Paul Wunderlich (10 March 1927 in

Eberswalde Eberswalde () is a major town and the administrative seat of the district Barnim in the German State ( Bundesland / ''federated state'') of Brandenburg, about 50 km northeast of Berlin. Population 42,144 (census in June 2005), geographi ...

– 6 June 2010 in Saint-Pierre-de-Vassols) was a German painter, sculptor and graphic artist. He designed

Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

paintings and erotic sculptures. He often created paintings which referred to mythological legends.

Background

Wunderlich was the second child of Horst and Gertrude (née Arendt) Wunderlich. After a time as Flakhelfer and a prisoner of war, he moved to his mother in

Eutin Eutin () is the district capital of Eastern Holstein county located in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. As of 2020, the town had some 17,000 inhabitants. History The name Eutin (originally Utin) is of Slavic origin. Its meaning i ...

, graduated from the Johann Heinrich Voss Gymnasium, and then visited the Palace School of Art in the Orangery of

Eutin Castle Eutin Castle (german: Eutiner Schloss) in Eutin in the north German district of Ostholstein is the cultural centre and nucleus of the town. Taken together, this castle, Gottorf Castle and Glücksburg Castle, form the most important group of co ...

. In 1947 he became a student at the Landeskunstschule in Hamburg, where he was in the Free Graphics class of William Tietze. His classmates included

Horst Janssen Horst Janssen (14 November 192931 August 1995) was a German draftsman, printmaker, poster artist and illustrator. He had a prolific output of drawings, etchings, woodcuts, lithographs and wood engravings. Janssen was a student of Alfred Mahlau ...

and Reinhard Drenkhahn. After a hiatus, Wunderlich began studying again in 1950 with Willem Grimm and graduated in 1951. He then worked as a lecturer at the

Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg The ''Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg (HFBK Hamburg)'' is the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg. It dates to 1767, when it was called the ''Hamburger Gewerbeschule''; later it became known as ''Landeskunstschule Hamburg''. The main build ...

, teaching lithography and etching. Also in 1951 he printed for Emil Nolde ("The King and his men", etching) and in 1952 for

Oskar Kokoschka Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian artist, poet, playwright, and teacher best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes, as well as his theories on vision that influenced the Viennese Expres ...

, the graphics suite "Ann Eliza Reed" of eleven lithographs. With the earnings he spent three months in Ibiza. In 1955 he received a scholarship from the Cultural Committee of German Industry . After an early, essentially realistic creative period from around 1959, he developed his characteristic style. His early works show a dismembered body, disproportioned in front of an empty background. In the 1960s he was influenced by art movements such as

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

and

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

. In 1960, the cycle of lithographs "qui s'explique" was seized by the Hamburg prosecutor for indecent depictions. Wunderlich received the 1961 Prize of the Youth for graphics. With the prize money, he moved to Paris. In 1962, he worked in the workshop Deskjoberts in Paris. In 1963 he returned to Hamburg and as a successor of George Gresko was professor at the Hochschule until 1968. In 1969 he started the creation of bronze sculptures and statues, influenced by

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...

. In 1976, he issued a limited edition of multicolored heliographs that illustrated James Joyce's ''Giacomo Joyc''e. Wunderlich destroyed some of his art after having spent some time on it. He had looked at it and decided he no longer liked it. At another time his art had gotten him in trouble, officials came knocking on his door and ruined years worth of his work for being too strange. Paul Wunderlich married photographer Karin Székessy in 1971, and the couple pursued art projects together.

Fritz J. Raddatz Fritz Joachim Raddatz (3 September 1931 – 26 February 2015) was a German feuilletonist, essayist, biographer, journalist and romancier. Life Fritz Raddatz was born in Berlin. His mother, according to Raddatz a "Parisienne from a rich famil ...

documented and wrote comments on his work. Wunderlich lived and worked in Hamburg and Saint-Pierre-de-Vassols (Provence). Wunderlich died in Provence on 6 June 2010 at the age of 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wunderlich, Paul 1927 births 2010 deaths 20th-century German painters German male painters 21st-century German painters 20th-century German sculptors 20th-century German male artists German male sculptors 21st-century German sculptors 21st-century German male artists University of Fine Arts of Hamburg alumni Academic staff of the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg Luftwaffenhelfer German prisoners of war in World War II