Brüne/Heisig in dialogue. Part II of the duo exhibition at CSR.ART + finissage with musical accompaniment by the Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerte | 27.06.-23.07.2024

CSR.ART presents the second part of the institutional exhibition with works by Gudrun Brüne and Bernhard Heisig under the title “Brüne/Heisig in Dialogue” since 27 June 2024. The duo exhibition shows further and previously unseen works by probably the best-known painter couple of the former GDR. This second part is the continuation of the exhibition “Reflections of Time”, which was on display at CSR.ART from January to April 2024. The dialogue sets the mood for the upcoming anniversary year 2025, in which the co-founder of the Leipzig School and chancellor portrait painter Bernhard Heisig would have turned 100 years old. A festive finissage on 23 July 2024 with musical accompaniment by artists from the Brandenburg Summer Concerts (Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerte) will conclude the exhibition sections and round off the art experience.

Image above: Bernhard Heisig, The Endgame, 1995, oil on canvas, 150 x 200 cm

Bernhard Heisig (1925-2011) is considered one of the most important representatives of art in the GDR and co-founder of the Leipzig School, together with Hans Mayer-Foreyt, Werner Tübke and Wolfgang Mattheuer. Heisig had a decisive influence on the German art landscape. His work spans an impressive range from the post-war period to the 21st century. At the age of 16, Bernhard Heisig attended the School of Arts and Crafts in his native city of Breslau, until one year later – at the age of just 17 – he took part in the Second World War as a war volunteer. In 1945, after two serious wounds, he was discharged as an invalid. Heisig had just turned 20 at the time.

The rest of Bernhard Heisig’s life took him to East Germany. In 1961, he became professor and rector of the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig. Heisig artistically explored political and personal themes, always bringing his own critical perspective to bear. Bernhard Heisig became particularly well known in what was then West Germany when the former Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt had his portrait painted by the then already renowned GDR painter in 1986 – a statement and a piece of anticipated reunification on canvas.

Heisig’s painting is characterised by an expressive, dynamic style with high-contrast colours and a profound examination of social and political themes. Conflict is a recurring theme in his works. He worked through his traumatic experiences throughout his life in impressive works of art. His later wife, the painter Gudrun Brüne, would say: “My husband experienced things during the war that he never spoke about until the end of his life.” It seems as if the canvas became a silent dialogue partner for Heisig. One year after her husband’s death, Gudrun Brüne captured his memory in a portrait. In it, she also places the shadows that may have haunted him at his side.

Gudrun Brüne (1941), one of the few representatives of the Leipzig School, used the recurring motif of masks and dolls to create her own visual language with technical perfection and emotionally moving power. Her painting is characterised by a clear, figurative style that revolves around the themes of love, nature, transience, destruction, dependency and manipulation with metaphorical depictions of people, dolls, masks and scenery.

Gudrun Brüne was born in Berlin and lost her father during a submarine mission in the Second World War when she was just two years old. She was evacuated with her mother and sister to a place near Bremen. In 1947, the family moved to Leipzig, where Gudrun Brüne grew up. At the end of the 1950s, she completed an apprenticeship as a bookbinder in Pößneck, Thuringia. From 1961 to 1966, she studied at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig under Heinz Wagner and Bernhard Heisig, graduating with a diploma. The formative influence of these teachers is reflected in her later work. At the same time, she succeeded in finding her own unmistakable style, which was encouraged by her future husband Bernhard Heisig.

From 1966 to 1977, Gudrun Brüne worked as a freelancer and occasionally in the studio of her future husband Bernhard Heisig. In 1973, she presented her first solo exhibition in Leipzig. From 1974 to 1982, Brüne was a member of the painters/graphic artists section of the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR, which further cemented her position in the art scene. From 1977, she took on the role of assistant and taught from 1979 to 1999 as a lecturer in painting and graphics and head of a specialised class at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art. In 1988, Gudrun Brüne’s paintings were shown at the Venice Biennale and ten years later at Art Cologne. The themes of her works deal with timeless questions of humanity. The masks and dolls allegorically represent the great question of the presence (or absence) of the human and humanity in the world.

In “Brüne/Heisig in dialogue”, paintings from various decades are shown, which impressively illustrate the different styles, the artistic positions of the couple and also their development as painters.

The couple

The exhibition sections “Reflections of Time” and “Brüne/Heisig in Dialogue” at CSR.ART will be one of the extremely rare opportunities to experience the works of the artist couple in one place and in juxtaposition. This creates a further level to be discovered in the exhibition: the fact that Bernhard Heisig and Gudrun Brüne were artistic companions and life partners for over 50 years. In 1961, the 20-year-old Brüne met the 36-year-old Heisig. Gudrun Brüne and Bernhard Heisig married in 1991. They initially lived in Leipzig, but in 1999 the couple moved to Strodehne in Havelland, which, according to Gudrun Brüne, was considered the Worpswede of the East at the time.

Their shared journey through life is reflected not only in their artworks, but also in the interweaving of their artistic creative phases. The exhibition thus also sheds light on the themes of interdependence and emancipation, of mutual support and of seeking and finding one’s own way to express one’s individual personality and artistic message.

WHEN?

Vernissage: Wednesday, 26 June 2024, 18:00 – 21:00

Exhibition dates: Thursday, 27 June until Tuesday, 23 July 2024
open Tue – Sat 11:00 – 19:00

Finissage: Tuesday, 23 July 2024, from 18:00
from 6.00 pm musical accompaniment by artists from the Brandenburg Summer Concerts – free admission
from 7:00 pm public finissage, with Thuringian grilled sausage and drinks at the bar

WHERE?

CSR.ART
Friedrichstraße 69 (in QUARTIER 25)
10117 Berlin-Mitte