Fritz Schwegler (7 May 1935 – 3 June 2014) was a German painter, graphic artist, sculptor and musician.

Life and work

Born in the

Swabia Swabia ; , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of Swabia, one of ...

n town of Breech near

Göppingen Göppingen (; or ) is a town in southern Germany, part of the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg. It is the capital of the Goeppingen (district), district Göppingen. Göppingen is home to the toy company Märklin, and it is the birthplace ...

, Schwegler was first apprenticed as a joiner to his father. He then traveled through the whole of Europe for three years, where he visited 21 cities. As an artist, he first created image collages and spoken performances, entitled "Effeschiaden", "Effeschiadiana", "Effeschiaturen", "Moritafeln", "Zehnerschaften", "Viererreihen" and "Urnotizen", accompanied by photographs and film sequences. He later made wooden sculptures and a thousand from bronze. Schwegler exhibited at the

documenta Documenta (often stylized documenta) is an Art exhibition, exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. Documenta was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgarte ...

s 5 and 8 in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

. In 1999 he received the Hans Thoma Prize, and in 2003 he was awarded the

Bernhard Heiliger Bernhard Heiliger (11 November 1915, Stettin – 25 October 1995, Berlin) was a German artist. He was considered "West Germany's foremost sculptor", and his large public artworks are a prominent presence in many German cities, especially Be ...

Award of Sculpture for outstanding achievements in the field of sculpture. According to the jurors, Werner Spies,

Manfred Schneckenburger Manfred Schneckenburger (1 December 1938 – 2 December 2019) was a German art historian and curator of modern and contemporary art. He was the curator of the ''documenta'' art exhibition twice, documenta 6 in 1977 and documenta 8 in 1987. He w ...

and Dominic van den Boogerd, "at the end of the 20th century", he "created a register of plastic art without comparison". For three decades, Schwegler was a professor at the

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Blinky Palermo, Ma ...

, where he was in close contact with

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( ; ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and Aesthetics, art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism and sociology. With Heinrich Böll, , Caroline Tisdall, Rober ...

.''Ehemaliger Kunstakademie-Professor Schwegler gestorben''
''ksta.de'', 6 June 2014. He retired in 2001. Among his students were

Thomas Demand Thomas Cyrill Demand (born 1964) is a German sculptor and photographer. He currently lives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles, and teaches at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg. He makes photographs of three-dimensional models that look like ...

, Katharina Fritsch, Martin Honert, Thomas Huber, and

Thomas Schütte Thomas Schütte (born 16 November 1954) is a German contemporary artist. He sculpts, creates architectural designs, and draws. He lives and works in Düsseldorf. Education From 1973 to 1981 Schütte studied art at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf ...

. He married the sculptor Gudrun Krüger.

References

Select bibliography

*Wolfgang Becker, Astrid Brock, eds., ''Fritz Schwegler: Effeschiadiana, Effeschiaden, Effeschiaturen, Moritafeln, Zehnerschaften, Viererreihen und Urnotizen''. Exhibition catalog. Stadt Aachen, Neue Galerie-Sammlung Ludwig, 19 Jan. - 10 February 1974. *Joachim Heusinger von Waldegg, ''Peter Kleemann, Marianne Roetzel, Fritz Schwegler''. Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, 1974. *Helga Meister, "Fritz Schwegler", in ''Die Kunstszene Düsseldorf''. Recklinghausen, 1979, pp. 182–184. *''Fritz Schwegler: Kunst der Erscheinung konnte so sein: Kleidungen zum Fünfzigsten''. Düsseldorf, 1992. *Lothar Romain, ''Fritz Schwegler: Erscheinungsmaßnahmen und Abulvenz''. Hagen, 1983. *''Fritz Schwegler: Kohle, Wasser, Benzin''. Strasbourg, 1996. *Ferdinand Ullrich and Hans-Jürgen Schwalm, eds., ''Fritz Schwegler: die tägliche Jubelrolle; 365 Öffnungen; nach 25 Jahren und 29 von 1000 Notwandlungsstücken (hier zurückgemalt)''. Exhibition catalog. Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, 1999. *Helga Meister, ''Und keiner hinkt. 22 Wege vom Schwegler wegzukommen''. Kleve and Düsseldorf, 2001. *Ulrike Groos, ed., ''Das unbewegliche Theater des Fritz Schwegler von Breech''. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2004.

External links

ArtFacts: Fritz Schwegler, 1935-2014, DE.

artnet.news: "Fritz Schwegler, German Sculptor, 1935-2014".
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwegler, Fritz 1935 births 2014 deaths German artists Academic staff of Kunstakademie Düsseldorf People from Göppingen (district)