Biography

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.


Works

Exhibitions

News

Documents

Publications

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


Solo exhibitions (exhibition)

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


Group exhibitions (selection)

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

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