Against the Grain II … this is going to be a blast …
Exhibition Opening: Ralf Bergner—Painter, Graphic Artist, and Draftsman
Music & Composition: Ulrich Maria Kellner
Walter Koschatzky, former director of the Albertina’s Graphic Arts Collection in Vienna, called Ralf Bergner—who now lives in Berlin—“a draftsman of the highest caliber.”
He studied painting and graphic arts under Frank Ruddigkeit and Willi Sitte in Halle an der Saale. Early study visits to the Austrian capital brought Bergner into contact with artists such as Paul Flora and Alfred Hrdlicka, who praised his skill and valued him as a collector. Bergner’s work centers on people—and on what is often all too human. His sensitive studies began as comical, cheerful, and whimsical, eventually taking on a satirical tone. Invented proportions emphasize his perspective on things, while props serve to enhance them. In addition to a stark clarity, it is the many delicate-seeming details that fascinate. This is evidenced by the numerous collections featuring his colored drawings and etchings, as well as the series he produced for *Magazin* and *Die Zeit*.
Connoisseurs place his works in the same vein as the graphic art of Busch, Zille, and Grosz; they emphasize his perspective on things, while the props set the scenes. His illustrations accompany text in books—including those produced in collaboration with the Berliner Handpresse—and in magazines. Exhibitions have featured his work at venues including the Wilhelm Busch Museum, the Gulbransson Museum in Tegernsee, Moritzburg Castle, Schloss Ludwig in Oberhausen, the Kupferstich-Kabinett in Berlin, the Otto Schäfer Museum, the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, and numerous other museums and galleries, including those in St. Gallen (CH), Paris, Italy, and the U.S. Bergner’s delicate, expressive drawings have found their way into internationally significant private and museum collections, including the W. Busch Museum, the Bavarian Painting Collection, the Kupferstich-Kabinett in Berlin, and the collection of the German Bundestag.
