KARL HORST HÖDICKE

PINAKOTHEK DER MODERNE
18 JUNI 2020 – 13 SEPTEMBER 2020

The retrospective K. H. HÖDICKE at Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich presents the artist’s core creative phases from the early 1960s on.

This is the first time that Hödicke has given a curator the opportunity to assess all the works in his possession over a period of two years, to group works together and to compile them thematically according to a particular curatorial direction. For example, the “Informel Room” illustrates not only the break with the tradition but also his continued productive engagement with non-objective painting. The “Berlin Suite” shows he is not merely a chronicler of Berlin, but rather fascinated by the city’s unique life-force which he is drawn to document.
The focus of the exhibition is on K. H. Hödicke’s large-format paintings on paper from the 1970s and 1980s, in which he recorded his artistic research over two decades. He also speaks of them as “trial runs”, in which he composes motifs, varies them in series, and comes up with ever new artistic solutions during the working process.

The paintings on paper were preceded by so-called DIN A4 drawings from the late 1960s to the late 1970s, which occupy a special position in the work cycle of small-format drawings. Their pictorial ideas appear as a contemporary documentation of this decade. Comprised of more than 140 drawings, 80 of which are on display in the exhibition, the present DIN A4 catalogue is devoted exclusively to this group of works.

©  All images Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München

The paper works are completed by a selection of his so-called croquis studies on reclaimed cardboard, which were created during a short intensive period in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In these studies, Hödicke once again reduces his colour intensity and encapsulates a pictorial concept with just a few brushstrokes.