Anna & Bernhard Blume
Biography
Anna Blume was born in Bork in 1937. She studied (1960-65) at the Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf. From 1964 to 1986 she taught at a number of high schools in Germany. Bernhard Johannes Blume was born in Dortmund in 1937. After initially training as a printmaker and as a painter of cinema posters and related types of applied art, he studied (1960-65) at the Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf, under Joseph Beuys. He then (1967-71) studied philosophy at the University of Cologne. During the 1970s he taught art and philosophy at a high school in Cologne. Anna and Bernhard Johannes Blume live in Cologne.
The early work of both artists consisted predominately of painting and prints. In his drawings of the 1960s and 1970s Bernhard Johannes Blume groups objects from everyday life in relation to conceptual categories. Early photographs reveal formal characteristics of later large-scale series. His works are often accompanied by quasi-philosophic texts.
Anna Blume made her first drawings in 1970, embarking at that time on occasional collaboration with Bernhard Johannes Blume. Since 1980 both have worked on a life-long photographic novel and they have since produced several series of large black-and-with photographs. On the whole, these record the couples' performance pieces, which are intended purely as the subjects of such staged photographs. In these works Anna and Bernhard Johannes Blume always take the main parts in everyday scenes from petit-bourgeois life where everything seems to be on the point of collapsing into chaos. The photographs have a character of blurred snapshots. Yet they do not serve here to document visible reality as we know it, but rather to construct a new reality. During the 1990s the Blumes have favoured open air settings for their staged photography. They have also created small, brightly coloured collages, reminiscent of still-lifes, out of groups of polaroid photographs.
Anna Blume: Individual exhibitions (selection)
1989 »Frauenbilder», Kunstforum Gummersbach
1994 »Die reine Empfindung», Galerie Ute Parduhn, Düsseldorf
Anna Blume: Group exhibitions (selection)
1981 »Typisch Frau«, Galerie Philomene Magers, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, subsequently Kunstverein Wolfsburg
1985 »Frauen machen Druck«, Universität Trier
1995 »Karo Dame: Radikale, Konstruktive, Konkrete Kunst von Frauen 1914 bis heute«, Aargauer Kunstverein, Aarau
Bernhard Johannes Blume: Individual exhibitions (selection)
1961 Galerie Nebelung, Düsseldorf
1969 Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
1970 »Ideoplastie«, Galerie Jöllebeck, Cologne
1974 »Wunder der Natur«, Galerie Philomene Magers, Bonn
1980 Galerie A, Amsterdam; Stedelijk Museum voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidskunde, Breda
1982 »Bernhard Joh. Blume, Zeichnungen«, Museum Folkwang, Essen
1988 »Bernhard Johannes Blume, 1970-84«, Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn
1990 Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam
1992 El cabrito, Gomera
Bernhard Johannes Blume: Group exhibitions (selection)
1964 Fluxusaktion »Laura Walzer«, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
1969 »Anstrengungen zur Herbeibringung des Kreuzes«, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
1977 documenta VI, Kassel
1980 Biennale di Venezia, Venice
1984 »von hier aus«, Messegelände, Düsseldorf
1985 »Kunst nach 1945«, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; »behind the eyes«, Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
1986 »Beuys zu Ehren«, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, München
1990 Galerie Transit, London
Anna und Bernhard Johannes Blume: Joint exhibitions (selection)
1976 Galerie Philomene Magers, Bonn
1982 Dany Keller Galerie, München
1984 Künstlerhaus Stuttgart; Kunstfonds Bonn
1987 »Trautes Heim«, Kunsthalle Basel, subsequently at Kunstverein, Cologne
1988 Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn
1989 The Museum of Modern Art, New York
1992 Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
1993 Wiener Sezession, Wien
1994 »natürlich«, Städtische Galerie am Markt, Schwäbisch Hall
1995 Kunsthalle Bremen; »Anna and Bernhard Blume: Metaphysics is Man's Work«, Goethe Institut, London
1996 »Anna & Bernhard Blume. Photo-Works«, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, subsequently at Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Busch-Reisinger Museum and Fogg Art
Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge/MA; »Anna & Bernhard Blume. Transsubstanz und Küchenkoller«, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover
