EMIL SCHUMACHER – Inspiration and Resistance

November 15, 2018 – March 10, 2019
MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg

Modern art is inconceivable without him: Emil Schumacher (1912–1999) ranks among the most celebrated protagonists of post-war German abstraction, which after WWII undertook a radical new beginning in art. The liberation of colour from form, of lines from motif, the spontaneity of the act of painting, the prepared canvases, the penetration of painting into the third dimension and the application of additional materials such as sand, tin, tar and hair all came to define his artistic practice.

In collaboration with the Emil Schumacher Museum Hagen, the Duisburg-domiciled MKM Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art Duisburg is dedicating a comprehensive retrospective to this acclaimed artist, who was a regular participant at the documenta and biennials. Beginning with his early figurative works and tracing his path to abstraction, this exhibition in MKM’s lofty and spacious premises showcases the large-format paintings from across all Schumacher’s creative phases. Featuring over 80 works, the show is rounded off by a selection of gouaches.