Simon Schwartz – Geschichtsbilder. Comics & Graphic Novels

In cooperation with Angermuseum, Erfurt

29.09.2019 bis 19.01.2020

Hamburg illustrator Simon Schwartz became known to wider circles with his debut publication drüben! (“The Other Side of the Wall”), the autobiographical story of his parents' departure from the GDR. In a tightly-knit narrative of touching images he tells of both the emotional and practical problems of such a journey, which do not stop at breaks in his own family. Partly depicted from the perspective of the child, a difficult and life-impacting decision is described in a highly sensitive way. Schwartz has in the meantime created an extensive and broad oeuvre which in this exhibition is presented in its various facets.

The exhibition illuminates how Schwartz has become one of the most important graphic illustrators and authors of his generation. Stories with a historical background such as the extensive graphic novels Packeis (“First Man: Reimagining Matthew Henson”) and IKON are as much a part of his repertoire as narrations on a single page, as typified in the collections of the volumes Vita Obscura and Das Parlament. Extensive research always accompanies his work, and his GESCHICHTSBILDER (“Historical images”) are told not only in haunting language but above all in striking images. Schwartz is masterly in the discipline of page tectonics and finds precisely the right layout for all of his biographies.

The exhibition, created in cooperation with Angermuseum in Erfurt, the birthplace of Simon Schwartz, once again presents a renowned German comic strip artist in the LUDWIGGALERIE.

The exhibition is supported by the Friends of the LUDWIGGALERIE. WDR 3 is the cultural partner.

WALTER DOHMEN

Lines and areas - Presentation of new entries

17.11.2019 bis 19.01.2020

With Walter Dohmen, the LUDWIGGALERIE presents one of the most important German artists in the field of graphic arts.

Thanks to the support of the Lions Club Oberhausen-Glückauf and an extremely generous donation by the artist, a collection of almost 50 works has been incorporated into the Oberhausen art collection.

The selection ranges from early works from the 1970s, such as the girl with plait and bow, to current works. Various graphic techniques are represented: from relief printing such as woodcuts to lithographic flat printing to gravure printing of copper engravings and the various etching techniques of etching and aquatint.

Dohmen, who wrote a textbook on lithography in 1982 and one on gravure printing in 1986, is regarded as an expert on complicated graphic techniques. His experiments with resistant inks lead to painterly results. His sheets, made using the Chine Collé process, in which a very thin Asian paper (usually made from the fibres of the mulberry tree) is used, bring unusual colours to the works, as in the case of the woman with brushwood. Gold leaf can also be a combination material. Even the usually rather small format of the graphic is abandoned by him, as shown in the six-series of the crouchers.

Dohmen updates the copperplate engraving, a gravure printing process that culminated in the 15th and 16th centuries with artists such as Martin Schongauer and Albrecht Dürer. With astonishing softness and movement, he digs the metal chip out of the copper plate with a burin and gives depictions a suppleness not previously known in this process.