The Art and Museum Library of the City of Cologne is opening an exhibition on Jürgen Partenheimer's artists' books from 1970 to 2023.
Artists' books are a central component of Jürgen Partenheimer's oeuvre. In four decades, the artist created more than ninety artist's books. In the 1970s, he almost exclusively created unique works in which drawings, watercolors, collages or oil sketches meet his own texts. In the following decade, the artist increasingly integrated printmaking techniques such as linocut, etching and lithography. From the mid-1980s, authorized editions of mostly ten to a maximum of thirty copies appeared, some with his own texts, others with selected texts by other authors.
Since becoming an artist, Partenheimer has used his extraordinarily rich spectrum of books to explore the possibilities of formal invention and visual narrative language. Partenheimer's unique, revised and edited books have contributed as much to condensing his art, which is internationally recognized in extensive exhibitions, to the essentials as his numerous graphic works related to the books and especially his drawings and texts.
Jürgen Partenheimer
Künstlerbücher 1970-2023
Kunst- und Museumsbibliothek, Cologne
7 September - 20 October 2024
