Elke Rehder (born 1953) is a German artist living in

Barsbüttel is a municipality in the district of Stormarn, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated east of Hamburg on the border of the district of Jenfeld. Since 1973 the township has consisted of four districts: Barsbüttel (main village), Willing ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Life and work

Elke Rehder studied at the

Heatherley School of Fine Art The Heatherley School of Fine Art is an independent art school in London. The school was named after Thomas Heatherley who took over as the school's principal from James Mathews Leigh (when it was named "Leigh's"). Founded in 1845, the schoo ...

in London (1979–80). During that time she was predominantly active as a sculptor, where she created objects from iron, steel, copper, granite, marble as well as small bronzes in lost-wax castings. During her stay in London the symbolism of

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

becomes a centrepoint in her artwork, following a statement by Boris Spassky: "Chess is like life". Since then, Elke Rehder creates

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

and land art projects centered around chess. In 1991 Elke Rehder started the international cultural project "Kulturgesellschaft Europa", which is accompanied by statements of important personalities from the cultural, economical and political world. Since then she started to collect European antique prints and illustrated newspapers. 2014 the Elke Rehder collection contained more than 50,000 historical pictures. 1992 she was honored with the award "Bernhard-Kaufmann-Kunstpreis" in Worpswede. From 1991 to 1993 she deepened her knowledge of

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

at the Federal Academy of Cultural Education in Wolfenbüttel and of graphic arts at the

Hamburg University of Applied Sciences The Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (German: Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg) is a higher education and applied research institution located in Hamburg, Germany. Formerly known as ''Fachhochschule Hamburg,'' the ''Hamburg U ...

Artists' books

Since 1993 Elke Rehder concentrates on literature and

lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...

and founded the Elke Rehder Presse for printmaking. With her artists' books she participated several times at the

Leipzig Book Fair The Leipzig Book Fair (german: Leipziger Buchmesse) is the second largest book fair in Germany after the Frankfurt Book Fair. The fair takes place annually over four days at the Leipzig Trade Fairground in the northern part of Leipzig, Saxony. ...

, the

Frankfurt Book Fair The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: Frankfurter Buchmesse, FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. It is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for internationa ...

and the largest book fair for small publishers and artistic hand press operators in Europe "Mainzer Minipressen-Messe" ( International Book Fair for Small Publishers and Private Presses). At the international antiquarian book and arts fair "Quod Libet" in Hamburg she presented a portfolio with etchings to ''

The Trial ''The Trial'' (german: Der Process, link=no, previously , and ) is a novel written by Franz Kafka in 1914 and 1915 and published posthumously on 26 April 1925. One of his best known works, it tells the story of Josef K., a man arrested and p ...

'' by

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

and woodcuts to ''

The Royal Game ''The Royal Game'' (also known as Chess Story; in the original German ''Schachnovelle'', "Chess Novella") is a novella by the Austrian author Stefan Zweig written in 1941, the year before the author's death by suicide. In some editions, the title ...

'' by Stefan Zweig. Beside her fine press publications Elke Rehder creates numerous painted books, book objects and paper art objects.Gallery Depelmann: ''Handbook of Editions. Graphic Print, Sculpture, Photography, Multiples''. Depelmann Edition. Langenhagen 1994-1998. , 3-928330-11-X, 3-928330-17-9 and 3-928330-24-1

Solo exhibitions (selected)

*1992 Reinbek Castle, Reinbek, Germany *1993 Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Bonn / Berlin, Germany *1993 Gallery Art und Weise, Heide, Germany *1995 Stichting Ateliers, Driebergen, Netherlands *1999 Eutiner Landesbibliothek, Eutin, Germany *2000 Gallery Silvia Umla, Völklingen, Germany *2001 Haus der Kultur und Bildung, Neubrandenburg, Germany *2003 Beeskow Castle, Beeskow, Germany *2003 Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany *2006 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek, Hanover, Germany

Group exhibitions (selected)

*1995 Provinciaal Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Oostend, Belgium *1997

Kunsthalle Düsseldorf Kunsthalle Düsseldorf is an exhibition hall for contemporary art in Düsseldorf. Building The present art centre was built in 1967 in Brutalist architecture by the architects Konrad Beckmann and Brockes. They used commercially available preca ...

, Düsseldorf, Germany *1997 Internationale Kunstmesse "Kunstmarkt Dresden", Dresden, Germany *1998

Austrian National Library The Austrian National Library (german: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in center of V ...

, Vienna, Austria *1998 Gallery Lang, Vienna, Austria *1998 PAPER ART exhibition

Speicherstadt The Speicherstadt (, literally: 'City of Warehouses', meaning warehouse district) in Hamburg, Germany is the largest warehouse district in the world where the buildings stand on timber-pile foundations, oak logs, in this particular case. It is ...

, Hamburg, Germany *1999

Germanisches Nationalmuseum The Germanisches National Museum is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, it houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day. The Germanisches National ...

, Nuremberg, Germany *2003 6th Triennale Mondiale d'Estampes, Chamalières, France *2005 Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany *2009 State Library of Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany

Works in collections (selected)

Basel University Library Basel University Library, officially the Public Library of the University of Basel (german: Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität Basel, abbreviated UB), is the central library of the University of Basel. It also serves as the Cantons of Switz ...

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, Deutsches Buch- und Schriftmuseum, (Leipzig, Germany),

Museum of Modern Literature The Museum of Modern Literature (german: Literaturmuseum der Moderne, LiMo) is part of the German Literature Archive () in Marbach am Neckar, Germany. The museum won its architect the Stirling Prize in 2007. Designed by British architect David C ...

(Marbach, Germany), Duchess Anna Amalia Library, German National Library, Germanisches Nationalmuseum (Nuremberg, Germany), Goethe University Frankfurt,

Herzog August Bibliothek The Herzog August Library (german: link=no, Herzog August Bibliothek — "HAB"), in Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony, known also as ''Bibliotheca Augusta'', is a library of international importance for its collection from the Middle Ages and ear ...

, John G. White Collection in the Cleveland Public Library, Klingspor Museum, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands,

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

, Lothar Schmid Chess Collection (Bamberg, Germany), Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum,

Saxon State Library The Saxon State and University Library Dresden (full name in german: Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden), abbreviated SLUB Dresden, is located in Dresden, Germany. It is both the regional library (german: ...

Swiss National Library The Swiss National Library (german: Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek, french: Bibliothèque nationale suisse, it, Biblioteca nazionale svizzera, rm, Biblioteca naziunala svizra) is the national library of Switzerland. Part of the Federal Office ...

Württembergische Landesbibliothek The State Library of Württemberg (german: Württembergische Landesbibliothek or WLB) is a large library in Stuttgart, Germany, which traces its history back to the ducal public library of Württemberg founded in 1765. It holds c. 4 million vol ...

(Stuttgart, Germany)

Notes

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rehder, Elke 1953 births German sculptors German women artists Living people People from Stormarn (district)