German sculptor Günter Haese had already been active for some time before he achieved a rocket-like breakthrough as an artist. In the winter of 1960/61, he dismantled a clock – and discovered a fascinating new material inside it. From 1962 onwards, he used these watchmaking materials – delicate metal plates, parts and wires, fragile springs – for his sculptures. He joins and solders together delicate towers, spheres and cubes and other fantastic shapes with extreme care. Although Haese himself did not conceive them as kinetic works, the pieces react sensitively to external influences. Even a light breeze sets them into subtle vibration.
His choice of materials is not only an absolutely unique selling point, Haese’s work hits a nerve. His first exhibition at the Museum Ulm was followed in 1964 by an invitation to participate in documenta III in Kassel and the leap to America: a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, which also immediately purchased several works for its own collection. Further stops on his extraordinary journey through the world’s most important exhibitions include the Biennale in Venice and São Paulo, the World Exhibition in Montreal, Canada, several appearances at the Triennale in Fellbach as well as participation in the 20th Exhibition of Metal Sculptors of Japan and numerous other presentations in renowned national and international museums. The Marlborough Gallery has represented him since 1965.
Haese cannot and does not want to follow the shift in the art market in the 1980s towards the mass production of artworks in well-staffed studios. He worked alone on his sculptures and created an œuvre of an estimated 400 to 500 works before his death. He received numerous prizes and an honorary professorship from the state of Schleswig-Holstein.
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1942-1945
Soldier in the Second World War
1945-1948
Self-taught painter and draughtsman in Kiel
1949
Attends the private art school in Plön/Holstein, Germany
1950
Marriage to the painter Ulla Schwinge
1950-1957
Studies at the Düsseldorf Art Academy under Otto Coester (graphics), Bruno Goller (painting) and from 1951 under Ewald Mataré (sculpture)
1956
Master student of Ewald Mataré. Collaboration on his public commissions in Cologne and Andernach
1962
Discovery of brass wire and components of dismantled clocks such as spiral springs and cogs as building elements for spatial objects
1963
Young West Art Prize, Recklinghausen
1965
Visit by Henry Moore to Haese’s Düsseldorf studio
1966
Prize of the David E. Bright Foundation
1967
Cornelius Prize of the City of Düsseldorf
Prize of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York
1968
Declines a call to the Nuremberg Academy of Fine Arts
1973
Death of Ulla Haese after a short, serious illness
1978
Art Prize of the State of Schleswig-Holstein
1981
Art Prize of the Artists, Düsseldorf
1994
Honorary professorship of the state of Schleswig-Holstein
1997
Member of the Freie Akademie der Künste in Hamburg e.V.
2002
Art Prize of the State of Schleswig-Holstein
2013
Visitor prize of the Triennale for small sculptures in Fellbach
2025
Günter Haese, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin
2024
Sprengel Museum, Hannover
2022
Skultpurenmuseum Glaskasten, Marl/Museum Lothar Fischer, Neumarkt i.d. Oberpfalz/Ernst-Barlach-Haus, Hamburg
2015
Galerie Hachmeister, Münster
2011
Richard Haizmann Museum, Niebüll
Galerie Reckermann, Cologne
2010
Freie Akademie der Künste, Hamburg
2005
Galería Elvira Gonzáles, Madrid
1997
Sala Luzán, Caja de ahorras de la inmaculada, Zaragoza
1995
Galería Elvira Gonzáles, Madrid
1991
Galerie Sfeir-Semler, Kiel
1989
Galerie Lopes, Zurich
Galerie Thomas, Munich
1988
Städtische Galerie Peschkenhaus, Moers/Städtisches Museum Haus Koekkoek, Kleve
1987
Galerie Lopes, Zurich
1984
Clemens Sels Museum, Neuss
Moderne Galerie, Quadrat Bottrop
Galerie Lopes, Zurich
1982
Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover
Kunsthalle Mannheim
Galerie Lopes, Zurich
1981
Landesmuseum, Oldenburg/Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren
1980
Galerie Lopes, Zurich
BAT Haus, Hamburg
1979
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
Kunsthalle zu Kiel/Schleswig Holsteinischer Kunstverein
1978
Galerie Lopes, Zurich/Overbeck-Gesellschaft, Lübeck/Kunstverein Mannheim/Esslinger Kunstverein
Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, Linz
Albrecht-Dürer-Gesellschaft im Germanischen Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
1976
Indiana University Museum, Bloomington
1975
Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid
Marlborough Galerie, New York
1974
Marlborough Galerie, Zurich/Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst, Munich
1972
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg/Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
1969
X. Biennale, São Paulo
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1968
Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo
1967
Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
Guggenheim International Exhibition, New York
1966
German contribution at the XXXIII. Biennale di Venezia
1965
Marlborough Fine Arts, London
1964
Ulmer Museum
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Galerie Stangl, Munich
2018
Sprengel Museum, Hannover
2013
12. Triennale Kleinplastik Fellbach
Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf
2007
Galerie Jeanne Bucher, Paris
1999
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
1997
20. Exhibition of Japanese metal sculptors
Sala Luzán, Caja de ahorras de la inmaculada
1995
Flottmann-Hallen, Herne/Städtisches Museum Gelsenkirchen
1990
Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten, Marl
Galerie Thomas, Munich
1988
Galerie Norbert Blaeser, Düsseldorf
Nationalmuseum Tokyo
Overbeck Gesellschaft Lübeck
1986
Kunstmuseum der Präfektur Ishikawa/Skulpturmuseum, Sapporo/Museum für Kunst, Yamagata/Museum für Moderne Kunst, Kamakura
1985
Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin
1984
Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt am Main
1983
Martin-Gropius-Bau and Nationalgalerie, Berlin
1982
Kunstpalast Düsseldorf
Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten, Stadt Marl
1981
Kunstpalast Düsseldorf Ehrenhof
Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schloss Gottorf
1980
1. Triennale Fellbach
1979
Akademie der Künste, Berlin/Kestner-Gesellschaft Hannover/Nijmeegs Museum Commanderie van St. Jan Nijmegen/Museum Haus Lange Krefeld
1972
The Artmuseum of the Atheneum, Helsinki
1971
Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schleswig, Schloss Gottorf
Nationalmuseum für Moderne Kunst, Tokyo/Nationalmuseum für moderne Kunst, Kyoto
1970
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1969
X. Bienal de São Paulo
Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, Städtische Kunsthalle, Recklinghausen
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1968
Kunsthalle zu Kiel
1967
Participation in the German Pavilion at the World Expo in Montreal
Guggenheim International Exhibition, New York
1964
documenta III, Kassel
1963
Kunsthalle Recklinghausen
1962
Karl-Ernst-Osthaus-Museum, Hagen