Franz Erhard Walther
50 Blicke in Zürich
Drei Schichten
Franz Erhard Walther (born Fulda, 1939) is a German conceptual artist and pioneer of participatory art. He rose to fame in the 1960s with his ‘Werkstücke’ (work pieces) – textile objects that only come to life through the viewer’s interaction. After spending more than three decades as a professor at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg, he now lives in Fulda again. His international recognition has grown rapidly since 2010. In 2017, he received the Golden Lion for ‘Best Artist’ at the 57th Venice Biennale, achieving a top four ranking among the rising stars in the Capital Art Compass. His works are represented in major collections worldwide, including MoMA in New York, and are exhibited in leading museums such as the Städel in Frankfurt, the MUDAM in Luxembourg, Haus der Kunst Munich or the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle.
For his ‘50 Views of Zurich – Three Layers’ edition, the internationally renowned artist Franz Erhard Walther created 50 unique pieces inspired by a study trip between Grossmünster and Üetliberg, during which he produced numerous sketches. Each piece comprises three layers: a graphic depiction of the city and countryside of Zurich, overlaid with flat gouache accents that interact with the forms, and, as the topmost layer, his distinctive narrative inscriptions. Measuring 210 × 297 mm, the works on paper combine observation, colour and language to create a multi-layered view of Zurich.
Franz Erhard Walther
‚50 Blicke in Zürich – Drei Schichten‘, 2017
Pencil and egg tempera on paper
210 x 297 mm
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Franz Erhard Walther – Manifestations
Artistbook and Silkscreen Edition
The artist’s poster represents, drafts and artistbooks an anachronistic phenomenon in our digital age of social media and online forums. Its heyday was during Art Nouveau, Classical Modernism, and Pop Art. Despite the dominance of digital media, almost every major artist has continued to create posters to this day. Among them is Franz Erhard Walther, who has enriched this genre over six decades with more than one hundred artistposter designs. For the first time, this extensive oeuvre is published in a catalogue raisonné, together with a comprehensive overview of his designs and artist’s books. The publication provides a profound insight into the exceptional and remarkably holistic nature of Franz Erhard Walther’s artistic approach. For PArt editions the artist creates a corresponding screenprint edition from four of his drafts.
I am very interested in the book as a medium. In the art world, the artist’s book is one of the most underestimated things. Artists devote so much time, passion, and energy to their books that, strictly speaking, they are just as important as their large installations. “Manifestations” is a very important artist’s book.
I am very interested in the book as a medium. In the art world, the artist’s book is one of the most underestimated things. Artists devote so much time, passion, and energy to their books that, strictly speaking, they are just as important as their large installations. “Manifestations” is a very important artist’s book.
Franz Erhard Walther is nothing less than an exceptional artist of the 20th century, who has consistently questioned and fundamentally redefined what a work of art can be. The innovative power of his comprehensive oeuvre is evident primarily through his art itself, yet this publication of his diverse designs provides an equally wonderful and extraordinary overview.
I make no distinction between a poster design and my work drawings
Every aspect of the creative act is equally important to Franz Erhard Walther. From the design of an invitation card to the layout of a poster or a book cover, each object is for him part of a greater sequence of steps – a process that builds on earlier decisions and anticipates future works. The six decades of material documented in this volume testify to Walther’s egalitarian spirit and reveal an artist who honored every single format that carried his work with the same intensity.
Language and text, words and letters, have been part of Franz Erhard Walther’s artistic practice from the very beginning. His lettering is crafted with the utmost precision – a skill he perfected during his classical training at the Werkkunstschule. Through the figuration and proportion of his letterforms, he completes his visual tableaux. Much like the activation of his works by human interaction, he animates his pictorial worlds through typographic characters.
The work of Franz Erhard Walther anticipates many themes that later came to the forefront of art history, from the late 1950s to today. These include the material nature of the artistic object and the role of the viewer as both recipient and participant. Through these means, he reinterprets the definition of the artwork as well as the relationship between art and viewer. For Franz Erhard Walther, the body itself is already sculpture.
Franz Erhard Walther: Manifestations [German/English]
Approx. 500 pages
Editors: Rene Spiegelberger, Claus von der Osten
Special edition with Four screen prints
76 × 55 cm each, on BFK Rives mould-made paper, 270 g/m²,
signed, numbered, and dated by the artist.
Available at a price of EUR 1,480 plus packaging and shipping costs
