Abraham David Christian (born 1952) is a German sculptor.

Life and work

Christian's sculptures were included in

Documenta 5 documenta 5 was the fifth edition of documenta, a quinquennial contemporary art exhibition. It was held between 30 June and 8 October 1972 in Kassel, West Germany. The artistic director was Harald Szeemann. The title of the exhibition was: Befr ...

, when he was only nineteen years old, and he had his first one-person show at the

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 ...

, in 1973. Christian was invited to participate in documenta 6 in 1977, but rejected this invitation. His work was included again in Documenta 7 in 1982. After his first inclusion in Documenta, in 1972, he went on to have one-person exhibitions at the Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld (1978), at the Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf (1983), at the

Sprengel Museum Sprengel Museum is a museum of modern art in Hanover, Lower Saxony, holding one of the most significant collections of modern art in Germany. It is located in a building situated adjacent to the Masch Lake () approximately south of the state m ...

, Hannover (1985, 1994), at the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Calais (1988) and at the Tallinna Kunstihoone, Estonia (1998). The Wilhelm

Lehmbruck Museum The Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum - Center for International Sculpture is a museum in Duisburg, Germany. Sculptures by Wilhelm Lehmbruck, after whom the museum is named, make up a large part of its collection. However, the museum has a sub ...

, Duisburg exhibited 2000 his drawings and sculptures in an international presentation. This exhibition was accompanied by a book published by DuMont Verlag, Cologne. Exhibitions at the

Weserburg The Weserburg is a modern art museum in Bremen, Germany. Opened in 1991, it is located on the Teerhof peninsula next to the River Weser in an old factory building which was almost completely destroyed in the Second World War. Originally known a ...

Museum für moderne Kunst Bremen and at the

Von der Heydt Museum The Von der Heydt Museum is a museum in Wuppertal, Germany. The Von der Heydt Museum includes works by artists from the 17th century to the present time. History The museum is housed in the former city hall of Elberfeld, which in 1902 became ...

in Wuppertal followed in 2003/2004. Kehrer Verlag in Heidelberg published a book for these exhibitions. An extensive collection of works by the artist were shown in the exhibition 'Abraham David Christian – 道 – The Way' 2010 at the Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art,

Museum Küppersmühle Museum Küppersmühle (MKM) is a Centre for Modern and Contemporary Art based in Duisburg's Inner Harbour. It houses the Ströher Collection. It is part of the Duisburg: Town and Harbour section of the Ruhr Industrial Heritage Trail. History ...

Duisburg. The book for this exhibition was published by Kerber Verlag (Bielefeld-Leipzig-Berlin). 2020 the Kunstmuseum Bochum showed earth sculptures from the 1970s in the solo exhibition 'Abraham David Christian ERDE'. "Earth is available everywhere, it costs nothing. We took them straight from the field, seven tons, and cleaned them. The slush was poured into the containers, squeezing outward, creating bulges. I was very interested in this organic principle." (Abraham David Christian in a conversation with Helga Meister, Kunstforum, Volume 204, 2010, Conversations with Artists, p. 240) Book publications include ''Selbst'' (Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, 1978); ''Abraham David Christian; Forty Years of Work'' (Sprengel Museum Hannover 1985), ''Abraham David Christian, Mississippi'' (Tallinna Kunstihoone, Tallinn, Estonia, 1998); 'Abraham David Christian, La Salle des Pieds Perdus': Drawing / Zeichnung (Edgewise Press, New York, April 1999); 'Abraham David Christian, Nebraska' (Kulturzentrum Sinsteden, Rommerskirchen, 2000); 'Abraham David Christian, THE WAYS OF THE WORLD' (Wilhelm

Duisburg, 2000) published by DuMont Verlag, Cologne, The June 2001 issue of Art in America, featured an article by Janet Koplos on his work. Christian has been described as an "international artist whose work cannot be confined to any one country or defined by any one culture. Geometrical and shape-of-life forms reference the traditions of Eastern, Western, African and American cultures, even as they remain perfectly unique unto themselves. His paper and bronze sculptures convene the spirits of

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

art (Donatello and Michelangelo), the Classical

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a Composition (visual arts), composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non- ...

of the avantgarde in the twentieth century (Giacometti, Brancusi, and David Smith), the most (so-called) ‘primitive’ objects from the smallest villages in Africa, and the most (so-called) ‘refined’ goddess or Buddha from India, Southeast Asia, or Japan. It is work that is both irrepressible and restrained, libidinal and Minimal, fragile and, of late, monumental. Before the term ‘multicultural’ ever existed, Christian's sculptures and drawings took for their most basic premises the ‘language r languagesof man’ and the ‘ways of the world.’ 'Abraham David Christian, Bronze Sculptures' ( Kehrer, Heidelberg, 2003). Another monograph on his work was published by Kehrer in 2003, in conjunction with his museum exhibition, 'Abraham David Christian. The Language of Man', at the

Neues Museum The Neues Museum (, ''New Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin, Germany. Built from 1843 to 1855 by order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia in Neoclassical and Renaissance Revival styles, ...

