ARTISTS

Kirkeby, Per

Per Kirkeby (1939 – 2018)

Per Kirkeby is a Danish artist whose interest in geology and natural environments has exerted great influence over his paintings and brick sculptures. “A structure-less painting is, to me, a painting that does not matter. Structure mirrors your degree of responsibility toward the work”, he said of making art. “You can’t just let it float around in pretty colours. It needs a kind of core. But this is an inner structure”. Born on September 1, 1938 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Kirkeby studied geology at the University of Copenhagen, but continued to pursue his art practice, producing paintings, sculptures, film and prints. During the 1960s, Kirkeby’s performance art led him to collaborations with Conceptual artists, including Joseph Beuys, Nam June Paik, and Charlotte Moorman. From 1978-88 he held a chair for painting at Kunstakademie Karlsruhe, from 1979-2000 at Städelschule Frankfurt/Main.

Kirkeby lived and worked between Copenhagen, Læsø, and Arnasco. The artist’s works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denkmark, among others.

He died on May 9th 2018 at the age of 79.

Exhibitions (Selection)

2022
“Per Kirkeby”, Charlottenborg Foundation, Denmark

2019
“Per Kirkeby. Bau und Bild”, Stiftung Insel Hombroich, Germany

2018

“Per Kirkeby. Machines for Light ans Shadow”, Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark

“Per Kirkeby. Matter is Light”, Chateau La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade, France

“Per Kirkeby”, Kunsthalle Krems, Stein, Germany

“Per Kirkeby. Aus der Natur”, Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Schloss Gottorf, Germany

2017

“Per Kirkeby – Torso-Ast”, Franz Marc Museum, Kochel am See, Germany “Per Kirkeby. Brick Sculpture (1966 – 2016)”, Beaux-Arts de Paris, France

2016

“Per Kirkeby. The Blue of the Avant-Garde”, Kunstforeningen GL STRAND, Kopenhagen, Denmark

“Per Kirkeby. Werke aus dem Louisiana Museum of Modern Art”, Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum, Bremen, Germany

“Per Kirkeby. Il luoghi dell ́anima del grande maestro scandinavo”, Museo d ́arte, Mendrisio, Switzerland

2015

“Per Kirkeby. Komplet”, Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark “Per Kirkeby”, Herning Center of the Arts, Herning, Denmark

“Per Kirkeby. Echo of the Light”, The Gallery of Windsor, Ontario, Canada 2014 “Per Kirkeby”, Kunsthalle Gießen, Gießen, Germany

“Per Kirkeby. Bronze, Kaltnadel, Holz”, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany

2013

“Strukturen der Natur: Franz Marc und Per Kirkeby – Druckgraphik”, Franz Marc Museum, Kochel am See, Germany

“Per Kirkeby: Paintings and Sculpture 1964-2010”, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, USA

2012

“Per Kirkeby and The ‘Forbidden Paintings’ of Kurt Schwitters”, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium

“Per Kirkeby. Maler – Forscher – Bildhauer – Poet”, Museum Küppersmühle, Duisburg, Germany

“Per Kirkeby. Epiphany”, Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek, Kopenhagen, Denmark

2009—2010
Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf

2008—2009
Louisiana Museum, Humblebaek

2003
Herbert-Boeckl-Prize for his life work Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humblebaek. Museum Ludwig, Cologne

1999
Tate Gallery, London; Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich

1996
Coutts Contemporary Art Foundation. Henrik Steffens Award by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation, Hamburg

1995
Haus der Kunst, Munich. Musée des Beaux Arts, Nantes

1990
Moderna Museet, Stockholm. Nord LB Art Prize

1987
Thorvalsden Medal. Ludwig Museum, Cologne

1982
DAAD scholarship for Berlin. Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven

1980
Danish Pavilion at Venice Biennale. Participation in A new Spirit in Painting,

1978—1989
Professorship at the Cologne Academy of Arts

1979
Kunsthalle Bern Museum

1977
Folkwang, Essen

Literature (Selection)

Per Kirkeby—Paintings 1957-77. Catalogue Raisonné, ed. by Ane Hejlskov Larson, Cologne, 2003

Per Kirkeby—Catalogue Raisonné of Etchings, ed. by Troels Andersen, Bern Berlin, 2002

Per Kirkeby—Louisiana 2008, ed. by Michael Juul Holm, Louisiana, 2008

Per Kirkeby—Die Welt ist Material, ed. by Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, 2010

Per-Kirkeby