Lothar Fischer is one of the most significant figurative sculptors of post-war Germany. He developed the installation of works for the museum himself. Shortly before the grand opening in 2004, it was his expressed wish that the sculptures should not be in a certain chronological room sequence, but rather to group them according to the material they are made of. On the occasion of the fifth anniversary, a new temporary room concept now honors the different creative phases: beginning with his student years at the academy (1953 – 1958) in Munich, then following the years with the artists collectives SPUR (1957 – 1965) and GEFLECHT, the time under the influence of Pop Art (1966 – 1968), concluding with the wrapper sculptures. Likewise, numerous works are exhibited, which were created starting in 1975 and show that his art is dominated by concentration, austerity, and closeness. Then, organic construction and transparency crystalize as the main characteristic of his artistic language. Also, the concept of variation is a focus point of his œuvre, which is presented through selected works in clay, bronze, iron, and plaster / Styrofoam.
Academic Years 1953-1958
Lothar Fischer spent his childhood and school years in Neumarkt before beginning in 1953 with his studies of art and subsequently sculpturing at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. The Academy was an institution known for its rather conservative and traditional orientation. The early works shown in this room clearly display the influence of his teacher Heinrich Kirchner as well as of the academy professor Toni Stadler, with whom Fischer maintained lifelong contact. He achieved his artistic independence in 1957 as a member of the art collective SPUR, which he founded together with his fellow academy graduates, the painters Heimrad Prem, Helmut Sturm and HP Zimmer at the end of his studies.
SPUR-Room, Works from 1957-1965
The protagonists of the artists collective SPUR, the sculptor Fischer and the painters Prem, Sturm and Zimmer, incited a severe reaction from the Bavarian State and Judiciary through their politically provocative artistic activities as well as through the distribution of flyers, manifestos, and magazines. However, with these endeavors they substantially contributed to the artistic atmosphere of departure in Germany. In the analysis of Kandinsky’s works, the pictorial composition of Cubism, the painting process of the Informel as well as the occupation with the creations of Beckmann and the dynamic of the Baroque picture space they found a highly unique pictorial expression, which combined the figurative with the abstract. Today, SPUR with its unique pictorial expression is viewed as one of the most important artists collectives of the post-war era. In 2006, the museum showed in close cooperation with the Museum Villa Stuck in Munich a SPUR-Retrospective.
GEFLECHT-Room, Anti-objects from 1966
The artists collective SPUR began to question its own paintings in 1965: “We quit and dissolved ourselves through expanding the artist collective”, was the consequence. Through the collaboration of the artists collective WIR, they hoped to give each other new impulses and gave themselves starting 1966 a new united name: GEFLECHT. All artists began with the construction of relief-like space-sculptures (anti-objects), which belong both to painting and also to sculpture, yet are neither. In 1966 “Op-Bob” was also formed, one of the few anti-objects of Fischer, who left the group shortly after its founding to approach the objective pictorial expression of Pop Art. In the course of the student uprisings, the artists collective GEFLECHT dissolved itself. The reason was the controversy over whether or not to convert the artistic impetus increasingly into political actions. Around 1982, Fischer created several, partly colored wood reliefs, which – building upon the form repertoire of the GELFECHT-period – composes a harmonious optical room entity together with the anti-object “Op-Bob”.
Pop-Room, Works from 1966 – 1968
The influence of the Pop Art Movement coming from America and England on the pictorial expression of the artists collective SPUR and consequentially on Fischer can be detected starting 1964. From 1966/67 onward, this becomes more evident, exemplified in his disproportionally large tube and flow forms, which were made of clay and then lacquered. They resemble considerably the large-formatted objects of impersonal mass articles of a Claes Oldenburg or the bathroom scenes of Tom Wesselmann. Later, Fischer was of the opinion that “he could only barely cope with Pop Art”, however, he did appreciate, after turning away from the artists collective GEFLECHT, the reappearance of objective motifs. Of interest in the review is that from these tube hollow molds his wrapper sculptures developed as an independent form. We cordially thank the Friends’ Association of the Museum Lothar Fischer for the restoration of several works.
Wrapper-Room, 1969 – 1974
It almost follows that his clothing wraps out of clay, the material to which the sculptor had dedicated himself to since the beginning of his artistic actions, developed in 1969 from the tube forms from the Pop phase. He himself named this period Wrapper Phase, which manifests that solely pure wrappers without bodies are formed. They do, however, convey a strong life of their own through their lively clay surface with uneven scratches. What is interesting about these works is that the artistic process of sculptural composition of a work becomes identical with the motif of a wrapper. When Fischer worked with the material clay, the entire range of his sculptural capabilities is palpable: earthenware slabs were his raw material for his austerely structured figures. The soft clay also lends itself to freely modeling naturally delicate compositions.
Bronze-Room
In comparison with iron, bronze is the smoother material; it is commonly used for detailed, small works. This room not only shows the artist’s small bronzes, which he still made during his lifetime, but also four posthumous casts of medium size that have been made since 2005. The subject of “posthumous casts” is not without controversy. The lack of transparency and too careless handling with the artistic legacy are criticized. To counter these arguments, the foundation has applied strict criteria to itself, which S. Niggl and P. Dornacher have published in their essay “Eine Entscheidung unter Auflagen. Postume Güsse bei Lothar Fischer ab 2005” (“A Decision With Conditions. Posthumous Casts by Lother Fischer Beginning 2005”). The text can be viewed in the museum. Members of the Friends’ Association of Museum Lothar Fischer can buy the posthumous casts (price upon request).
Room with Works in Plaster, Styrofoam (either on the second or first floor)
Plaster and Styrofoam sculptures first appear in Fischer’s work in 1978, when he increasingly received commissions for the public space. Initially, the artist created models for large sculptures made of iron and bronze for practical reasons. Only around 1996/97, when the “Enigma-Variationen” (“Enigma-Variations”) in bronze were developed for the alcoves in Hamburg’s Meßberghof, did he view the accompanying plaster-Styrofoam-models as independent works. Especially in his last creative years, Fischer came to truly appreciate this technique. Not only the two sculptures “Hoher Adam und Hohe Eva” (“Elevated Adam and Elevated Eve”), which he made shortly before his death in 2004 for the stair case of the Museum, but also the already mentioned Enigma-Variations in plaster and Styrofoam, for which a unique room was planned.
Iron-Room
Depending on the exhibition concept, works made of iron are shown continuously in the museum. Fischer often built his large sculptures for the open space in iron because the sandcast method, which was employed here, is very technically suitable for simply built, extensive works. Generally, these sculptures with their characteristic rust patina are commissions for the public space, which distinguish themselves through a limited edition determined by the artist. Beginning in the 1980s, Fischer also developed in the same process several unique copies, which he manufactured without a prior model, but drew directly in the sand. Fischer’s iron lattice works can be seen as a link between the heavy iron casts and the delicate India ink drawings. The latter arose often parallel to the sculptures and represent an autonomous object grouping.