Adolf Luther

Uerdingen 1912 - 1990 Krefeld

Selected Works

Mirror object
1975
Vertical lens
1977
Vertical lens
1974

Vita

1912
Adolf Luther was born on 25 April 1912 in Krefeld-Uerdingen. He receives inspiration in the field of painting from his father, who paints in his spare time
1914
Moves to Essen-Karnap to live with his mother's relatives. His father is drafted into the war
1928 - 1934
Graduates from school with a secondary school leaving certificate. Starts an apprenticeship in an architect's office, which he has to give up due to the economic recession. Then trained as an administrator for the city of Essen. During his time at school and training, he produces drawings and small watercolours. Luther devotes himself intensively to classical music
1935
Luther studied violin and piano at the Witte Conservatory in Essen. However, he gave up his studies as he did not consider himself talented enough
1938
Registration for military service. In the same year, Luther applies for a special examination in Berlin to obtain a general higher education entrance qualification. He then begins studying law in Cologne
1939
Outbreak of war. Luther is drafted to the Western Front in France. He takes a watercolour box and a drawing pad with him. The first drawings and watercolours are created
1941/42
During a four-month period of special leave, Luther passes his first state examination in law at the University of Bonn. He then returns to his unit in Normandy. The transfer of his unit to the Channel Islands gives him the opportunity to deepen his artistic studies. The desire to become an artist arises
1942
At the end of the year, Luther was posted to Paris. In his free time, he visits museums and takes nude drawing lessons at the studios on Montparnasse. He takes a six-month leave of absence and writes his dissertation
1945
After four weeks in American captivity, Luther returns to Krefeld-Uerdingen
1946
Participates in an exhibition of Lower Rhine artists at the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in Krefeld with the oil painting "Uerdinger Kirmes". The style of painting is impressionistic.
1947
Traineeship at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. Luther draws and paints scenes from court life. His painting "The Court" is included in the Düsseldorf exhibition "Artists' Confessions of Our Time". Luther decides not to exhibit again until he has found a form of artistic representation that corresponds to the new ideas of reality
1947 - 1954
Luther explores Picasso's cubist painting. He began to paint abstractly in 1953
1955 - 1957
Luther becomes a judge at the administrative court in Minden, then in Düsseldorf. In 1957, he applies for dismissal from the civil service so that he can devote himself entirely to art
1957 - 1959
After gestural-informal paintings, from 1958 he created two-dimensional, impasto colour field paintings. In 1959, Luther moved on to impasto, initially coloured, then monochrome black material paintings with a relief-like, strongly moving surface.
1960
First solo exhibitions with material paintings at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Museum, Krefeld, and the Drian Gallery, London
1961
Dematerialisations. Destruction of various materials and assemblages. Smashing of glass bottles
1962
Creation of the first light objects "light sluices" from glass fragments
1963
Creation of spectacle lens and lens objects
1964
Luther begins to work with concave concave mirrors that project inverted models into the room
1968
The installation "Focussierender Raum" is created: several concave mirrors lying on the floor are illuminated from above by spotlights. The focal points become visible the moment smoke enters the cones of light.
1970
Creation of the first laser objects
seit 1971
Luther increasingly integrated his concave mirror objects into architecture. One of the first architectural integrations is the "Integration, Spherical Concave Mirror Wall", Nordkirchen Castle, vestibule of the new building (1971)
1972
"Integration, Spherical concave mirror object Olympia", entrance zone of the Munich sports hall, Olympic Stadium
1977
Luther designs the stage set for "Tristan and Isolde", performed by the Städtische Oper Frankfurt a.M.
1979
Award of the title of professor by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia
1982
Presentation of the Thorn Prikker Art Prize
1989
Luther is honoured with the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Establishment of the Adolf Luther Foundation, Krefeld
1990
Appointment as an honorary citizen of the city of Krefeld. Adolf Luther dies in Krefeld on 20 September 1990

Awards

1979
"Verleihung des Professorentitels durch das Land Nordrhein-Westfalen", Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
1982
"Verlei­hung des Thorn-Prikker-Kunst­preises", Krefeld, Germany
1989
"Auszeichnung mit dem Verdienst­orden des Landes Nord­rhein-West­falen", Germany
1990
"Ernennung zum Ehrenbürger der Stadt Krefeld", Krefeld, Germany

Solo exhibitions (selection)

