Albertinum: Focus Albertinum: „Geteilter Kopf“ – Werke von Hubertus Giebe aus dem Bestand

Focus Albertinum: “Divided Head” – Works by Hubertus Giebe from the Collection

The exhibition series Focus Albertinum presents works by Hubertus Giebe (* 1953) from the museum’s collection – including very recent donations from the artist. The painter and graphic designer Giebe can look back on a diverse oeuvre. He is best known for his large-scale and multi-figured paintings, which are populated by mannequins, angels, mythic heroes, and other figures, often inspired by literature, in an expressive painting style.

Exhibition Site Albertinum

DATES 06/07/2023—05/11/2023

After the artist discontinued his studies at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden in 1976, his paintings developed away from a glazed painting technique into a freer, impasto application of color. The work shown in the exhibition, “Alaunplatz II” from 1973, is an example of his early painting style, which was oriented towards New Objectivity.

Hubertus Giebe also found inspiration from the Old Masters and the artists of the classical modern like Pablo Picasso, Max Beckmann, or Otto Dix. Schooled in Western, European art history, Giebe developed his own forms of expression. His “historical pictures,” as he called them, are central to this.

abstraktes Bild eines roten Kreises — **Hubertus Giebe, Geteilter Kopf, 1992**

In 2013, the artist noted:

“My historical pictures, as I understand them, negate the exceptional moment. Unlike history painting, they don’t focus on events, significant incidents. […] In complex constellations, they show the unnavoidable pull of becoming and passing away. They probe the particular shape of history and measure its forms and know of the complicity of all. Through the figures’ hallucinatory stretching and shrinking, they form and mirror the human-shadow-space, giving a clear view of the personnel and the torture implements […].”

With his underlying intellectual and reflexive approach, Giebe developed works like “Stürzender” [Falling Person] (1988) or “Die Kiste” [The Crate] (1991) on the basis of concrete events – in this case the political end of the GDR – complexly composed, metaphorical parables about what is happening in the world in an expressive visual language.

The artist devoted himself to various classical subjects. Landscapes like “Wattenmeer bei Dangast“ [Wadden Sea at Dangast] (2004) thereby take on a significant space within his oeuvre. In the 50 years of his creative work, Giebe was primarily concerned with portraiture in addition to nude painting.

He portrayed people from the cultural environment, friends, his mother, and his wife and repeatedly dealt with his own countenance – “Alter Mann“ [Old Man] (1979), “Selbstbildnis“ [Self Portrait] (1984) and “Bildnis Dagmar Manzel“ [Portait of Dagmar Manzel] (2016) bear witness to the intense, sometimes sharp characterization of the subject. Hubertus Giebe developed a distinct, recognizable type of figure, which sets a striking accent in the current painting of the 21st century.

abstraktes Gemälde mit vier Figuren auf einem Bett — **Hubertus Giebe, Akt mit 4 Figuren, 1982**

abstraktes Gemälde mit einzelnen Figuren im Raum — **Hubertus Giebe, Die Bedrohung II, 1981**

nackte Frau vor gelbem Hintergrund — **Hubertus Giebe, Schwarzer Akt vor Gelb, 1998**

Mann mit Glatze auf einem Stuhl — **Hubertus Giebe, Alter Mann, 1979**

Giebe has frequently exhibited in national and international institutions. His works are included in numerous public collections and museums, including Berlin State Museums; Chemnitz Art Collections; Heinrich-Heine Institute Düsseldorf; Museum of Fine Arts Leipzig; Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel; Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz; Oldenburg State Museum of Art and Cultural History; The British Museum London; Joffe Collection, San Francisco; Geert Steinmeijer Collection, Museum No Hero Delden/ Enschede; Pushkin Museum Moskow; Slovakian Nationalgalerie Bratislava.

Further Exhibitions

06/05/2023 —10/09/2023