November 1, 2013 to February 2, 2014
MKM Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art

Fred Thieler’s work is synonymous with Art Informel and abstract imagery. His art is the basis and source of energy for his great, consistent commitment not only as an artist, but also as a teacher, cultural politician and art advocate. The MKM Museum Küppersmühle is dedicating a comprehensive retrospective to Fred Thieler, which traces the consistent development of his artistic work. His enormous creativity is documented in around 100 works, ranging from his works on paper and prints to his large-format canvases. Key works from numerous collections and museums complement central works by the artist from the Ströher Collection, which is housed in the MKM.

Essential for understanding Fred Thieler’s work and his artistic development is “his striving for creative freedom as well as for a free and open reception of his painting by the viewer. For Thieler, painting is liberation from constraint, as well as an expression of freedom and the assertion of his own position. Under this premise, he also rejects a clear interpretation of the picture and negates any intention of trying to influence the viewer.” (Eva Müller-Remmert, curator) It is against this background – after the early, still representational works of the 1940s – that Fred Thieler’s rapid turn to abstract, gestural-dynamic painting must be seen, which took place irrevocably in the course of the 1950s and not least represented a liberation from the restrictions experienced during the Third Reich. In 1952, he officially became a member of the artists’ group ZEN 49, actively cultivated friendships and exchanges with German and international artists such as Rupprecht Geiger, Hans Hartung, Serge Poliakoff and Pierre Soulages and participated in exhibition activities at home and abroad.

In line with Fred Thieler’s innermost convictions, the viewer at the MKM is also invited to encounter the exhibited works with an open mind and “become a collaborator of the artist”, says MKM Director Walter Smerling, emphasizing that the artist “apart from acting as a painter, from creating pictorial worlds, was always also concerned with the position of art in society: Because art needs society, art needs reflection.”

Credits: Fred Thieler, Painting, MKM 2013 © Stiftung für Kunst und Kultur e.V., Photos: Benedikt Frings-Ness