1960
"Adolf Luther, Krefeld, Malerei", Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Studio für zeit­ge­nös­si­sche Kunst, Krefeld, Germany
1960
"Luther, sculpto-pain­tings", Drian Gallery, London, Great Britain
1964
Galerie Loehr, Frankfurt a.M., Germany
1964
"Luther", galleria numero, Mailand, Italy
1964
"Adolf Luther", Galleria D’Arte Ferrari, Verona, Italy
1968
"luther,spie­gel­ob­jekten", Galerie Swart, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1968
"Luther, Licht und Materie", Galerie Loehr, Frankfurt a.M., Germany
1969
"Luther 1958-1969", Städ­ti­sches Museum Schloss Mors­broich, Leverkusen, Germany
1970
"Galerie Recker­mann", Galerie Reckermann, Köln, Germany
1970
"luther, opti­sche spie­gel­ob­jecten en laser­ob­ject", Galerie Swart, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1971
"Cremo­nini, dessins, Luther objets miroi­t­ants", Palais des Beaux Arts, Brüssel, Belgium
1971
"Luther: Licht und Materie", Museum Folkwang; Palais des Beaux Arts; Kunsthalle, Basel; Westfälischer Kunstverein, Essen; Brüssel; Basel; Münster, Germany
1973
"Adolf Luther", Kunstverein Basel, Basel, Switzerland
1974
"Luther", Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Germany
1977
"Adolf Luther: „Licht+Materie“-Arbeiten von 1958 bis heute", Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany
1978
Westfälischer Kunstverein, München, Germany
1979
"Adolf Luther", Quadrat Bottrop, Moderne Galerie, Bottrop, Germany
1979
"Adolf Luther - Lichtobjekte", Kunstverein, Unna, Germany
1981
"Adolf Luther, Die Wirk­lich­keit wahr­schein­li­cher machen, Werke 1942-1962", Kunst­verein für die Rhein­lande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany
1984
Galerie Löhrl, Mönchengladbach, Germany
1987
"Adolf Luther, Licht und Materie, Retro­spek­tive aus Anlaß des 75. Geburts­tages", Kunsthalle, Bremen, Germany
1990
"Luther: Die Magie des Lichts", Galerie Neher, Essen, Germany
1991
"Museum Schloss Mors­broich", Museum Schloss Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
1995
"Adolf Luther: Werke aus dem Zeit­raum 1958-90", Gotha, Museum Schloss Frie­den­stein, Gotha, Germany
1996
"Adolf Luther: Licht sehen", Kunst­mu­seum, Ahlen/Westfalen, Germany
2000
"Adolf Luther - Flaschenzerschlagen, 1961", Kaiser-Wilhelm-Museum, Krefeld, Germany
2001
"Adolf Luther - Von der Schönheit des Lichts", Städtische Galerie, Aschaffenburg, Germany
2001
"Adolf Luther", Krefelder Kunstverein, Krefeld, Germany
2002
"Adolf Luther, Zum 90. Geburtstag", Galerie Schoeller, Düsseldorf, Germany
2006
"Les Grands Spect­a­cles II – Die Kunst der Bühne", Museum der Moderne – Ruper­tinum, Salzburg, Austria
2007
"Adolf Luther - The Fasci­na­tion of Light", Museum Hera­kleidon, Athen, Greece
2009
"Adolf Luther: Licht sehen", Osthaus Museum Hagen, Hagen, Germany
2010
"Adolf Luther - Kunst, Wissen­schaft und Technik", Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany
2013
"Städel Garten II: Adolf Luther – Archi­tektur als Licht und Spie­ge­lung", Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2020
"Licht­blicke – Adolf Luther und Künst­ler­freunde. Werke aus der Samm­lung der Adolf-Luther-Stiftung, Krefeld", Museum Pfalz­ga­lerie Kaisers­lau­tern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
2022
"Adolf Luther – Licht. Werk und Samm­lung", Museum unter Tage (Stiftung Situation Kunst, Für Max Imdahl), Bochum, Germany

Group exhibitions (selection)

