Peter Robert Keil (born 6 August 1942 in Züllichau,

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

) is a German painter and sculptor.

Life

Peter Robert Keil was born to an artist

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

father whom he lost very early in his childhood during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. During the end phase of the war, Keil's mother, also an artistically talented woman, took her son and struggled her way to West Berlin where they settled. This is where Peter Robert Keil grew up in the working-class neighbourhood of

Berlin-Wedding Wedding (, ) is a locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. It was a separate borough in the north-western inner city until it was fused with Tiergarten and Mitte in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. At the same time the eastern half ...

and where he discovered his interest in painting—particularly in expressionistic artists and in

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

's work.Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon, S. 520 From 1954 on, the

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

-based painter

Otto Nagel Otto Nagel (27 September 1894 – 12 July 1967) was a German painter, graphic designer and long-time head of the Berlin Academy of Arts who was one of the most prolific artists of East Germany. Life Born at Berlin-Wedding, Nagel was the so ...

became his mentor and taught him first craft skills and painting techniques. In 1954, he began his traineeship as an artist metalworker and between 1959 and 1961, he studied at the University of Arts in Berlin. When the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

was built, he lost contact with his mentor Otto Nagel and from the early 60s on, Keil started to spend more and more time abroad. During his studies at the University of Arts in Berlin, he came in contact with numerous other artists who later became influential artists of their generation, like for example

Georg Baselitz Georg Baselitz (born 23 January 1938) is a German Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor and Graphic arts, graphic artist. In the 1960s he became well known for his Figurative art, figurative, expressive paintings. In 1969 he began painting his ...

, Eugen Schönebeck,

Markus Lüpertz Markus Lüpertz (born 25 April 1941) is a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and writer. He also publishes a magazine, and plays jazz piano. He is one of the best-known German contemporary artists. His subjects are characterized by suggest ...

and Joachim Schmettau.ArtProfil 90-2011, S. 16ArtProfil Heft 2 2007, S.47 During his time in Mallorca, he also met with

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...

in his studio several times. From the early 60s on, Keil established studios in Paris, London, Berlin and in the US. Today he mainly lives and works in Zimmerau (Bavaria, Germany), Berlin and Los Angeles.

Techniques and works

In the beginnings of his artistic career, Peter Keil's style was influenced by German

expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

. In the works from his early Berlin years, he mainly focused on typical big city settings and characters on the fringes of society. However, his style changed visibly at the beginning of the 60s when he lived in Paris for a while and emerged in the city's nightlife. Keil increasingly parted with his realistic approach and developed a new, much more spontaneous and dynamic painting style which he developed further during his years in London and finally during his time as one of the "Berliner Neue Wilden" at the beginning of the 80s. Since then, the use of intensive to lurid colours and the absence of realistic representation have become characteristic of his painting style.ArtProfil 93-2012, S. 33 In his paintings, the colour is applied with quick brushstrokes and occasionally with impasto techniques and the images are additionally abstracted by the use of

Graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

elements. Keil prefers to paint human figures, portraits, big city scenes, landscapes and still life images of flowers. His emotional way of painting is mainly driven by a desire for freedom from social constraints and conventions. In the past 50 years, he has created numerous large- and small scale paintings in oil and mixed media on canvas but also some sculptures in wood and steel and a great number of majolicas.

Exhibitions

* 1962: First solo exhibition at the Art Gallery, London * 1964: Galerie Rotebro, Sweden * 1965: Great Berlin Art Exhibition * 1966: Great Berlin Art Exhibition * 1980: Dr. Friedmann Gallery, Israel * 1985: Wewerka Gallery, Berlin * 1986–1990:

Free Art Exhibition, Berlin Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, the ability to act or change without constraint or restriction * Emancipate, attaining civil and political rights or equality * Free (''gratis''), free of charge * Gratis versus libre, the difference betwe ...

