Poet of the subtle nuance

Born in Munich in 1947, Jürgen Partenheimer has emerged as a contemporary artist interested in literature and the humanities and proponent of »subjective ­abstraction«. »Die Zeit« recog­nized him as a literarily-minded contemporary some twenty years ago, and called him a »poet of the subtle nuances, of delicate lines and tones«. This impression is ­confirmed when you look at his graphic work, and even when he switches medium, be it oils, shellac, or graphite on canvas or the sculptures in bronze, wood or wire, he always follows the line. This is because the trademark of Jürgen Partenheimer’s work is the fragility that derives from the line and represents the symbolic essence of his work. It is still clearly visible even in the great stele »Weltachse« (World Axis), towering some seven meters above the ground and ­comprising stacked, bronze, box elements of differing sizes and hand-painted in different shades of blue. That the painter and sculptor, now domiciled near Cologne, was awarded a doctorate in philosophy and art history in the mid-1970s is not common knowledge, but explains his always impressively attested ­literary ­intentions, for example in his diary-like notes from 2005, when he was a guest in Copan at the ­famous residential complex ­de­signed by Oscar Niemeyer in São Paulo, or his drawings and notes from 2007, when he was ­invited to the Nietzsche House in Sils-Maria. This particular ­edition for 2013, appearing in the »Kienbaum ­Artists’ Books« ­series, compiles his drawings and diary entries from 2011 and which are referred to as the »South African Diary«.