GOTTHARD GRAUBNER German, 1930-2013

Gotthard Graubner was a German painter known for his sparing and ethereal use of color. His abstract works offer a unique take on the aesthetic implications of foggy landscapes, such as those by painters Caspar David Friedrich and Turner. In the early 1960s, Graubner studied under Karl Otto Götz, who also taught Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke. Graubner’s work was never swayed by trends in the art world, and his closest contemporary influence was Mark Rothko—with whom he shared a sense of pictorial, floating space created through close tonal values and stains of varied color temperatures. Born on June 13, 1930 in Erlbach, Germany, Graubner studied painting at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf between 1954 and 1959. His work can be seen in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Graubner died on May 24, 2013 in Neuss, Germany.