, Exhibition Hall, Berlin * 1993: Carousel Gallery, Dania, Florida, USA * 1998: Aventura Art Gallery, Aventura, Florida, USA * 1999: Höckner Gallery, Salzburg, Austria * 2000: Exhibitions Paris, Amsterdam, London * 2001–2005: Intercontinental Hotel Berlin * 2002: International Art Fair, Frankfurt * 2003: The Sixties Peter Robert Keil, Kunstsinn Gallery, Nuremberg * 2005: Boxsler Gallery, Lichtenfels * 2006: Public Library, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA * 2007: Villa Meixner, collection of the KulturForum Europa, Brühl/Baden * 2007: Kessler Corporation, Orlando Florida, Savannah, Georgia, USA * 2008: The Hurn Museum, Savannah, USA * 2010: Keil-Collection Heidelberg, Long Night of the Museums, Heidelberg * 2010: Edna Hibel Fine Art Gallery, West Palm Beach, Florida * 2011: Keil-Collection Heidelberg, Long Night of the Museums, Heidelberg * 2011: Edinburgh International Art Festival. Scotland. Presented by Colin Fleming (Rivertown Gallery). * 2012: Retrospective "Leben im Farbrausch" (A Life in Colours), Castle Schwetzingen, Orangery * 2012: "Teufelswerk" (Devil's Work), State Majolica Manufacture Karlsruhe * 2013: ''Aufbruch – Jüngste Werke aus der Heidelberger Phase'' (A new era – Most recent works from the Heidelberg phase), Alte Feuerwache Heidelberg * 2014: Recent works, Berlin, Temporäre Galerie Potsdamer Straße * 2014: New Keil works, Keil Collection Heidelberg, Heidelberg * 2014 / 2015: Peter Robert Keil in the Heidelberg city hall, City Hall Heidelberg * 2015: "Verleden, heden, toekomst", Waaggebouw Arnheim * 2015: Peter Robert Keil in the Roman Cellar, Roman Cellar Heidelberg * 2015: Peter Robert Keil in Alten Hallenbad, Altes Hallenbad Heidelberg * 2015: "P.R. Keil – der neueste Brand", Staatliche Majolika Manufaktur Karlsruhe * 2015: Exhibition in the Museumszimmer at Wolfsbrunnen, Wolfsbrunnen Heidelberg * 2016: art Karlsruhe 2016, Karlsruhe * 2016: ART.FAIR, Köln * 2016: Affordable Art Fair 2016, Hamburg * 2016: Peter Robert Keil in the Galerie P13, Heidelberg * 2017: art Karlsruhe 2017 - one artist show, Karlsruhe * 2017: Solo exhibition, New Jersey, USA * 2017: Roter Kunstsalon, Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden * 2017: Affordable Art Fair 2017, Hamburg * 2017: Exhibition at the Studio in Banyalbufar, Mallorca * 2017: Solo show "Leben im Farbrausch 2", Castle Heidelberg * 2018: art Karlsruhe 2018 - one artist show, Karlsruhe * 2018 Affordable Art Fair Hamburg / Affordable Art Fair Brüssel * 2019 art Karlsruhe, Galerie P 13 * 2019 Affordable Art Fair Hamburg / Affordable Art Fair Brüssel * 2021 Artist-in-residence im Xylon Museum Schwetzingen * 2022 Artist-in-residence Xylon Museum Schwetzingen * 2022 Exhibition at the Studio in Xylon Museum Schwetzingen * 2022 "ICoulor - a painter says I" - Exhibition in the Heidelberg Castle.

Literature

* Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon, Volume 79, De Gruyter Verlag, Berlin 2012 * Art Profil – Zeitschrift für aktuelle Kunst, Volume 2, 13. Jahrgang 2007 * Art Profil – Zeitschrift für aktuelle Kunst, Volume-No. 90-2011 * Art Profil – Zeitschrift für aktuelle Kunst, Volume-No. 93-2012 * Art Profil – Zeitschrift für aktuelle Kunst, Volume-No. 96-2013 * Art Profil – Zeitschrift für aktuelle Kunst Heft Nr. 105-2014 20. Jahrgang * Edition Majolika – Schriftenreihe der Majolika-Stiftung für Kunst- und Kulturförderung Karlsruhe, Band 3 *

Dietmar Eisold Dietmar Eisold (18 September 1947 – 26 May 2017) was a German journalist and art historian. Life Born in Leipzig, Eisold completed a as bricklayer until 1966. He then studied art education and history. From 1971 to 1991, Eisold was editor f ...

(pub.): ''Lexikon Künstler der DDR'' Verlag neues Leben Berlin, 2010, * Aufbruch - Die Keil Collection Heidelberg. Illustrierte Chronik Herbst 2012-2015, Heidelberg 2017, ISBN 978-1-36-421381-7 * ''Lust und Leidenschaft/Tod und Teufel. Ein Ausstellungskonzept'', Edition Art Flow Berlin, 2011, * Hartmut Pätzke: ''Register „Ausgebürgert“'', in: Hannelore Offner and Klaus Schroeder: ''Eingegrenzt – Ausgegrenzt. Bildende Kunst und Parteiherrschaft in der DDR 1961–1989'', Akademie Verlag GmbH Berlin, 2000, * Valerie Sottile, Audrey E. Dillon und Michael Sottile: ''Peter Keil: Neo-Expressionist Artist'', in: The Dial. A Philosophic Art Journal, Volume LXXXV, Number 2, Winter 2008 * Peter Robert Keil Fünfundsiebzig, Herausgeber: Keil Collection Heidelberg, Heidelberg 2017, ISBN 978-3-00-057568-6 * Peter Robert Keil Achtzig, Herausgeber: Keil Collection Heidelberg, Heidelberg 2022, ISBN 978-3-00-057568-6 * Werksverzeichnis. Catalogue Raisonné - Peter Robert Keil. Verzeichnis zertifizierter Gemälde, September 2017, Ed., Keil Collection Heidelberg.

References

External links

* http://www.Keil-Collection-Heidelberg.de/ * https://peterkeilofficial.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Keil, Peter Robert 1942 births Living people 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters People from Sulechów Artists from the Province of Brandenburg 21st-century German painters 21st-century German male artists Neo-expressionist artists