Werner Tübke

Werner Tübke's graphic art reflects his brilliant artistic skill and recalls the art of drawing of the previous century.

On Werner Tübke's Art

In the Dresden State Art Collections exhibit catalogue 'Vom Expressionismus zur Gegenwart' (From Expressionism to the Present, 1993), Gabriele Männel writes: 'The collection in the Albertinum has gained a new quality since the 7th Art Exhibit of the GDR in Dresden to add to the pathos of political works, which has created a new pictorial space. The paintings are clear and refreshing, and will be understood by anyone seeking change'. The author names the Berlin artists Dieter Tucholke and Hubertus Giebe and W. Petrovsky from Dresden, as well as the two Leipzig painters, and continues: 'Two principle movements can be observed in Saxony since the 70's, each of which has its followers: The traditions of 'Neue Sachlichkeit' [New Objectivity] and the politically sharper 'Verism', shaped by Max Beckmann in Leipzig and Otto Dix in Dresden. They are renewed in the new realistic, literary painting emerging from Leipzig.' This is the background in which Werner Tübke must be considered. Naturally, former art catalogues, with their marked party and social political tone, speak a different language. Tübke had reached full recognition in his own time and may have been convinced of some messages of the existing socialism, although he also prompted analysis and controversy. In formal appearance, his drawing has changed little to the present, and the artist has also remained true in his graphic art.

Verism found an adequate and consistent voice in Tübke's art. Art can be interpreted in many ways, meaning is evasive. In any case, the enormity of Tübke's compositional baggage is phenomenal, a tectonics of bodies and a 'figure machine', as he calls it. There are times when an exposed point is evident amidst the socially-conscious composition. The absurd saves him, a sarcasm veiled in the refinement of paraphrases. His exaggerations are remarkable for their seriousness. The opposing image bares its teeth.

Tübke rejects 'self-expression' and speaks of 'spiritual security'. In his graphic work, Tübke not only revives 16th - 18th century art. Gabriele Männel writes: 'From the rich sources of Medieval legend-painting and biblical material, Werner Tübke creates his classically precise and sharply modern figure compositions. The group portrait calls for iconographic comparisons.' In the 1976 catalogue to the first extensive exhibit of Werner Tübke's art, at the Gemälde-Galerie Neue Meister in Dresden, published by the GDR (East german) Ministry of Culture, the introduction stated: 'The exhibit shows significant examples in the trajectory of this artist, whose work has intensely interested the population of the GDR for many years'. Previous exhibits with Bernhard Heisig and Wolfgang Mattheuer are recalled, and the director of the Gemälde-Galerie Neue Meister, Werner Wolf, adds: ' The diversity and continuity of Realism, long proven by the material aesthetic, will be evident here.' The painting 'Weissen Terrors in Ungarn' (White Terror in Hungary) Tübke painted in 1957, for which he draws an infinity of sketches as if for each image. Then he paints 'Hiroshima' (1958) and 'Spain 1936'. In 1967, Tübke paints 'Feierabend armenischer Kolchosebauern' [End of the Work Day for Armenian Collective Farmers] (cf. the print available from Grafos Verlag: 'Feierabend in Armenien'). Following this, he is commissioned a triptych on the german worker's movement. At the same time, he begins to paint his infamous over-sized beach scenes, which practically leave the viewer speechless, with its Verist pathos and uncompromising, excessive observation, as if looking through a photographically-exact, relentless wide-angle lens. Mannerism is in its element in this style of contemporary art. The academic painter had again found his material - in the myth-creating effect of the steel bodies of a society. In 1971, he creates numerous sketches and paintings on the themes of the working class and the intelligentsia, one of which measures 5 meters. From 1950-70, he draws preliminary sketches to the painting 'Sizilianischer Grossgrundbesitzer und Marionetten' (Sicilian Landowner and Marionets) from 1972, an opportunity for veiled criticism of society which caused a sensation in Italian socialist art circles as well. In 1991, Tübke's graphic production was estimated at 6000 drawings. This includes his sketch cartoons, the movement sketches and portrait studies. Tübke also used examples, models for these. In addition to all of this, this astonishing artist turned to printing, beginning with his early woodcuts and continuing on to lithography. Today, Tübke is among the commonly named artists in germany. The enigmatic quality of his satirical fables unfold an inviting spectrum of meaning. ek