* 1945, Rehau

Initially, from 1966 to 1968, Peter Angermann, who was born in 1945 in Rehau, a small town in Upper Franconia in Bavaria, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg, Then, in autumn 1968, he was drawn to the class run by Joseph Beuys at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Constantly showered with his teacher’s praise, he nevertheless – or perhaps precisely for that reason – became co-founder of the legendary YIUP group, which from 1969 on attracted attention inside the academy, and above all in the Beuys class, through provocative actions that were directed even against Beuys himself. On leaving the academy in 1972, Angermann saw that in artistic terms, he had come away empty-handed; his passion for painting had not exactly been fostered by Beuys. Not until a year later, once he had largely jettisoned Beuys’s ideas, did Angermann make a new start in the field of painting. A meeting with his former classmate Milan Kunc proved exceptionally fruitful in this situation. Together they developed a new visual language that was closely oriented to everyday life, while simultaneously being fired by a witty, anarchic impulse. In 1979 Jan Knap joined the two friends, and group NORMAL was born. They championed the rejection of individualism and, in line with this, created a large number of joint works – paintings that in some cases were done in public. By 1981, however, each of the three members had progressed so far in his own artistic development that it was decided to disband the group. Standing now on his own two feet, Peter Angermann has retained the socio-critical impulse from his earlier works – coupled with that provocative and at times absurdist humour that marks many of his paintings to this day. In 1976 he surprised the world with the first of his “bear paintings” and what was to be the beginning of a series that has kept on expanding. In fact these are paintings of family life, which, while sharpening our eye for the human condition under the strict use of the bear guise, do not baulk at depicting idylls. Ten years later Angermann pulled another surprise out of the hat – at first through the sheer joy of exploring a genre which at that time was frowned on: en plein air painting. In the meantime, this group of works has found a permanent place in his oeuvre and has led him to discover a virtuosity as colourist that also distinguishes his mature, themed works. The two of them – his themed works and his landscapes – alternate without more ado in Angermann’s work, and it is this liaison that makes Angermann so unique in today’s art scene. Parallel to this, Peter Angermann has also passed his artistic experience on to a new generation of artists, at first through guest professorships at Reykjavík and Kassel, followed from 1996 to 2002 by a professorship at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, and then from 2002 to 2010 at the Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg. In 1995, Angermann made his home one hour’s car drive away from Nuremberg, in Thurndorf, where, far removed from the turmoil of the art business, he continues to dedicate himself enthusiastically to the medium that holds every possibility of artistic development open to him: painting.

Selected Exhibitions

2022 Peter Angermann – Ins Freie, Museum Starnberger See, Starnberg, Germany

2021 YIUP, Overbeck-Gesellschaft – Kunstverein, Lübeck, Germany

2019 Plein Air Kirchen, Luftmuseum, Amberg, Germany

2018 Peter Angermann – PleinAir, Bode Galerie & Edition, Nuremberg, Germany

2016
New Wild Painters. German Neo-expressionism From The 1980s, Groninger Museum, Groningen, Netherlands
30 Jahre – 30 Künstler/innen, Kunstförderverein, Weinheim, Germany

2015 The 80s, Figurative Painting in West Germany, Städel Museum Frankfurt am Main, Germany

2014
Wild Heart: German Neo-Expressionism Since the 1960s, China Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Die Lust am Sehen, Neues Museum Nürnberg, Germany

2013 Licht am Horizont, Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany

2010 Peter Angermann, Daegu MBC, Gallery M, Daeugu, Korea

2009
Autonomoney, Museen der Stadt Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany
Joseph Beuys and His Students, Sakip Sabanci Müzesi, Istanbul, Turkey

2008
To be a teacher is my greatest work of art, Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Ahlen, Germany

2007
Normal Group, Trevi Flash Art Museum, Palazzo Lucarni, Italy
Normal Group, MACI Museo Arte Contemporanea Isernia, Italy

2005 Group Normal, 2nd Prague Biennale, Karlin Hall, Prague, Czech Republic

2004 La boite en valise, Academy of Fine Arts / Akademie výtvarných umění, Prague, Czech Republic

2002 German Landscapes, SA National Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa

1995
Peter Angermann, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Germany
Salut au Monde, Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands

1992 Stehender Verkehr, Kasseler Kunstverein, Germany

1986 Peter Angermann, Living Art Museum, Reykjavik, Island

1984 From here – Two months of new German art in Düsseldorf / von hier aus - Zwei Monate neue deutsche Kunst in Düsseldorf, Hall 13 – Messe Düsseldorf, Germany

1980
Times Square Show, New York, USA
11th Biennale of Paris. International event for young artists / 11e Biennale de Paris. Manifestation internationale des jeunes artistes, Musee d'Art Modern, Paris, France