Willy Boers (1905-1978)

Untitled, 1955
3 Gouaches

The three colourful gouache paintings by Willy Boers were purchased by the Bundesbank back in the 1950s. They are thus at the heart of the Bank’s art collection and reflect the triumph of abstract art in the period following the Second World War. After 1945, Willy Boers travelled regularly to Paris. There, he found inspiration in the art scene and presented his work at several exhibitions. At home in the Netherlands, he was a member of several associations of artists that organised exhibitions to promote artistic creation in the country. Willy Boer’s own artistic style was oriented towards Expressionism. Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Joan Miró were particularly important sources of inspiration.

Biography

Willy Boers (1905-1978) was born in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and completed training as a restorer of artworks. As a painter, he was self-taught. He was a member of numerous associations of artists (including “Vrij Beelden” and “Creatie”) and wrote significant texts on abstract painting. Willy Boers is now regarded as one of the key figures in reviving fine arts in the Netherlands after the Second World War.

His work features in the collections of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Cobra Museum in Amstelveen.

Piero Dorazio (1927-2005)

Joie de peindre, 1967
Oil on canvas

The title of this large painting is an expression of what the artist Piero Dorazio felt: Joie de peindre (“Joy of painting”). His abstract artworks are systems of pure primary colours, in which he layers lines, stripes and fields. This painting, for example, consists of three large colour fields, from which the painted overlapping stripes clearly stand out. The image seems lifelike, vibrant and three-dimensional. Piero Dorazio worked as a lecturer in the United States and wrote pieces on art theory. His style, shaped by constructivism, colour field painting and lyrical abstraction, paved the way for abstract painting in Italy. This painting was purchased for the Bundesbank’s art collection back in 1973.

Biography

Piero Dorazio (1927-2005) was born in Rome (Italy), where he initially studied architecture. A grant from the French government enabled him to study at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1947 to 1948. Piero Dorazio is considered one of the most important Italian artists of the second half of the twentieth century, and a pioneer of abstract art in Italy. 

He participated several times in the Venice Biennale (1952, 1958, 1960, 1964, 1966, 1968) and documenta 2 and 3 (1959, 1964). He was awarded the Kandinsky Prize in 1961.

Hartwig Ebersbach (*1940)

Sand dune 1 + 2, 1988
Oil on hardboard

The title of the two-part painting “Sanddüne” (“Sand Dune”) sounds idyllic and contemplative. Yet these two works have precisely the opposite effect on the viewer. The paintings are a real storm of colour – stark contrasts meet with wild brush strokes. The artist, Hartwig Ebersbach, even stuck paint tubes directly onto the canvas. Although all of his paintings have titles that point to their subject, this always takes a highly abstract form. For Ebersbach, who developed his individual painting style through intensive engagement with the work of Belgian painter and graphic artist James Ensor (1860-1949), the focus is on exploring colour itself. The two paintings were purchased for the Bundesbank’s art collection in 1991.

Biography

Hartwig Eberbach was born in Zwickau (Germany) in 1940. From 1959 to 1964, he studied painting under the tuition of Bernhard Heisig at the University of Applied Sciences for Art and Design in Leipzig. He also held a teaching position there from 1979 to 1985. Ebersbach has been a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin and the Saxon Academy of Arts, Dresden, since 1996.

He has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the City of Düsseldorf Art Prize in 1985, the Jerg Rateb Prize, Reutlingen, in 2006 and the Max Pechstein Honorary Prize of the City of Zwickau in 2017.

Günther Förg (1952-2013)

Untitled, 1995
3 Screenprints

Günther Förg’s silk screen prints are particularly striking because of their intense colours and stark contrasts. Time and again, translucent fields of colour are radically broken or framed by black grids and bars. But Günther Förg was not just a painter. His work was interdisciplinary and, as a photographer, he focused on modern architecture. This approach is also reflected in his painting: he contrasts the colour fields with one another, creating a three-dimensional visual space. The black grid thus jumps out at the viewer. Günther Förg’s style is a constant switching between surfaces and proportions. The paint is applied in such a way that it appears transparent but still intensely luminous.

Biography

Günther Förg (1952-2013) was born in Füssen (Germany) and, amongst others, studied from 1973 to 1979 under the tuition of Karl Fred Dahmen at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. He participated in documenta IX in 1992, and was Professor of Design at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design from 1992 to 2009. From 1999, he held a professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.

Günther Förg was awarded the Wolfgang Hahn Prize in 1996. He achieved great international recognition during his lifetime and had numerous exhibitions in renowned art galleries and museums worldwide. His works appear in a large number of international collections.

Tino Geiss (*1978)

German table, 2011
Piano, 2011
2 Adhesive collages

 In his work, Tino Geiss focuses on interiors. Time and again, he creates images of living and working spaces, mostly without any people in them. In these pieces, he applies a special technique: he tears paper into strips, paints them and sticks them on to the background, producing collages in which the image is made up of separate pieces – just as our reality is also composed of multiple fragments. The collages, building on the Dutch interior scenes genre in the seventeenth century, feature chairs, tables and other objects. These tell us stories about the people who lived in these spaces. The two collages were purchased for the Bundesbank’s art collection in 2013.

