biography

A.R. Penck, born 1939 in Dresden, belongs to the best-known German artists.

Painter, draughtsman and sculptor at the same time, he remains largely self-taught, as his applications for admission to the academies of Dresden and East Berlin were rejected. During his apprenticeship as a commercial artist, he took part in private evening painting courses with Strawalde.

Penck's psychograph-like stick figures, reminiscent of prehistoric signs, depict human sensitivities at the end of the 20th century in extremely reduced form.

A standard vocabulary of archetypal abbreviations is varied with large brushstrokes to illustrate the epochal continuity of human primal fears. After the initial diagrammatic schematics, the spectrum of images expands in the 1980s with striking colour accents and large, complexly filled picture formats. Sculptures made of wood and bronze transfer the repertoire into the three-dimensional spatial effect.

 

His works have been shown at various institutions such as Städelsches Kunstinstitut (Frankfurt), The Museum of Modern Art (New York), Museum für Moderne Kunst (Frankfurt), Pinakothek der Moderne (Munich), The British Museum (London), The Phillips Collection (Washington) and the Musée de l’Art Modene de la Ville Paris.

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023

A. R. Penck: Pictures From The Ice Age, Neues Museum Nürnberg, Nurnberg

 

2022

A. R. Penck, Museum Jorn, Silkeborg

 

2021

A. R. Penck, Museo d’Arte di Mendrisio, Mendrisio

 

2020

A.R. Penck, Kunstmuseum, The Hague

 

2019

A.R. Penck, Albertinum, Dresden

 

2014

A.R. Penck, British Museum, London

 

2013

A.R. Penck, Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf

A.R. Penck, Internationale Sculptuur Biennale, Amsterdam

 

2012

A.R. Penck, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich

A.R. Penck, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen

A.R. Penck, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf

A.R. Penck, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart

 

2010

A.R. Penck, Musée Maillol, Paris

A.R. Penck, Kunsthalle, Rostock

Zukunft, Museum Ludwig, Cologne

 

2009

A.R. Penck, The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.

A.R. Penck, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester

A.R. Penck, Museum Weserburg, Bremen

 

2008

A.R. Penck, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville, Paris

 

2007

A.R. Penck, Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design, Nuremberg

A.R. Penck, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt

A.R. Penck, Kunsthalle, Kiel

 

2006

A.R. Penck, Museum of Modern Art, New York

 

2005

A.R. Penck, Michael Werner Gallery, New York

A.R. Penck, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne

 

2004

A.R. Penck, Michael Werner Gallery, New York

A.R. Penck, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne

A.R. Penck, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt

 

2003

A.R. Penck, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne

A.R. Penck, Museum Küppersmühle Sammlung Grothe, Duisburg

 

2002

A.R. Penck, Michael Werner Gallery, New York

A.R. Penck, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne

 

2000

A.R. Penck, Georg-Kolbe-Museum, Berlin

A.R. Penck, Foundation for Sculpture, Berlin

 

1999

A.R. Penck, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S. A., Luxembourg

  

1992

A.R. Penck, Documenta 9, Kassel

A.R. Penck, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne

 

1995

A.R. Penck, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

 

1991

A.R. Penck, Michael Werner Gallery, New York

A.R. Penck, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

A.R. Penck, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin

 

1989

A.R. Penck, Mary Boone Gallery, New York

 

1988

A.R. Penck, Nationalgalerie, Berlin

A.R. Penck, Staatliche Museen, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin

 

1984

A.R. Penck, Venice Biennale, Venice

 

1982

A.R. Penck, Documenta 7, Kassel

 

1981

A.R. Penck, Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel

A.R. Penck, Sonnabend Gallery, New York

 

1978

A.R. Penck, Museum Ludwig , Cologne

 

1977

A.R. Penck, Documenta 6, Kassel

 

1975

A.R. Penck, Kunsthalle, Bern

 

1970

A.R. Penck, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne