Horst Janssen(1929-1995)
Janssen studied at the State Art School in Hamburg between 1946 and 1951. He was a student of Alfred Mahlau and trained in free and applied graphics. In his early work consisting of colored woodcuts, he initially realized an expressionist artistic language. But the macabre and surreal expression was already present in these works. Then, towards the end of the 1950s, he began using the techniques of drawing and etching. He often chose flowers or self-portraits as his main motifs. Through his own strokes, which he executed with harsh effect, he achieved a brilliant expression of his sarcasm and his criticism of society. His satirical expression was paired with the tendency towards New Objectivity and an early psychological realism based on the model of the Norwegian painter and graphic artist Edvard Munch and the Belgian painter and etcher James Ensor.
Janssen knew how to process these influences into an expressive force based on fantastic realism with Kafkaesque allusions. In 1993 he was made an honorary citizen of the city of Oldenburg. He is not only considered one of the most productive German illustrators of the post-war period, but also one of the most important. The focus of his work was depictions and portraits, often self-portraits, in which he made psychological deformations visible through physical disfigurements. He also combined his artistic work with an extensive journalistic work. This is how the books with illustrations and texts were created: "Horst Janssen - Drawings" (1970), "Horst Janssen - Landscape Etchings 1970" (1971), "Horst Janssen - Etchings 1970-1971" (1971), "Horst Janssen - Fourteen Biber" (1971), "Horst Janssen - Subversions" (1972), "Horst Janssen - Carnevale di Venezia - Drawings and etchings for the suite for Luigi Toninelli 1971" (1973), "Horst Janssen - Minusio - From a sketchbook from the summer of 1972 " (1973), "Horst Janssen - November" (1975).
This was followed by "Horst Janssen's celebratory speech on the occasion of the awarding of the Schiller Prize of the City of Mannheim" (1975), "Querbeet - essays, speeches, treatises, pamphlets" (1982), "To and for me" (1986), "Hinkepott: Autobiografie Hopping in Letters and Essays" (1987), "Lamme" (1994), "Das Tier" (1995), "Eraser Cycles" (1995), "Self: Worded" (1995), "Landscapes 1984 - 1994" (1995) . Horst Janssen won the following prizes and awards: 1951 the German National Academic Foundation, 1952 the Lichtwark Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, 1964 the Art Prize of the City of Darmstadt, 1965 the Edwin Scharff Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, 1968 the First Prize for graphics at the 34th Venice Biennale, the Schiller Prize of the city of Mannheim in 1975, the Biermann-Rathjen Medal of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in 1978 and the Oldenburg Prize of the association "The Oldenburg Landscape" in 1990.
In 1997 the Horst Janssen Cabinet was set up in the Hamburger Kunsthalle. The Horst Janssen Museum in Oldenburg was opened in 2000.
Janssen knew how to process these influences into an expressive force based on fantastic realism with Kafkaesque allusions. In 1993 he was made an honorary citizen of the city of Oldenburg. He is not only considered one of the most productive German illustrators of the post-war period, but also one of the most important. The focus of his work was depictions and portraits, often self-portraits, in which he made psychological deformations visible through physical disfigurements. He also combined his artistic work with an extensive journalistic work. This is how the books with illustrations and texts were created: "Horst Janssen - Drawings" (1970), "Horst Janssen - Landscape Etchings 1970" (1971), "Horst Janssen - Etchings 1970-1971" (1971), "Horst Janssen - Fourteen Biber" (1971), "Horst Janssen - Subversions" (1972), "Horst Janssen - Carnevale di Venezia - Drawings and etchings for the suite for Luigi Toninelli 1971" (1973), "Horst Janssen - Minusio - From a sketchbook from the summer of 1972 " (1973), "Horst Janssen - November" (1975).
This was followed by "Horst Janssen's celebratory speech on the occasion of the awarding of the Schiller Prize of the City of Mannheim" (1975), "Querbeet - essays, speeches, treatises, pamphlets" (1982), "To and for me" (1986), "Hinkepott: Autobiografie Hopping in Letters and Essays" (1987), "Lamme" (1994), "Das Tier" (1995), "Eraser Cycles" (1995), "Self: Worded" (1995), "Landscapes 1984 - 1994" (1995) . Horst Janssen won the following prizes and awards: 1951 the German National Academic Foundation, 1952 the Lichtwark Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, 1964 the Art Prize of the City of Darmstadt, 1965 the Edwin Scharff Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, 1968 the First Prize for graphics at the 34th Venice Biennale, the Schiller Prize of the city of Mannheim in 1975, the Biermann-Rathjen Medal of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in 1978 and the Oldenburg Prize of the association "The Oldenburg Landscape" in 1990.
In 1997 the Horst Janssen Cabinet was set up in the Hamburger Kunsthalle. The Horst Janssen Museum in Oldenburg was opened in 2000.
