Emil Schumacher

Emil Schumacher (* 29 August 1912 in Hagen, Westphalia; † 4 October 1999 in San José, Ibiza) was a German painter and one of the most important representatives of Informel.

Education of Emil Schumacher

Emil Schumacher began studying commercial art at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Dortmund in 1931. After graduating in 1934, he worked as a freelance artist. After the National Socialists came to power in 1933, he was not admitted to the “Reichskammer der Bildenden Künste”. With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, he was obliged to work as a technical draughtsman in the armaments’ factory of the Hagen accumulator works. In 1941, he married Ursula Klapprott. Their son Ulrich was born in the same year. After the end of the war, he worked again as a freelance artist. In 1947, he founded the artists’ group “junger westen” with Heinrich Siepmann, Hans Werdehausen, Gustav Deppe and others. The artists wanted to tie in with the art of modernism before the time of National Socialism and the exchange of experiences among artists was to be intensified in this way. In 1948 the artist was awarded the “junger westen” art prize by the city of Recklinghausen. Three years later, he produced his first entirely non-representational works. The artist participated in documenta II in 1959 in Kassel.

Honours, teaching activities and important exhibitions of Emil Schumacher

From 1958 to 1960 he held a professorship at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg. This was followed by a professorship at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe from 1966 to 1977. In 1964, he was represented with several large-format pictures at documenta III, and in 1977 at documenta 6 in Kassel.

In 1968 the Federal Republic of Germany honoured him with the Cross of Merit 1st Class. At the same time, the artist became a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin.

During a winter stay in Djerba in 1969, he created the series of “Djerba Gouaches”. During this time, the artist began to implement a drastic actionism in his works. By destroying the image carrier, Schumacher wanted to use destruction itself as a pictorial means of art. From 1971 onwards, he regularly stayed in Ibiza, where most of his works were created.

In 1982, he was awarded membership of the Order “Pour le Mérite” and the Ring of Honour of the City of Hagen, followed a year later by the Grand Cross of Merit with Star of the Federal Republic of Germany. Further honours followed, such as an honorary residence at the Villa Massimo in Rome in 1985, the appointment as honorary citizen of the city of Hagen, the award of the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1987 and the honour as “Citizen of the Ruhr Area” in 1990. A guest professorship at the Concorso Superiore Internazionale des Disegno of the Fondazione Antonio Ratti in 1991 was followed by an honorary doctorate from the University of Dortmund in 1992.

In 1999, he became a member of the Saxon Academy of Arts in Dresden. On 4 October of the same year, Emil Schumacher died in San José on Ibiza. Throughout his life, Emil Schumacher was a colour virtuoso who created colours and adventures with imagination and intuition. Colour itself is thus stylised into a pictorial factor of its own.