1947
"Künstlerbekenntnisse unserer Zeit", Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Germany
1963
"Zero", Galerie Diogenes, Berlin, Germany
1964
"Zero", Insti­tute of Contem­porary Art, Philadelphia, USA
1965
"Zero", Atelier Fontana, Mailand, Italy
1965
"Kinetik und Objekte", Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
1966
"Weiß auf Weiß", Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, Switzerland
1968
"Deutsche Kunst heute", Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover, Germany
1969
"7 Beiträge zur Deut­schen Kunst der Gegen­wart", Karl-Ernst-Osthaus-Museum, Hagen, Germany
1970
"Jetzt. Künste in Deutsch­land heute", Kunsthalle, Köln, Germany
1970
"B1 – Avant­garde im Ruhr­ge­biet", Kunstverein, Hamburg, Germany
1972
"Tendenzen der Kunst in der Bundes­re­pu­blik Deutsch­land nach 1945", Szèp­mü­vés­zeti Múzeum; Museum Folk­wang, Budapest; Essen,
1974
"Poetry with Mate­rial", Muni­cipal Gallery of Modern Art Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
1975
"Bewegte Bereiche. Objekte und Projekte kine­ti­scher Kunst", Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany
1981
"Schwarz", Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Germany
1982
"Spie­gel­bilder", Kunstverein Hannover; Wilhelm-Lehm­bruck-Museum, Duisburg; Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany
1985
"1945 1985. Kunst in der Bundes­re­pu­blik Deutsch­land", Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
1998
"Kunst im Aufbruch. Abstrak­tion zwischen 1945 und 1959", Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany
1999
"Einer­seits der Sterne wegen… Der Künst­ler­blick auf die Planeten", Staat­liche Kunst­halle, Baden-Baden, Germany
2006
"ZERO Inter­na­tio­nale Künstler-Avant­garde der 50er/ 60er Jahre", museum kunst palast, Düsseldorf, Germany
2007
"Op Art", Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2007
"ZERO Inter­na­tio­nale Künstler-Avant­garde der 50er/ 60er Jahre", Musée d’Art Moderne, Saint-Étienne, France
2008
"Zerbrech­liche Schön­heit – Glas im Blick der Kunst", Düssel­dorf, museum kunst palast, Düsseldorf, Germany
2008
"Zero in New York", Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York, USA
2009
"The Moon , Tran­qui­lity Base here. The Eagle has landed", The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, USA
2009
"Der Mond", Wallraf-Rich­artz-Museum & Fonda­tion Corboud, Köln, Germany
2011
"Nie wieder störungs­frei – Aachener Avant­garde seit 1964", Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany
2013
"Dynamo", Grand Palais, Paris, France
2013
"mouve­ments et lumières", Centre d´art Contem­porain Frank Popper, Marcigny, France
2014
"ZERO: Count­down to Tomorrow, 1950s–60s", Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
2014
"OUTER SPACE -Faszi­na­tion Welt­raum", Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany
2014
"ZERO – Zwischen Himmel und Erde", Zeppelinmuseum, Friedrichshafen, Germany
2015
"ZERO: DIE INTER­NA­TIO­NALE KUNST­BE­WE­GUNG DER 50ER UND 60ER JAHRE", Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany
2015
"Zero.Positionen", Galerie Koch, Hannover, Germany
2017
"Seri­elle Forma­tionen. Frank­furt 1967. Re-Insze­nie­rungen der ersten deut­schen Ausstel­lung inter­na­tio­naler mini­ma­lis­ti­scher Tendenzen", Daimler Contem­porary Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2019
"Vertigo. Op Art und eine Geschichte des Schwin­dels 1520-1970", mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien; Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Wien; Stuttgart,
2019
"Nega­tiver Raum. Skulp­turen und Instal­la­tionen im 20./​21. Jahr­hun­dert", ZKM – Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe, Germany
2019
"Spiegel. Der Mensch im Wider­schein", Rietberg Museum, Zürich, Switzerland
2019
"Less is More", Voor­linden Museum & Gardens, Wassenaar, Netherlands
2019
"ZERO in Korea", Pohang Museum of Steel Art (POMA), Pohang, South Korea
2020
"Zero is Infi­nity - Zero and Yayoi Kusama", Yayoi Kusama Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2022
"Timeless Silver", Museum und Galerie im Prediger, Schwäbisch Gemünd, Germany
2022
"Refelc­tions / Spie­gel­welten", Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany
2022
"L’oc­chio in gioco. Perce­zione, impres­sioni e illu­sioni nell’arte dal Medi­oevo alla Contem­por­an­eità", Palazzo del Monte di Pietà, Padua, Italy
2023
"Zero, Pop und Minimal – Die 1960er und 1970er Jahre", Von Der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, Germany

Collections

About the artist

Adolf Luther (1912-1990) is a leading representative of post-war conceptual light art. Together with the artists of the Zero movement, Luther belonged to the artistic avant-garde of these decades, who countered traditional artistic techniques, materials and subjects with new ones. Luther's work focuses on visualising and experiencing "light as energy" (Luther) by means of artistic settings. In the visualisation of "light as energy", the artist was concerned with realising his intention as objectively as possible, which seemed to him to be guaranteed by working with industrially produced, anonymous forms and materials. After various approaches, he began experimenting with glass in 1961. He created objects made of shattered glass, so-called "light locks", which were shown in a Zero exhibition at the Diogenes Gallery in Berlin in 1963. By using ground lenses, he finally arrived at concave curved concave mirrors in 1964. Reflections of light as well as upside-down, free-floating, constantly changing images of matter in the surrounding space, which only become visible through the light, refer to light as an energetic source. Luther based his research on the work "Light and Matter" by the French physicist and Nobel Prize winner Louis de Broglies. His works are therefore often labelled "Light and Matter" on the back. In the 1970s, the artist began to integrate his concave mirror objects into architectural structures (e.g. "Spherical concave mirror object Olympia", entrance zone of the Munich sports hall, Olympic Stadium, 1972), whereby the artist was interested not only in the interplay of his artistic concepts with the architecture, but also with the surrounding interior and exterior space. A striking example of the latter concept is Luther's "Integration Stehlinsen" (hollow mirror lenses/stainless steel) at Ostwall in Krefeld, which was realised posthumously in 1991.
Luther's exploration of light brought him into contact with the Zero movement, in whose exhibitions he has been represented since 1963 and to this day (e.g. 2014 New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow; 2015 Berlin, Martin Gropius Bau: ZERO - The International Art Movement of the 50s and 60s). From 1969 onwards, the artist had numerous solo museum exhibitions. In addition to participating in the Zero exhibitions, he is also represented in international exhibitions on kinetic art, Op Art and architecture and space. Luther's works can be found in numerous museums and public collections.