Alice Mann.: CPS - Seminar Presentation.

Sabine Moritz.

Sabine Moritz is a German painter and graphic designer currently living and working in Cologne, Germany.

She was born into a city which was within the Soviet controlled Eastern Germany, the German Democratic Republic. In 1973 Moritz and her family moved to a town called Lodeba a suburb of the large city Jena. This town was characterised by its high concrete buildings and its modernist planning. This particular town went on to have a profound effect on Moritz as a young girl which would eventually go on to show in her art work.

At that current time in Eastern Germany during the 70’s and 80’s, this area saw many political demonstrations, some of the worst in its history as people conflicted against the GDR German Democratic Republic which was controlling eastern Germany. Art in the GDR was very strict. If an artist were not a member of the VKB an association for artists they would suffer great financial problems. This association followed strict rules on the arts purpose and also how its looks. Instead artists in the GDR often became teachers, advertisers, dealers with western Germany connections or instead would flee to western Germany which is what her now husband Gerhard Richter did. However this did become more and more difficult for people to do. So another option was to get a different job completely and be an artist for leisure purposes only.

As a child life in Eastern Germany was less rewarding than those in the west. The eastern half was a lot poorer and also stricter on the way people lived. Families were also limited on where they could go on holiday if they were not member of the political party. Schools were not only seen as places of education but also places that taught children to be a good socialist citizen.

All of these events had a large effect of Moritz’s upbringing as a young child and as previously mentioned her childhood went on the greatly influence her work.

(Juist, oil on canvas, 2003, 50 x 60 cm)

(Binz, oil on canvas, 2003, 92 x 126 cm)

After moving to the main city of Jena which was a world centre for industry and innovation herself and her family eventually gained permission to move to western Germany where she would go on to study art in 1985, fleeing the heavily political events which were happening at the time.

It was during her studies in Western Germany that she began to produce her art work focusing on life in eastern Germany. During her classes with Gerhard Richter in the early 90’s she made a body of sketches depicting her memories from Lobeda and these went on to become books and later exhibitions. Most of Moritz’s work is produced entirely from memory in particular her drawings. However her more recent work looks at Moritz recollecting information through photographs, newspapers, family albums and other found images from the time of her childhood. Her paintings often portray her personal history and passing of time over a long period. They also show great detachment and melancholy.

This went on to generate qualities in her artwork such as lines, shape, form, perspective and space. Space is an essential aspect of her recollection of ideas. It allows the viewer to walk around the empty spaces, neighbourhoods, corridors or paths. The concrete tower blocks in Lobeda played a big part in her use of structures and shape. Her use of media ranges from pencil, charcoal, watercolour oil and acrylic. Themes of architecture, urban planning, public and private space, childhood most importantly her time in Lobeda have continued to feature in her work throughout her career.

More recently a noticeable theme in her work also looks at issues surrounding war and historical landscapes. She looks at this to appeal to a more universal audience as opposed to just the small proportion of people who could relate to her childhood in eastern Germany.

(Stalingrad, oil on canvas, 2013, 58 x 72cm)

Research into her exhibition in November 2012 –

Jena, Dusseldorf, London.

Originally books full of sketches her work on Jena and Lobeda went on to become an exhibition. Her drawings of Jena to Dusseldorf were actually discovered, she had never spoken of them. Lobeda was her first book consisting of over 100 drawings and then later she produced the book Jena, Dusseldorf.

The people in her drawings were taken from old photographs and the colour was interpreted from her own memory. She decided to change from drawings purely from memory to photos because she said that getting ideas from memory was not sufficient. Photos were more realistic and objective. In this series of work some of her ideas show empty play grounds, the children have been erased.

Her work takes a journey from Lobeda to Jena and then also to her emigration to Western Germany where she is today.

Her work perhaps raises a question – is her work a protest against forgetting. Today we are in the digital age where we now have to remember and learn more and more things. This does not necessarily mean we have bigger memories. This makes the topic of memory more fascinating.

(Tanzende I, 1993, 42 x 56cm)

(Schuleinführung bunt II, 1993, 42 x 58 cm)

(Klettergerust II, 1993, 56 x 42cm)

(Lagerhalle VI, 1993, 42 x 58cm)

Moritz's work continues to focus on memories from her childhood and elements of war. Her latest work looks at her first Home in eastern Germany before moving to Lobeda and she has also started to look at the history behind the Berlin Wall.

(Home (Gatersleden), oil on canvas, 2013, 80 x 100 cm)

(Rast im Wald (Rest in the Forest) oil on canvas, 2011, 90 x 120 cm)

A strong influence within her work was her former teacher and now husband Gerhard Richter. She learnt under his tuition in 1992. She was in fact the last ever pupil to sign up to Gerhard Richter's classes. This may seem like an obvious comparison but looking at Richters work I can see relations between the two in particular with the themes running through Moritz's work. Richter's early works and portraiture looks at old photographs which can relate to Moritz's theme of childhood and memory.