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Sigmar Polke

(German, 1941–2010)

untitled by sigmar polke

Sigmar Polke

Untitled, 1994

Price on Request

Biography

Timeline

1941
Born in Oels/Silesia, now Poland
1945
Family fled to Thuringia, East Germany
1953
Emigrated to West Berlin and then settled in Düsseldorf, West Germany
1959 - 1960
Glass-painting apprenticeship in Düsseldorf
1961 - 1967
Studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy under Karl Otto Goetz and Gerhard Hoehme
1963
Founded “Kapitalistischen Realismus,” a painting movement with Gerhard Richter and Konrad (Fischer) Lueg
1966
Awarded the Young Germans award in Baden-Baden with Klaus Geldmacher and Dieter Krieg
1975
Awarded the prize for painting at the XIII Bienal de Sao Paulo
1977 - 1991
Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Hamburg, Germany
1982
awarded the Will Grohmann Prize, Akademie der Künste, Berlin

Exhibitions

2019
Sigmar Polke Selected Exhibitions in 2019:
Baselitz – Richter – Polke – Kiefer: The Early Years of the Old Masters, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
La Source, Villa Carmignac, Fondation Carmignac, Ile de Porquerolles, Hyères, France
Forever Young – 10 Years Museum Brandhorst, Museum Brandhorst, Munich
PHOTO, Parkett Space Zurich, Zurich
2018
Sigmar Polke Selected Exhibitions in 2018:
Sigmar Polke: Photographs 70-80, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany (solo exhibition)
David Zwirner: 25 Years, David Zwirner, New York
Kiss Off, Luxembourg & Dayan, New York [organized in collaboration with Francesco Bonami]
Living, Building, Thinking: art and expressionism, Vancouver Art Gallery [organized by McMaster Museum of Art, McMaster University, Ontario]
Source and Stimulus: Polke, Lichtenstein, Laing, Lévy Gorvy, London
In Tune with the World, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris
Flashes of the Future: The Art of the ‘68ers or The Power of the Powerless, Ludwig Forum Aachen, Aachen, Germany
Hot Sun, Late Sun. Untamed Modernism, Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, Arles, France
Sanguine/Bloedrood. Luc Tuymans on Baroque, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp [itinerary: Fondazione Prada] [curated by Luc Tuymans]
Zéro de conduite: Works from the Serralves Collection, Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal
Endless Enigma: Eight Centuries of Fantastic Art, David Zwirner, New York [organized in collaboration with Nicholas Hall]
2017 - 2019
Sigmar Polke Selected Exhibitions in 2017-2019:
The Long Run, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
2017
Sigmar Polke Selected Exhibitions in 2017:
Francis Picabia and Sigmar Polke, Adrian Rosenfeld Gallery, San Francisco
Sigmar Polke: The Editions, me Collectors Room Stiftung Olbricht, Berlin (solo exhibition)
Sigmar Polke: Pour Paintings on Paper, Michael Werner (solo exhibition)
Sigmar Polke: Alchemy and Arabesque, Museum Frieder-Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany (solo exhibition)
COLORI. L’emozione dei COLORI nell’arte, Castello di Rivoli - Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin
Abstract Painting Now!, Kunsthalle Krems, Austria
Parapolitics: Cultural Freedom and the Cold War, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
2016
Sigmar Polke Selected Exhibitions in 2016:
Sigmar Polke: Early Prints, Städel Museum, Frankfurt (solo exhibition)
Sigmar Polke, Palazzo Grassi, Venice (solo exhibition)
Sigmar Polke: Eine Winterreise, David Zwirner, New York (solo exhibition)
Made in Germany: Contemporary Art from the Rubell Family Collection, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio
Gerhard Richter. Birkenau, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden
Daniel Buren. A Fresco, BOZAR/Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels
Beuys + Polke—Art on Paper, Galerie Heinz Holtmann, Cologne
Less Than One, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
German Art after 1960: The Fisher Collection, San Fransico Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
The Campaign for Art: Modern and Contemporary, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
Excitement, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Embracing the Contemporary: The Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Viaje alrededor del mundo, Instituto Cultural Cabañas and Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Mexico City
Viehof Collection, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
An Imagined Museum: Works from the Centre Pompidou, Tate and MMK Collections, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France
Postwar: Art Between the Pacific and the Atlantic 1945-1965, Haus der Kunst, Munich
Progressive Praxis, de la Cruz Collection, Miami
2015
Sigmar Polke Selected Exhibitions in 2015:
Sigmar Polke: Early Works on Paper, Michael Werner Gallery, New York (solo exhibition)
Sigmar Polke. Annäherung an Venedig - Filme und Trabanten der Biennale 1986, Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach (solo exhibition)
Sigmar Polke, Fergus McCaffrey, St. Barth (solo exhibition)
Sigmar Polke: Silver Paintings, Michael Werner Gallery, New York (solo exhibition)
Sigmar Polke – Schau II. Weitere Editionen des Künstlers, Galerie Merkle, Stuttgart (solo exhibition)
Sigmar Polke – Starting from Willich/Von Willich aus, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne (solo exhibition)
Image Search, Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles
more Konzeption Conception now, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen
