| Karl-Georg Pfahler, German (1922 - 2002)
After a year at the Nürnberg Akademie der Bildenden Künste
in 1948/49, Pfahler transferred in 1950 to the Stuttgart Academy,
which he attended until 1954. Although he had hitherto worked
primarily in ceramics, as a freelance artist he concentrated
on painting. Following the early 'Metropolitan' pictures, Pfahler
began about 1956 to develop pictorial configurations in which
he experimented with the spatial effects of colour in a manner
recalling the pointilliste technique. This phase gave way to
works which, from 1956, were orientated towards Action Painting
and Informel. The term 'formativ[-e]', which Pfahler appended
to the titles of his pictures from 1958, marks his emancipation
as a painter from his earlier, more formless style influenced
by Willi Baumeister. An intention to clarify new ways of seeing
and fresh viewpoints informs the tusche drawings he now did,
which were followed by collages. With the years, his forms
simplified, ultimately becoming vehicles for colours and their
interrelationships. From about 1962, block-like forms turn
into crisply demarcated colour surfaces, a change which elevates
Pfahler to the status of sole exponent of 'Hard-Edge Painting'
in Germany. His breakthrough to an international reputation
came with the early 1960s paintings he showed at exhibitions
such as 'Signale' (1965) in Basel, 'Formen der Farbe' (1967)
in Amsterdam, Stuttgart and Bern and 'Painting and Sculpture
from Europe' (1968) in New York. Given his interest in the
spatial effects created by the physical properties of colour,
it is only logical that Pfahler should have begun in 1965 with
'Farb-Raum-Objekten' and, about 1969, with 'Farbräumen'
to translate his ideas into the third dimension. From 1965
he also carried out numerous architecture projects representing
a major contribution to the field of art in architecture. With
Thomas Lenk, Heinz Mack and Günter Uecker, Pfahler was
chosen in 1970 to represent Germany at the Venice Biennale.
In 1981 his work exemplified German art at the Sao Paulo Biennale.
After a guest professorship at Helwan University in Cairo in
1981, he taught at the Nürnberg Akademie der Bildenden
Künste from 1984 until 1992. From 1982 Pfahler also taught
at the Salzburg International Summer Academy. In 1999 he was
commissioned to design the conference hall of the Council of
Elders, the all-party advisory committee assisting the President
of the lower house of the German parliament. The artist died,
aged 75, in Emetzheim, Franconia, in January 2002.
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