Fußmann, Klaus

Born in Velbert and resident in Berlin and on the Baltic Sea, Klaus Fußmann studied from 1957-61 at the Essen Folkwang School and from 1962-66 at the Berlin Hochschule für Bildende Künste. The painter, graphic designer and essayist is an important representative of figurative painting of the second half of the 20th century in Germany. Inspired by Munch and Beckmann, Bacon and Balthus, his expressively and intensely coloured oil paintings feature portraits as well as still lifes and interiors of the dumping grounds and condemned houses of the 'Mülllandschaften' (rubbish landscapes) of Berlin since 1968. His oeuvre also featured watercolour landscapes (including the 16 federal states commissioned by the Federal Chancellery in 1995/96), in which he noted his impressions of his travels in hasty sketches. A comprehensive retrospective took place recently in 2013 at the Osthaus Museum Hagen. Large solo exhibitions have been dedicated to himself and his wife Katharina Fußmann, for example in 1982 at the Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt, in 2003 at the Museum am Ostwall in Dortmund, and many times in the Schleswig-Holsteiner Landesmuseum (1987-2005), to which Fußmann presented his collection of graphic works. Fußmann's work has received many art awards, such as the Villa Romana Prize (Florence) in 1972. He has been a Professor at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin since 1974 and a member of the Freie Akademie Hamburg since 1989.