Can the museum be a garden? Works from the Serralves Collection, Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal
Gerhard Höhme – Relationen, Beck & Eggeling, Düsseldorf
The Radiants, Bortolami Gallery, New York
Life in a Castle: Works from the Collection, Musée départemental d’art contemporain de Rochechouart, Rochechouart
Paper is part of the picture, Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren
Kunst für Alle. Multiples, Grafiken, Aktionen aus der Sammlung Staeck, Akademie der Künste, Berlin
Bare Wunder: Sigmar Polke – 100 Years of Mediumistic and Phantasmagorical Photography, Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf
International Pop, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; traveled to Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; and Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
Slip of the Tongue, Punta della Dogana, Palazzo Grassi, Venice
Art in Music, Weserburg Museum of Modern Art, Bremen
Freundschaft, Deutsches Hygienemuseum, Dresden
Zabludowicz Collection: 20 Years, Zabludowicz Collection, London
Biographical Forms: Construction and Personal Mythology, Carré d'Art-Musée d'art contemporain, Nîmes
Astronomy, La Casa Encendida, Madrid
Sprayed: Works from 1929 to 2015, Gagosian Gallery, London
Ruhe vor dem Sturm. Postminimalistische Kunst aus dem Rheinland, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen
Ich kenne kein Weekend. Aus René Blocks Archiv und Sammlung, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin; traveled to Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz
Start By Asking Questions: Works from the Faulconer and Rachofsky Collections, Dallas, Faulconer Gallery, Grinnell College, Iowa
After Picasso: 80 Contemporary Artists, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio
Black Sun, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland
Picasso.mania, Grand Palais, Galeries Nationales, Paris
Getrennte Welten – Formen des Eigensinns: Kunst in Ost und West vor der Wende, Museum für Aktuelle Kunst, Durbach
Setting Things in Motion: Collections in Dialogue, Musuem der Moderne Salzburg, Salzburg
Cosa Mentale: Art and Telepathy in 20th-Century Art, Centre PompidouMetz, Metz
Sammlung mit losen Enden, Kunsthaus NRW, Kornelimünster
Kapitalistischer Realismus (Capitalist Realism): Graphic works from the Sammlung René Block and “Gras grafikkmappe 1971,”, Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Trondheim, Norway
Painting 2.0: Malerei im Informationszeitalter/Expression in the Information Age, Museum Brandhorst, Munich
Works to Know By Heart: An Imagined Museum. Works from the Centre Pompidou, Tate, and MMK Collections, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool; travels to Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK2), Frankfurt; and Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France
"You've Got to Know the Rules...to Break Them", de la Cruz Collection, Miami
The World is Made of Stories: Works from the Astrup Fearnley Collection, Astrup Fearnley Musee, Oslo
2014
Sigmar Polke Selected Exhibitions in 2014:
Sigmar Polke: Early Works on Paper, Michael Werner, New York; traveled to Michael Werner, London (solo exhibition)
Alibis: Sigmar Polke, 1963–2010, The Museum of Modern Art, New York; traveled to Tate Modern, London; and Museum Ludwig, Cologne (solo exhibition)
Threads of Metamorphosis: Fabric Pictures by Sigmar Polke, Nahmad Contemporary, New York (solo exhibition)
Sigmar Polke: Music from an Unknown Source, Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, Belgrade; traveled to American University of Beirut Art Galleries, Beirut (solo exhibition)
Sigmar Polke, Fergus McCaffrey, New York (solo exhibition)
Sigmar Polke: The Distance to Things—The Proximity to Things, Paul Kasmin, New York (solo exhibition)
Germany divided: Baselitz and his generation. From the Duerckheim Collection, British Museum, London
1514. Macht, Gewalt, Freiheit. Der Vertrag zu Tübingen in Zeiten des Umbruchs, Kunsthalle Tübingen
Alchemie und Kunst – Das Geheimnis der Verwandlung, Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
Polke / Richter. Dokumentation einer Ausstellung, Gerhard Richter Archive Dresden, Dresden
Der intime Blick. Bilder von Stille und Nähe, Schloßmuseum Murnau, Murnau
polke/richter, richter/polke, Christie’s London, London
The Believable Lie: Photographs by Robert Heinecken, Sigmar Polke and HansPeter Feldmann, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
40 Jahre Sammlung – 10 Jahre Museum Frieder Burda, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden
German Pop, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt
"Höhere Wesen befehlen..." Works on paper from the Burda collection, Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle, Berlin
Accrochage 2, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris
2011 - 2012
Capitalist realism and other illustrated histories, Museu de Art de Sao Paulo, Brazil
2010
Hommage an Sigmar Polke, anlässl. Des Todes von Sigmar Polke, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany
2009
Sigmar Polke: Die Editionen, Museum Ludwig, Köln, Germany
Sigmar Polke: Wir Kleinbürger! Zeitgenossen und Zeitgenossinnen, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Sigmar Polke: Lens Paintings, The Arts Club of Chicago, and Michael Werner Gallery, New York, USA

Public Collections

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen
Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt
Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen
Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden
Museum Folkwang Essen
Museum der Moderne, Salzburg
English (US)

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