EUGEN SCHÖNEBECK German, b. 1936

Eugen Schönebeck (b. 1936 Heidenau, Germany) is among Germany’s most important representational painters in the second half of the 20th century and occupies a crucial position in the trajectory of post-1945 art. He not only pioneered a unique manner of integrating historical content into his work but almost singularly reinvigorated the genre of portraiture in Germany.  He initially studied painting at the Master School of Applied Arts in East Berlin from 1954 to 1961 and, later, at the College of Fine Arts in West Berlin, under Hans Jaenisch and Hans Kuhn. 

In 1957 he met Baselitz at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste and they remained close friends until 1962; in 1961 he held his first show with Baselitz on the first floor of a condemned building in West Berlin where they jointly published their First Pandemonium Manifesto; in February 1962 they issued the Second Pandemonium Manifesto; in August 1962 Schönebeck had his first solo exhibition at the Galerie in den Hilton-Kolonnaden in Berlin where he showed paintings and drawings. In 1963 his work became increasingly figurative and addressed the fraught past of Nazi Germany; a second solo show was held at the Galerie Benjamin Katz, Berlin in 1964; although in April 1966 he had signed a contract with the gallerist Michael Werner by the end of 1966 he lost interest in easel painting and withdrew from the art business altogether. However, his extensive oeuvre continues to be displayed at exhibitions and collections throughout the world. His first museum retrospective of paintings and drawings from 1957-1966 was held at the Kestner-Gesellschaft Hannover in 1992 and a second retrospective at the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt in 2011; a full survey of his drawings was shown at Nolan Judin, Berlin and David Nolan Gallery, New York in 2012. His art was ahead of its time, and its meaning continues to endure, especially for a younger generation of artists.