Kurt Wendlandt (August 13, 1917 – January 11, 1998) worked in Berlin as a painter, graphic artist, illustrator, author and light graphic (Lichtgrafik) artist. He was one of the most creative artists in West Germany in the post-war years.
From an early age, he produced pencil, pen and ink drawings and oil sketches, producing landscapes, portraits and illustrations. At the age of 18 he met Käthe Kollwitz, to whom he presented his early works. The encounter with her influenced Kurt Wendlandt in a decisive way with regard to his work as an illustrator and painter, as well as his later cultural anthropological studies.
From 1937 to 1943 he studied at the Hochschule für Künste (University of Fine Arts) in Berlin under Eric Richter and Gustav Hilbert. During this period and afterwards, his artistic works were frequently interrupted, due to his military service and war injuries.
After the war he resumed his artistic work. During his painting studies, inspired by the teachers Hans Szym and Juro Kubicek, he got to know new painting styles and views of color theory. Furthermore, his work techniques as an illustrator influenced the new changed printing techniques of the publishing houses. The film material (negative material) that was now being used also opened up new possibilities for him to deal with transparent image material and light.
On the one hand, he worked as a photographer, and on the other, he began to experiment with a variety of transparent materials, such as film stock. Thus, in 1958, he created his first Lichtgrafik (light graphic) using film materials. Together with his close friend Heinz Hajek-Halke he was part of the avant-garde scene “Lichtgrafik” in Berlin.
His light graphics, paintings and drawings can be found today in various museums and collections, including the Kupferstichkabinett of the Gemäldegalerie Berlin, the Berlinische Galerie in Berlin, the Sprengler Museum Hannover (Germany) and the Kunstmuseum Moritzburg in Halle/Saale (Germany).
His works have been shown in many German and international exhibitions, such as
- 2020: Material-Erkundungen, European Month of Photography (EMOP), Galerie Johanna Breede Photokunst, Berlin, Germany
- 2017: Transparenz und Reflexion – 100 Jahre Kurt Wendlandt, Galerie Eirmos, Thessaloniki, Greece
- 2016: NATURE MORTE, Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete, Kreta, Greece
- 2010: Fotografische Verfahren, Kunstmuseum Moritzburg (State Museum of Sachsen-Anhalt), Halle, Germany
- 1998: Lichtseiten, Berlinische Galerie (State Museum of Berlin for Modern Art & Photography), Berlin, Germany
- 1996: Ossians Gesänge, Staatliches Galerie Moritzburg, Halle
- 1991: Interferenzen: Kunst aus Westberlin: 1960–1990, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia
- 1990: Abwesenheit. Fotogramme und die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
- 1989: Photographie als Photographie, Berlinische Galerie (State Museum of Berlin for Modern Art & Photography), Berlin, Germany
- 1988: Neue Sammlungen, Berlinische Galerie (State Museum of Berlin for Modern Art & Photography), Berlin, Germany
- 1988: Retrospektive, Zitadelle Spandau, Berlin, Germany
- 1985: Galerie des Lichts, Berlin, Germany
- 1980: Kunst in Berlin 1930–1960, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany
- 1979: Green Park / Galzignano, Padua, Italy
- 1978: La VIII Bienal de Ibiza, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Ibiza, Spain
- 1977: Kunstübermittlungsformen vom Tafelbild bis zum Happening. Die Medien der bildenden Kunst, Neue Nationalgalerie (National Gallery for Modern Art), Berlin, Germany
- 1977: Retrospektive, Forum bildender Künstler, Essen, Germany
- 1976: La VII Bienal de Ibiza, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Ibiza, Spain
- 1976: Lichtgrafik, Goethe-Institut, Paris, France
- 1975: OSSIANS Gesänge Galerie Gombert & Meyer, Berlin, Germany
- 1973: Akzente und Kontraste Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg, Germany
- 1972: Zyklus OSSIAN Lottehaus, Wetzlar, Germany
- 1970: Artes gráficas aplicadas à fotografia de Kurt Wendlandt Goethe-Institut, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
- 1969: Foto 69 Rhodes National Gallery, Salisbury (today: National Gallery of Zimbabwe), Harare, Zimbabwe
- 1969: Lichtgrafik Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, Germany
- 1968: Sühnezeichen Aarhus, Kopenhagen, Denmark
- 1968: Foto-Grafik, Sammlung Clarissa Museum August Kestner, Hannover, Germany
- 1968: Vom fototechnischen Experiment zur Neuen Figuration Galerie Clarissa, Hannover, Germany
- 1965: A 65 Amsterdam-Berlin-Frankfurt Haus des Deutschen Kunsthandwerks, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- 1961: Reflexe und Reflexionen Galerie am Abend, Berlin, Germany
- 1961: Retrospektive Rathaus Spandau, Berlin, Germany