Biography

Tino Geiss was born in 1978 in Jena (Germany) and studied from 2001 to 2008 at Burg Giebichenstein Art College in Halle and at the Academy of Fine Arts, Leipzig, under the tuition of Arno Rink and Neo Rauch. He then studied as a “Meisterschüler” with Ingo Meller and Neo Rauch and spent a year at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.

He has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the scholarship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes in 2007 and a residency grant from the German Academy, Rome, Casa Baldi, in 2012. In 2009, he received the Junge Akademie Prize.

Emanuel Seitz (*1973)

Untitled, 2006
Acrylic on canvas

In this large painting by Emanuel Seitz, the first thing the viewer notices is the black spiral winding across the entire surface of the work. The spiral divides the surface into fields of different colours and gives the image a spatial depth. In addition to this spatial effect of the spiral, its symbolic effect is also important. The spiral represents the cycle of life, nature, the sun, and is a symbol of fertility in many cultures. Emanuel Seitz himself says of his painting: “In the past, my concept was to feel the landscape. Now, it is more of an abstract exploration of colour fields. This also creates a kind of landscape. Or depth. Or space.” The painting was purchased by the Bundesbank in 2016 on the occasion of its “Contemporary Perspectives” exhibition.   

Biography

Emanuel Seitz was born in Dingolfing (Germany) in 1973, and now lives and works in Munich. He was a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from 1996 to 2003 and studied as a “Meisterschüler” with Günther Förg.

The artist has received numerous awards, such as the Bavarian Art Promotion Prize in 2011. He gained different insights and perspectives from a number of scholarships, such as the Cité International des Arts of Paris in 2010 and a US scholarship in 2012. Emanuel Seitz's works are regularly exhibited, among others, at the Jacky Strenz Gallery in Frankfurt, at the Heinrich Ehrhardt Gallery in Madrid, at the Christine Mayer Gallery in Munich, or in 2021 at the Oldenburg Art Association.

Jorinde Voigt (*1977)

Symphonic Parts / Rhythm Berlin 1-6, 2011
6 Colour lithographs on handmade paper

Jorinde Voigt's artistic work focuses on making invisible natural and cultural phenomena visible on the sheet. Her areas of study include temperature curves, pulse beats, the flights of an eagle, points of the compass or pop songs. To visualise these in her works, the artist has developed a coded language. Each line, each element drawn has a meaning, and together – as in this series – they compose a melody in picture form. On the sheet, the individual melodies are condensed into a collective form that defines the visual character of the drawing and which the artist calls “Symphony”. The drawings are supplemented by a broad, red brush stroke that captures the gestural abstraction of Jorinde Voigt's method. The series was purchased for the Bundesbank’s art collection in 2013.

Biography

Jorinde Voigt was born in Frankfurt am Main (Germany) in 1977. She initially studied Philosophy, Literature and Sociology at the University of Göttingen and the Free University of Berlin. From 1999 to 2003, she studied Art under the tuition of Christiane Möbus at the University of the Arts in Berlin. In 2001, she participated in a study visit at the Royal College of Art in London. Jorinde Voigt moved to the class of fine arts and photography with Katharina Sieverding, graduating as a “Meisterschülerin” in 2004.
She was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from 2014 to 2019. Since 2019, she has been a professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg. She lives and works in Berlin.

Jorinde Voigt has received numerous awards and scholarships for placements abroad, including the Otto Dix Prize of the City of Gera in 2008 and the Daniel & Florence Guerain Contemporary Drawing Prize in 2012. The artist is represented internationally in many museums as well as in private and public collections.

Jonas Weichsel (*1982) 

Untitled, 2012
Blau, 2012
Schrift, 2012
Hosk, 2012
Schwung, 2012
Wind of Change, 2012
6 Screenprints 

The Bundesbank purchased the six-part graphic series by Jonas Weichsel in 2023. This group of pieces holds a particular significance for the artist’s work. In the graphic works, Weichsel explored various techniques, which he later developed into independent groups of works. He experimented with a printing press, for example, leaving paint residue on the press, which appears like a trace on the next print ,“Untitled, 2012”. The artist also experiments with the printing plate itself. He either implements a printing plate several times, with the motif appearing as a mirror image, as in “Blau, 2012”, or he uses the same printing plate for another screen print, as in “Wind of change, 2012”. In addition, Weichsel explores colour, the composition of several colours together (“Hosk, 2012”) and inserting the line as the basic element. For example, the first draft for “Schwung, 2012” came about during a journey on the underground. The line reveals the course taken by the train, with the line changing direction at each curve.

Biography

Jonas Weichsel was born in Darmstadt (Germany) in 1982. From 2004 to 2012, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Mainz, and at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in the class of Tomma Abts. From 2009 to 2012, he was a “Meisterschüler” under the tuition of Judith Hopf at the State University for the Fine Arts “Städelschule” in Frankfurt am Main. He lives and works near Frankfurt am Main.

Jonas Weichsel has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the scholarship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes in 2008, the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff scholarship in 2012 and, most recently, the Villa Romana award in Florence.