Weserburg Bremen and

Von der Heydt-Museum The Von der Heydt Museum is a museum in Wuppertal, Germany. The Von der Heydt Museum includes works by artists from the 17th century to the present time. History The museum is housed in the former city hall of Elberfeld, which in 1902 became ...

Wuppertal in 2004, with essays by Thomas Deecke, Peter Friese, Hans-Jürgen Heinrichs and

Richard Milazzo Richard Milazzo is a critic, curator, publisher, independent scholar and poet from New York City. In the 1970s, he was the editor and co-publisher of ''Out of London Press''. He is the co-founding publisher and editor of Edgewise Press. In the 198 ...

. In 2006, Christian published "Along the Hudson", a book of drawings, with Tokyo Publishing House. 2010 the book for the exhibition 'Abraham David Christian – 道 – The Way' 2010 at the Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art,

Duisburg was published by Kerber Verlag (Bielefeld-Leipzig-Berlin). 'Abraham David Christian, SchwarzWald' was published by Tokyo Publishing House in 2015. 'Abraham David Christian, Silva Nigra' was published by Kehrer, Heidelberg, 2016. 2023/2024, the Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur showed an overview of the work of the sculptor in a concentrated presentation in the exhibition 'Abraham David Christian Oltre il linguaggio/Da i'autra vart da la lingua', in rooms of the Villa Planta, designed by

Peter Zumthor Peter Zumthor (; born 26 April 1943) is a Swiss architect whose work is frequently described as uncompromising and minimalist. Though managing a relatively small firm and not being a prolific architect, he is the winner of the 2009 Pritzker Pri ...

were designed. The exhibition was accompanied by a publication with photographs by Gaudenz Signorell. As part of the Bündner Kunstmuseum exhibition, sculptures by Abraham David Christian were precisely placed outdoors at selected locations in Graubünden: just as if the sculptures had been there for a long time. These included the 'Reformed Church of Avers-Cresta', the Saint John Abbey, Müstair, the Church of St. Peter Mistail, the church ruins of San Gaudenzio and Bondo GR in Bergell. In 2020 Abraham's work '''Interconnected Sculpture was exhibited at Art D üsseldorf.

Personal life

Christian lives and works in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Graubunden The Grisons (; ) or Graubünden (),Names include: * ; * Romansh: ** ** ** ** ** **; * ; * ; * . See also other names. more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton of Graubünden, is one of the twenty-six cantons of Switzerland. I ...

and Hayama, Japan.

