A. R. Penck

“A. R. PENCK,” RALF WINKLER (Dresden, Germany; 1939–Switzerland, 2017).
Untitled.
Lithograph, print E.A.6/10.
Signed and numbered by hand.
Measurements: 69 x 150 cm.

A.R. Penck developed an unmistakable visual language, characterized by schematic and symbolic figuration inspired by pictograms, cave art, primitive writing, and universal signs. His work, associated with German Neo-Expressionism, reduces forms to an essential vocabulary of human figures, animals, arrows, crosses, and geometric signs, organized into compositions that appear spontaneous but are carefully structured.

Ralf Winkler, who also used the pseudonyms Mike Hammer, T.M., Mickey Spilane, Theodor Marx, “a. Y.,” or simply “Y,” was a German painter, printmaker, sculptor, and jazz drummer. Penck was born in Dresden; during his teenage years, he began taking painting and drawing classes with Jürgen Böttcher—known by the pseudonym Strawalde—and joined him in forming the group of renegade artists Erste Phalanx Nedserd, which stood out because its members refused to study at an art academy. The group’s members were also denied admission to the GDR Association of Visual Artists. Consequently, they had to earn a living as laborers or artisans. Later, he worked for a year as an apprentice draftsman at the state-run advertising agency in Dresden. From 1955 to 1956, Winkler was an illustrator at the DEWAG advertising agency, and beginning in 1956, he attempted to enroll at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts and the Berlin University of the Arts in East Berlin, but it was not until 1966 that Winkler became a candidate for membership in the Association of Visual Artists, now under the artistic pseudonym A. R. Penck. This name was chosen in honor of the geologist Albrecht Penck. Starting in 1969, he faced increasing problems with the GDR’s Ministry for State Security. His paintings were confiscated, and his application for membership in the GDR Association of Visual Artists (VBK) was rejected.In May 1971, Winkler was one of the founding members—along with Steffen Terk, Wolfgang Opitz, and Harald Gallasch—of the GAP artists’ group, which existed until 1976. Starting in 1973, he worked under the pseudonyms Mike Hammer and TM. After completing his military service in 1974, he was awarded the Will Grohmann Prize in 1975 by the West Berlin Academy of Arts. In 1976, Penck met the West German painter Jörg Immendorff, with whom he would collaborate in the following years. Through their work, they campaigned for the abolition of the inner German border and in support of dissidents, including Rudolf Bahro and Robert Havemann. From 1976 onward, he also signed his work simply as “Y.” In 1977, some of his paintings were confiscated. In May 1979, several of his works and records were destroyed during a burglary at his studio. On August 3, 1980, he was transferred to West Germany. After emigrating, Penck became one of the leading exponents of New Figuration, alongside Jörg Immendorff, Georg Baselitz, and Markus Lüpertz. His work was exhibited by major museums and galleries in the West throughout the 1980s. He was included in several major exhibitions, such as the famous “Zeitgeist” exhibition at the renowned Martin Gropius Bau museum and the important “New Art” exhibition at the Tate in 1983. He first lived in Kerpen, southwest of Cologne. In 1981, the Goethe Foundation awarded him the Rembrandt Prize in Basel, Switzerland. In 1983, Winkler moved to London and received the Aachen Art Prize in 1985. In 1988, he participated in the “Made in Cologne” exhibition; that same year, he was appointed professor of painting at the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts.