September 16 to December 5, 2010
at the MKM Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art, Duisburg

Walter Stöhrer (1937-2000) is one of the “rebellious loners” in German art. As one of the main representatives of gestural-figurative painting, he had a lasting influence on the national art scene. In the year of the Capital of Culture RUHR.2010, which also marks the 10th anniversary of the artist’s death, the MKM is honoring the painter with the first comprehensive exhibition of his work in the Ruhr region. Beginning with the early paintings of the 1960s, works from all important creative phases up to the last painting will be presented on 1,000 square meters of exhibition space.
Around 70 paintings as well as overpaintings on paper, etchings, drawings and inks can be seen at the MKM. The oldest painting dates from 1960/62, the most recent painting was completed by Stöhrer in 1999. It is the last picture he painted shortly before his death. The visitor experiences a journey through four decades of the urgent work of an artist who tended towards extremes, was highly emotional and lived and worked excessively. The loose chronology of the exhibition provides space for exciting combinations of works. The pictures are complemented by a documentation of sketches, letters and artist’s notebooks by Stöhrer, which convey his creative working processes, as well as a film by Werner Krüger from 1990, who observed the artist intensively at work.