Awards

* 1978 Villa Romana prize

Literature

* documenta 5 Befragung der Realität – Bildwelten heute; Bd 1: (Information); Bd 2: (Exhibition catalogue); Kassel 1972 * documenta 7 Kassel; Bd. 1: (Biographies of the artists); Bd. 2: (Exhibition catalogue); Kassel 1982 * Storck, Gerhard (Editor); elbst ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN; Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Exhibition catalogue, elbstABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, Haus Lange Krefeld, 29. – 19 January. March 1978; Krefeld 1978 * Honisch, Dieter (Editor); ''Kunst in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland : 1945 – 1985''; Exhibition catalogue: 'Kunst in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland : 1945 – 1985', Nationalgalerie Berlin 27. September 1985 – 21. January 1986; Berlin 1985 *Weiermair, Peter; ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, Paper Sculptures, Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheim; Exhibition catalogue, Mannheim; 1985 *Deecke, Thomas; Metasprache, Michael Erlhoff, Unumwunden, Antje v. Graevenitz, Reisevergleiche, Christian Schneider, disziplinar, Exhibition catalogue ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN; FORTY YEARS OF WORK · VIERZIG JAHRE ARBEIT; Sprengel Museum, Hannover 1985 *Collins & Milazzo; ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, SCULPTURE; Diane Brown Gallery, Exhibition catalogue; New York 1987 *Le Nouene, Patrick (Hrsg.); Gestes Blancs Parmiles Solitudes / Gestures Amid Solitude, Collins & Milazzo, Chinatown, U.S.A., Christian Schneider, La Leçon du Vide / Being Taught About Naught; Exhibition catalogue, ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, SCULPTURE in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Calais and in the Gatodo Gallery, Tokyo; Calais / Tokyo 1988 *Nobis, Norbert (Herg.); FLORENZ '78; Sprengel Museum, Hannover; Exhibition catalogue, Sprengel Museum, Hannover 1994, ISBN 3-8916-9079-7 *Deecke, Thomas, Abraham David Christian – der Fremde; Kritisches Lexikon für Gegenwartskunst, München 1997 *Merkert, Jörn rsg. Gesammelte Räume gesammelte Träume. Kunst aus Deutschland von 1960 bis 2000. Bilder und Räume aus der Sammlung Grothe - Grothe Collection im / in the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Exhibition catalogue, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, 20. November 1999 bis 6. February 2000, Berlin/Cologne 1999, ISBN 978-3-77014-872-1 *Smerling, Walter (Hrsg.); Sammlung Grothe, Museum Küppersmühle, Duisburg, Exhibition catalogue, MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst Duisburg, Köln, 1999, ISBN 3-7701-4870-3 *Milazzo, Richard (Editor); ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, LA SALLE DES PIEDS PERDUS, ZEICHNUNG / DRAWING''; New York, Paris, Turin, Louisville 1999 *Brockhaus, Christoph (Editor); ''Abraham David Christian, die Wege der Welt''; Exhibition catalogue, ''Abraham David Christian, die Wege der Welt'', Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum Duisburg 20. – 30 February. April 2000; Köln 2000 *Janet Koplos; ''Abraham David Christian – A pilgrim's projects'', Art in America No. 6 (June 2001) p. 116-121, 143 *Friese, Peter (Editor); ''Abraham David Christian – Die Sprache des Menschen''; Exhibition catalogue: ''Abraham David Christian – Die Sprache des Menschen'', Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen, 16. November 2003 – 29. February 2004, Von-der-Heydt-Museum Wuppertal, 16. March – 18. Mai 2004; Heidelberg 2003 *Smerling, Walter (Editor); ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, THE WAY • DER WEG'', Exhibition catalogue: ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, THE WAY • DER WEG'', MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst Duisburg, Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld/Leipzig/Berlin; 2010 *Forstbauer, Nikolai B. / Metzger, Rainer / Milazzo, Richard; ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, TIEFENBRONN''; Exhibition catalogue: ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, TIEFENBRONN''; St. Maria Magdalena, Tiefenbronn, Heidelberg 2014, . *Yokota, Shigeru (Editor); ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, SchwarzWald''; Tokyo Publishing House, Tokyo 2015 *Kunstmuseum Pforzheim (Editor); ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, Silva Nigra''; Exhibition catalogue: ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, Silva Nigra''; Kunstmuseum Pforzheim, 23. Oktober 2016 – 19. März 2017, Heidelberg 2016, *Költzsch, Erika (Editor); ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, Zeichnungen und Skulpturen / Drawings and Sculptures''; Exhibition catalogue: ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, Zeichnungen und Skulpturen / Drawings and Sculptures'', Galerie Haas, 1. June – 17. July 2018, Zürich 2018 *Yokota, Shigeru (Editor); ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, 三十''; Tokyo Publishing House, Tokyo 2018 *Haas, Michael (Editor); ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN''; Exhibition catalogue: ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN'', Galerie Haas & KUNST LAGER HAAS, 26. April – 15. June 2019, Berlin 2019 *Jung, Jörg (Editor); ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN'' · EISEN; Cologne 2019 *Golinski, Hans Günter (Editor); ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN · ERDE''; Bochum 2020; Exhibition catalogue: ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN · ERDE'', Kunstmuseum Bochum, 5. July 2020 - 11. October 2020 *Yokota, Shigeru (Editor); ''ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN'', 百八; Tokyo Publishing House, Tokyo 2020 *Mönig, Roland; ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, Jenseits der Sprache/Beyond Language; Exhibition catalogue: Iron Sculptures Galerie Utermann, Dortmund 4. June - 10. July 2021 *Kunz, Stephan; ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, Oltre il linguaggio/Da i'autra vart da la lingua; Exhibition catalogue: ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, Oltre il linguaggio/Da i'autra vart da la lingua, Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur, Chur, 16. September 2023 bis 7. January 2024, ISBN 978-3-905240-79-5

References

External links

*
Artist's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, Abraham David 1952 births Living people German artists Academic staff of Keio University