerous prizes in Germany, France and Italy. His works are exhibited in numerous museums and institutions in the USA, Germany and Denmark. In 1999 the Foundation was established in his name.