JOACHIM

GUTSCHE

1926 Zwickau – 2012 Berlin

Joachim Gutsche learned the profession of a technical draftsman during the years of the Second World War, until 1945 he completed his war service, in 1946 he was taken prisoner by the British, after which he worked as a technical draftsman in the Crossener paper factory. In 1950 he attended the painting class at the Robert Schumann Academy in Zwickau and subsequently took up studies in painting at the West Berlin Academy of Fine Arts. There he studied with the painters Hans Uhlmann, Hans Jaenisch, Hans Kuhn and Bernhard Dörries.In 1959 he successfully completed his studies, and from 1960-1963 he was a member of Bernhard Dörries’ staff for color design and art in buildings.

An experience changed his life and work far-reaching. In 1953, the Zwickau-born artist had lent his passport to fellow students who were buying photographic equipment in East Berlin. After that, he came to the attention of the Stasi. In 1954, he was sent to the Dresden-Klotzsche prison labor camp for 26 months. After that, he believed he was being persecuted and poisoned. Productive periods of work followed, alternating with mental breakdowns. Joachim Gutsche worked in seclusion throughout his life.

His works were shown in solo exhibitions such as the art show at the Paula Modersohn-Becker-Haus in Bremen in 1964, at the Bildungszentrum in Gelsenkirchen in 1974, at the Wertheim Gallery in Berlin in 1977, at the Rathaus-Galerie in Berlin-Neukölln in 1981, as well as in group exhibitions such as the Große Berliner Kunstausstellung in 1960, in the “1. Mai-Salons” at the Haus am Lützowplatz in 1974, 1981 and 1983, and in “Malerei Materialbilder” at the Haus am Kleistpark in 1982. In posthumous solo exhibitions, his paintings were shown in “Obsessive Poesie” at Galerie Hauff & Auvermann in Berlin in 2014 and “Gebrochene Identität” at Kunsthaus Dahlem in 2016.