b. Dortmund, Germany 1946
Born in 1946, Wilhelm Schürmann started studying chemistry in Aachen. He interrupted his studies however, for the sake of photography; he became a free-lance photographer doing jobs for various daily newspapers. From 1972 to 1976, he taught photography at the Reiff Museum in Aachen and soon became the instructor of photography at the Public Volkshochschule. In the late 1980s, Schürmann began to exclusively pursue teaching chemistry and photography and in recent years has become a renowned collector of contemporary art. |
Alongside peers such as Bernd and Hilla Becher, Wilhelm Schürmann was exhibiting his photographs at a time when Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, Candida Hofer or Axel Hütte were still students. Schürmann’s photographs of the 1970s have lately had a resurgence which is evident in the flurry of young photographers today when we account for the influence of his clean, crisp aesthetic that captures the mundane, built environment. Schürmann’s work has been collected by many major institutions, as well as many collectors, both of whom see in his work the roots of contemporary photography’s dialog on the landscape.
The photography of Wilhelm Schürmann has a pronounced graphic component and use of depth—a response to his subject matter of the cityscape and its complex jumble of space, buildings, and things. His photographs of tidy suburbs are, on the other hand, correspondingly simple. At times, Schürmann even concentrates on single houses in small towns and industrial communities (e.g. Belgium or Great Britain). A few images even portray absurd-seeming situations taking place on the fringes of the circus and carnival milieu. His own early photography works are devoted to the Man altered Landscape—the subtitle of the New Topographics exhibition in 1975 as well as a subject that has found broad interest in today's art world. |
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2012 |
Wilhem Schürmann: A Retrospective, SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne, Germany |
1991 |
Monika Sprüth Gallery, Cologne |
1990 |
Bärbel Grässlin Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany |
1986 |
Fotoforum Boettcherstrasse, Bremen, Germany |
1983 |
Song of Joy, Neue Galerie, Ludwig Collection, Aachen, Germany (together with Martin Kippenberger) |
1979 |
Salzburg College Gallery, Salzburg, Austria |
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Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Austria |
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Museum of Xanten, Xanten, Germany |
1978 |
Sander Gallery, Washington, USA |
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Gallery Agathe Gaillard, Paris, France |
1977 |
Galerie Spectrum, Hannover, Germany |
1976 |
Neue Galerie, Ludwig Collection, Aachen, Germany |
Selected Group Exhibitions
2004 |
Special Exhibition of Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne at Art Cologne Fair, Cologne (together with Tata Ronkolz & Thomas Struth, Joachim Brohm and Gabriele & Helmut Nothhelfer) |
2003 |
Monika Sprüth Gallery, Cologne, Germany |
1990 |
Max Hetzler Gallery, Cologne, Germany (curated by Wilhelm Schürmann) |
1979 |
Deutsche Fotografie nach 1945 (Photography in Germany after 1945), Kunstverein Kassel, Germany |
1979 |
Photography as Art – Art As Photography II, London, GB, Lisbon, Portugal; Barcelona,Spain |
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In Deutschland (In Germany), Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn, Germany (curated by Klaus Honnef and Wilhelm Schürmann) |
1977 |
Über Fotografie (About Photography), Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, Germany; Museum of Art Bochum, Bochum, Germany |
1977 |
Photography as Art – Art As Photography II, Warsaw, Poland; Lodz, Poland; Dallas, USA; Chicago, USA |
1976 |
Photography as Art – Art As Photography, Kassel, Germany, Chalone-sur-Saone, France |
Bibliography
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Camera, Luzern, Switzerland, 8/74- 4/78 |
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Creative Camera, 4/76-9/78 |
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Zoom, Paris, France, 7/78 |
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Fotografia Italiana, Milano, Italy, 7/76 |
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Fotografien, Neue Galerie – Sammlung Ludwig, 8/76 |
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Arte Fotografico, Madrid, Spain, 6/77 |
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Kunstforum Vol. 18, Germany |
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Jahreskatalog 1977, Spectrum Galerie Hannover, Germany, 1977 |
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Das Deutsche Lichtbild, 1976-1979 |
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Über Fotografie, catalogue, Kunstverein Münster, Germany, 1977 |
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Photography as Art – Art As Photography, (three catalogues), |
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Kassel, 1976, 1977, 1979 |
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Wilhelm Schürmann-Fotografien, essay by Klaus Honnef, Bonn, Germany, 1979 |
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Das nötig, Éditions Travers Neuchatel, Neuchatel and Cologne, 1990 |
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Pegel Köln, Cologne, 1993 |
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Taschen Collection, Cologne, 2004 |
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Kippenberger, Cologne, 2004 |
Public Collections
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Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA |
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Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France |
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Capital Group Intl., Los Angeles/ New York/ Hong Kong |
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Die Neue Sammlung, Munich, Germany |
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International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester, USA |
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Landesmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany |
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Münchener Stadtmuseum, Munich, Germany |
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Museum of Modern Art, New York |
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San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA |
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SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne, Germany |
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Preus Collection, Oslo, Norway |