What was the subject matter of Langer's works created between 1963 and 1969?

Lifespan: 93 years
Art period: Modern
Copyright status: Under copyright
Museums on this site: Bavarian State Painting Collections
Born: 1929, Zittau, Germany

Distorted and deformed human figures

(1929 - 2022) – Malerier, biografi og kjente verk

The Artistic Evolution of Michael Langer

Michael Langer was a German painter, draftsman, and art theorist. His formal training began at the Landeskunstschule in Hamburg between 1948 and 1949, followed by studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich from 1949 to 1952 under Franz Xaver Fuhr. He furthered his education at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris from 1952 to 1953. Beyond his practice as a visual artist, he served as an art educator, working as a teacher for technical drawing and art education at various Munich schools, and later as a lecturer for art education at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

His creative output is marked by distinct phases. Between 1963 and 1969, he produced approximately 200 paintings, drawings, and gouaches characterized by a unique visual language, including his Sprechblasenbilder and Zerrbilder. These works featured the human figure in various distorted and deformed states, utilizing bright colors. Following 1969, he moved into experimental filmmaking, creating works such as Yin, Sigma, and Mutationen. From the 1990s onward, his painting style shifted toward expressive figurativity and objects, adopting a more restrained color palette.

Exhibitions and Publications

Langer's work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including:

In addition to his visual and cinematic work, he authored several art-theoretical books, including Ästhetik des Sichtbaren, Grundlegung in 21 Aufsätzen, Kunst am Nullpunkt, eine Analyse der Avantgarde im 20. Jahrhundert, and Innovation und Kunstqualität, die Kategorien des Neuen in der Kunst.