Jochen Poetter - Biography

Jochen Poetter, Ph.D., is Emeritus Professor of media art at European Graduate School. He was born in 1941. International critical acclaim has followed Jochen Poetter for his curatorial work. As an art theorist he most often known for his work in contemporary art. Professor Poetter is the former director of several museums, including the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany. He also was a director at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden and of the Museum Villa Stuck in Munich. Jochen Poetter is also an international teacher who has worked at the University of Münich.

Dr. Poetter’s open approach to art has given him a reputation for his unique exhibitions. The exhibitions have famously been without any particular intellectual style and purposefully with no “pre-packaging”. Indeed, he has tended to deliberately omit stylistic concepts or intellectual packages to his exhibits. In fact, not surprisingly Jochen Poetter has been quoted to have described art as follows, “Kunst in ihrer besten Form ist ein offenes Feld, das wie ein Schwamm die Dinge aufsaugt,” which translate as, “Art is at its best an open field that absorbs water like a sponge”.

Some of the artists Dr. Poetter has exhibited include: Pipilotti Rist, Gerhard Merz, Joseph Marioni, Dan Flavin, Chuck Close, Sigmar Polke, Mario Sironi, Cindy Sherman, Fionna Banner, Tracey Emin, and Richard Tuttle. One of his last and most celebrated exhibitions was entitled, New York – Crossover (1999). Jochen Poetter attempted to challenge the classical concept of the museum as one place with a one solid value system by trying to revive the traditional transatlantic connection between the art world's center of Cologne and the arts across the ocean. “Think big,” may well have been the motto of the show. Part of the reason New York City was chosen was because Dr.Poetter deemed the contemporary art of the Big Apple as a geographical focal point of modern trends, and a melting pot where different cultures come together as well. In a sense, therefore, the point in this ambitious project was literally that of artistic “crossovers”.

Jochen Poetter is also an accomplished editor, some of his editiorial works include: Reiner Ruthenbeck and Chuck Close and Richard Tuttle. He is the author of over ten books and has edited even more. Even though some of Jochen Poetter’s books have been translated into English many remain published in German only. Some of his translated works include Reiner Ruthenbeck (1993) and Gunter Umberg: Body of Painting: Pictures from Cologne-based Collections (2001), which features many different artists’ works including the works of Günter Umberg himself, including that of Jasper Johns to that of David Reed and many others. These works of art put together in one volume effectively make possible a kind of dialogue, allowing the art aficionados to get new insights into the complex relationships at work, both harmonious ones and incongruous ones, that make up the multiplicity of the network of works of art and texts.

One of Jochen Poetter’s latest books, still untranslated in English, Kunst im 20. Jahrhundert (2009), translates as Crash Art in the 20th Century. This book guides the reader in a focused, clear and accessible way through the major directions art has taken in the 20th Century. Through intensely rigorous academic studies of the decades Jochen Poetter reveals the unique historical moments that have occurred in the past century. During the nineties we saw a mixture of media and cultures and whose interrelation Poetter powerfully describes. The 1980’s were characterized by an intense hunger for images. The sixties and seventies were about a dramatic break with the past, including conceptual art as well as minimal art. Dada and Surrealism come after WWII and establish works of abstraction as the new language of art throughout the world. Before that the book explores Cubism and goes all the way back to Expressionist currents of art.

Dr. Jochen Poetter’s publications include: “Sigmar Polke : photographische Arbeiten aus der Sammlung Garnatz” in Schirmer/Mosel (2008). “C.O.Paeffgen : Handarbeiten ; Eine Ausstellung des Museum Ludwig, Köln.” in Museum Ludwig (1999). “Zärtliche Betrachtung Schöner Damen - Photographien aus der Sammlung Gruber” in Wienand Verlag (1998). “Donald Judd” (1989). “Hommage à Gunther Franke” for the Museum Stuck-Villa (1983). “Leo Putz: Zeichnungen und Bilder aus dem Spätwerk” for the Museum Stuck-Villa (1981). “Studien zum Mythos im Werke Arnold Böcklins” Dissertation University of München (1978). “Kunstsinn und Erfindergeist im Bauernhof: Das Bauernhofmuseum in Illerbeuren” (1975). Addtionally, Dr. Poetter has co-authored the book Sironi: Mario Sironi (1885-1961) (1988).

Jochen Poetter has edited quite a few publications, including “I love New York: Crossover der aktuellen Kunst” in the exhibition catalogue of Museum Ludwig Köln (1999). “Urbane Legenden, London: Großstädte-Projekt Europa” in the exhibition catalogue of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (1997). “Russische Avantgarde und Volkskunst” (1999) which translates as “Russian avant-garde and folk art.” In this edited volume with Yevgenia Petrova, the Russian art historian, the attempt is not to focus on the Russian art of the first two decades of the twentieth century, but to ask instead about the roots of the art.

Dr. Poetter has edited the following volumes as well: “Reinhold Misselbeck” in Retrospektive photoworks (1998). “Urbane Legenden, Prag: Großstädte-Projekt Europa” exhibition catalogue for the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (1996). “Alex Katz: American landscape” exhibition catalogue for the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (1995). Urbane Legenden, Berlin: Großstädte-Projekt Europa” exhibition catalogue for the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (1995). “Joseph Marioni: private icons” exhibition catalogue for the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (1995). For the Cantz (1995). For the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen Kunstverein (1996). “Richard Tuttle: Chaos, die the Form” for the exhibition catalogue of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (1993). “Hamish Fulton” in Cantz (1992). “David Rabinowitch: Werke 1967-1976” for the exhibition catalogue of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (1992). “John Chamberlain” for the Cantz (1991). “Sigmar Polke, Fotografien” for the exhibition catalogue at the Staatliche Kunsthalle (1990). “Neue Anwendungen fluoreszierenden Lichts mit Diagrammen, Zeichnungen und Drucken von Dan Flavin” for the Cantz (1989). “Jean Cocteau: Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Keramik, Tapisserien, Literatur, Theater, Film, Ballett” (1989). “Zen 49: Die Ersten Zehn Jahre-Orientierungen” for the exhibition catalogue at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (1986). “Franz von Stuck, 1863-1928: Maler-Graphiker-Bildhauer-Architekt” for the exhibition catalog of the Museum Villa Stuck (1982). “Max Klinger: die graphischen Zyklen” for the Museum Villa Stuck Münich (1980).

Finally, Jochen Poetter was one of the editors of the following publications: “Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Arnulf Rainer: Sammlung Frieder Burda” in the exhibition catalogue of Cantz (1996). “Chuck Close: Retrospective” for Cantz (1994). “Jurgen Klauke: Sonntagsneurosen” for the exhbition catalogue at the Sunday Neusoses (1992). “Russische Ikonen und Kultgerät aus St. Petersburg” for the exhibition catalogue at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (1991). “Donald Judd Exhibition” for the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (1989). “Hommage à Gunther Franke: Barlach, Baumeister, Beckmann, Bembe Blumenthal” (1983).