Grisebach is presenting paintings by the artist Bruno Goller (1901-1998) in its Düsseldorf representative office. His works are as rare as they are sought-after. Goller's early work was almost completely destroyed during an air raid on Düsseldorf in June 1943. After he was appointed professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 1949, he had little time for his own work. Throughout his life, Bruno Goller prevented rather than promoted publications, exhibitions and even the sale of his works. It is therefore all the more remarkable that Grisebach is dedicating a solo exhibition to the artist, comprising ten outstanding paintings from the years 1948 to 1975.
The early death of his father had a significant impact on Goller, as the then three-year-old spent a lot of time in his mother's shop in Gummersbach in the Bergisches Land, where haberdashery and plastering materials were on sale - things that had characterised his artistic work since the 1920s. In 1927, Bruno Goller moved to Düsseldorf, where he became a member of the "Young Rhineland" and met the gallery owner and patron Johanna Ey. Johanna Ey acquired several works by Goller, which she displayed in the window of her gallery.
The cultural and political pressure exerted by the National Socialists also reached Goller, who was drafted into military service in 1940 and only released from American captivity in 1945. Bruno Goller's economic worries were only alleviated when he began teaching at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. His students included none other than Konrad Klapheck, Gerhard Richter, Blinky Palermo and Konrad Lueg. In 1950 and 1951, he painted only one picture at a time alongside his teaching activities! In the years that followed, he produced an average of four works. With "Two Hats" from 1956, Grisebach shows one of just ten paintings created that year, while "Still Life" from 1958 is one of eight works created in the same year. His oeuvre, which seemed outmoded even before the establishment of Pop Art, can today be seen as an extremely independent artistic position.
Grisebach, Bilker Str. 4-6, 40213 Düsseldorf
Duration of the exhibition: 08.04.-27.05.2016
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 10am-6pm and by appointment