A 20th Century Pioneer Artist

Norbert Kricke

The sculptures and drawings of Norbert Kricke, who holds a unique place in post-1950 German contemporary art with his avant-garde artistic personality, are being exhibited at the National Reinsurance Art Gallery from December 15 to January 23, 2000.

Kricke came to Istanbul in 1955 and held an exhibition. The exhibition attracted the attention of young Turkish artists in search, including Kuzgun Acar.

In collaboration with the National Reinsurance Art Gallery, Istanbul Goethe Institute, and the Institute for Foreign Relations-Stuttgart (ifa), this retrospective exhibition, which is significant in nature, can be viewed from December 15 to January 23, 2000. The exhibition features sculptures and drawings of Norbert Kricke (1922-1984), a pioneering artist who brought a new dimension to contemporary German sculpture after World War II. Kricke's first exhibition in Istanbul took place in 1955 at the Istanbul City Gallery, with the participation of the artist. During his time in Istanbul, Kricke got acquainted with Turkish painters and sculptors. Critic Necmi Sönmez notes that this exhibition attracted the interest of young artists of the time, including Kuzgun Acar, and had a significant impact.

According to Sönmez, Kricke was a self-taught sculptor. He received training at the Berlin Academy in 1946-1947 and began independent work in Düsseldorf at the age of 25. With his unique forms and avant-garde approach, he quickly gained attention and became one of Germany's leading sculptors. Throughout his life, Kricke managed to maintain a critical position while being close to various artists or movements, which was decisive in shaping his own style and creating original works. German critic Paul Wember addressed him in the catalog of his 1962 Krefeld exhibition, saying, "By conquering emptiness and controlling time, you make the forces that move and carry the universe visible. Because you transcend all the limits of what is customary, both real and spiritual, intrinsic and transcendent."

In 1949, Kricke began experimental work with wires, leaving aside classical sculpture materials such as stone, bronze, and iron, as well as techniques such as carving, plaster molding, and casting. Thus, he managed to overcome the issues of the pedestal and mass that had been stumbling blocks for sculpture for centuries and elevate sculpture into space. Kricke's work in the 1950s, trying to solve the spatial (constructive) aspects of art and simultaneously activate art, brought him to the forefront among pioneering artists of the time. According to German critic Johannes Cladders, with his unique position and combative personality, Kricke became a symbol of a period in German art history and at the same time, the great awakening spirit of the 1950s, unshakeable vitality, orientation towards the future, and strong sense of life.

Kricke had an unusual passion for drawing and the power of drawing not often seen in a sculptor. This passion developed as he moved away from the restrictive rules of mass and geometry in sculpture and opened up to the endless possibilities of a simple line. Alongside each plastic work, there was a graphic work that accompanied it on an equal level. Therefore, Kricke attracted attention not only with his sculptures but also with his drawings.

According to critic Necmi Sönmez: "In his drawings, where the subjective expressionism and poetic emotion he loaded into sometimes intertwining and sometimes separating lines are revealed, a captivating quality that is difficult to define can be observed. Trying to base Kricke's approach on 'Abstract Expressionism' or the 'Informel Movement' that influenced all of post-1945 European art is not the right approach. Because Kricke's strategy of transforming the lines on paper into sculpture lines that turn, twist, and seek their own path within space has a quality that advances on a road without a before and after, going beyond specific groupings in art history."

Kricke held his first solo exhibition in Munich in 1953 and, until his death, opened many exhibitions and realized significant projects in Europe and America, receiving international awards. He conducted research trips and worked in England, Scotland, America, Iraq, Egypt, and Mexico. From 1964 onwards, he served as a professor and director at the Düsseldorf State Academy of Fine Arts. He was involved in the dialogue between architecture and contemporary art in Germany, and his sculpture was placed on the exterior of the Gelsenkirchen City Theater, becoming the first example of this dialogue (1957). In Baghdad, he collaborated with architect Walter Gropius on the "water forms for the new university" project (1959). In Cologne, he created a work with a 27-meter curved metal line outdoors without any point of support, lean (1981).

In his last years, Kricke returned to his initial search for purified forms, which he realized in Berlin when he was only 18-19 years old. German critic Jürgen Morschel, likening Kricke's artistic development to a large circle, evaluates this situation as the completion of the circle."