Johannes Heisig (born 23 April 1953 in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

) is a German

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

graphic Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of the data, as in design and manufa ...

artist. His work combines the tradition of German socialist realism with a subjective expressionism. He portrayed several famous German politicians such as

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and concurrently served as the Chancellor ...

Johannes Rau Johannes Rau (; 16 January 193127 January 2006) was a German politician who served as President of Germany from 1999 to 2004. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he previously served as the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia fro ...

and former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück. The artist is represented by galerie son, Berlin.

Life

Heisig comes from a family of artists. His father Bernhard Heisig was the principal of the Old Leipzig School and the teacher of many artists from the "

New Leipzig School The New Leipzig School () is a movement in German painting, centred in the city of Leipzig after the German reunification. The usage and origins of this term are debated. History and characteristics The Leipzig School (painting), Alte Leipziger S ...

" (i.e.

Neo Rauch Neo Rauch (; born 18 April 1960) is a German artist whose paintings mine the intersection of his personal history with the politics of industrial alienation. His work reflects the influence of socialist realism, and owes a debt to Surrealists ...

). In his father's studio Johannes learned early from his childhood on the art of painting. From 1973 to 1977 he studied Painting and Graphics at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig and from 1978 to 1980 he was Masterstudent with Professor Gerhard Kettner at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden (HfBK) where he was the president from 1989 to 1991. After his withdrawing from his long-time teaching activity there he went from Dresden to Berlin. He was invited to several residency programs at International Universities and worked as a Professor at the Dortmund University (2003–2004).

Work

Johannes Heisig is known for his graphics and illustrations and his portraits for which he can also be considered a modern court painter. In 2008 he presented his large works series "es war einmal" (once upon a time) which shows the topic of German separation both from a private and a public view in colored portraits and large black-and-white canvasses with scenes from both West and East. These artworks were presented to the public for the first time in the Berlin House of Representatives in 2008 and then in the German Embassy London. One of Heisig's favorite subjects is

Music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

. He created several painting and lithograph series inspired by or referring to international musicians like

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...

and

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

. His large triptych "Be Berlin or: The Unifying Power of Music" shows musicians playing beside

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

on his Berlin visit in the 1960s sitting in a car together with Willy Brandt and Konrad Adenauer. From 2010 to 2011 Heisig created his work series 'CROW' referring to the same-titled poems by

Ted Hughes Edward James Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He wa ...

Exhibitions

* 2012: "augenscheinlich", Solo exhibition in the Kunstverein Coburg, Coburg * 2011: "ÜBERGÄNGE , CROSSINGS", Willy-Brandt-Haus / galerie son / SEZ, Berlin * 2009: “20 Jahre Deutsche Einheit”, Kunsthalle, Schweinfurt * 2008: "3 berliner", German Embassy, London * 2008: "es war einmal", Berlin House of Representatives * 1990-1994: "New Territory - Art from East Germany", School of the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

/ The Art Gallery of the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

/ Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art,

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

, Kansas / LEHIGH ART GALLERIES (Hall and Wilson Gallery) Lehigh University Bethlehem, Pennsylvania / and others, USA * 1992: “TURNING POINTS: EAST GERMAN ART IN REVOLUTION", Sunderland, Carlisle and others, Great Britain * 1992: "To Those Who Begin Again-Art of East Germany", Art Gallery (Williams Centre for the Arts) of the Lafayette College, Easton, PA /USA * 1989: "The Art of Young Painters of the 1980s from the GDR", Solothurn/Switzerland * 1989: "Signs of the Times-Paintings and Graphics from the GDR", Tokyo-Nagano- Kumamoto-Kamakura-Kobe/Japan * 1988: "Contemporary Painting of the GDR", Peking, Taiyuan /China * 1986: VI. Triennale of India, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi /India * 1982: XII. Biennale de Paris, Paris /France

Publications

* "Johannes Heisig - es war einmal", galerie son, Mihyun Son, Berlin, 2008

Notes

External links

* galerie son website
English
an

* the entir

series and information on berliner-art.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Heisig, Johannes 1953 births Living people 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters 21st-century German painters 21st-century German male artists German illustrators Postmodern artists Painters from Leipzig Painters from Berlin Academic staff of the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig alumni