1997 »Transzendentaler Konstruktivismus Il«, Galerie sima, Nuremberg
Anna und Bernhard Johannes Blume: Joint participation in Group exhibitions (selection)
1981 »Gegeneinander/Miteinander«, Galerie Insam, Vienna
1982 »Mit Fotografie«, Museum Ludwig, Cologne
1985 »Zugehend auf eine Biennale des Friedens«, Kunsthaus Hamburg und Kunstverein Hamburg
1988 »Zurück zur Natur, aber wie?«, Städtische Galerie im Prinz-Max-Palais, Karlsruhe
1989 »Inszenierte Fotografie«, Clemens-Sels Museum, Neuss; »Das Verhältnis der Geschlechter«, Kunstverein Bonn
1990 The Biennale of Sydney, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; »Images in Transition«, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, subsequently at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
1991 »Schwerelos«, Große Orangerie, Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin
1992 »Photography in Contemporary German Art: 1960 to the Present«, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, anschließend Dallas Museum of Art/Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth, Dallas, The Saint-Louis Art Museum/The Forum for Contemporary Art, Saint Louis, Missouri, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York; and at venues in Los Angeles, Cologne, Basle and Humlebaek
1994 »Exhibition«, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
[Katharina Raab, 1997]
The early work of both artists consisted predominately of painting and prints. In his drawings of the 1960s and 1970s Bernhard Johannes Blume groups objects from everyday life in relation to conceptual categories. Early photographs reveal formal characteristics of later large-scale series. His works are often accompanied by quasi-philosophic texts.
Anna Blume made her first drawings in 1970, embarking at that time on occasional collaboration with Bernhard Johannes Blume. Since 1980 both have worked on a life-long photographic novel and they have since produced several series of large black-and-with photographs. On the whole, these record the couples' performance pieces, which are intended purely as the subjects of such staged photographs. In these works Anna and Bernhard Johannes Blume always take the main parts in everyday scenes from petit-bourgeois life where everything seems to be on the point of collapsing into chaos. The photographs have a character of blurred snapshots. Yet they do not serve here to document visible reality as we know it, but rather to construct a new reality. During the 1990s the Blumes have favoured open air settings for their staged photography. They have also created small, brightly coloured collages, reminiscent of still-lifes, out of groups of polaroid photographs.
Anna Blume: Individual exhibitions (selection)
1989 »Frauenbilder», Kunstforum Gummersbach
1994 »Die reine Empfindung», Galerie Ute Parduhn, Düsseldorf
Anna Blume: Group exhibitions (selection)
1981 »Typisch Frau«, Galerie Philomene Magers, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, subsequently Kunstverein Wolfsburg
1985 »Frauen machen Druck«, Universität Trier
1995 »Karo Dame: Radikale, Konstruktive, Konkrete Kunst von Frauen 1914 bis heute«, Aargauer Kunstverein, Aarau
Bernhard Johannes Blume: Individual exhibitions (selection)
1961 Galerie Nebelung, Düsseldorf
1969 Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
1970 »Ideoplastie«, Galerie Jöllebeck, Cologne
1974 »Wunder der Natur«, Galerie Philomene Magers, Bonn
1980 Galerie A, Amsterdam; Stedelijk Museum voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidskunde, Breda
1982 »Bernhard Joh. Blume, Zeichnungen«, Museum Folkwang, Essen
1988 »Bernhard Johannes Blume, 1970-84«, Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn
1990 Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam
1992 El cabrito, Gomera
Bernhard Johannes Blume: Group exhibitions (selection)
1964 Fluxusaktion »Laura Walzer«, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
1969 »Anstrengungen zur Herbeibringung des Kreuzes«, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
1977 documenta VI, Kassel
1980 Biennale di Venezia, Venice
1984 »von hier aus«, Messegelände, Düsseldorf
1985 »Kunst nach 1945«, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; »behind the eyes«, Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
1986 »Beuys zu Ehren«, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, München
1990 Galerie Transit, London
Anna und Bernhard Johannes Blume: Joint exhibitions (selection)
1976 Galerie Philomene Magers, Bonn
1982 Dany Keller Galerie, München
1984 Künstlerhaus Stuttgart; Kunstfonds Bonn
1987 »Trautes Heim«, Kunsthalle Basel, subsequently at Kunstverein, Cologne
1988 Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn
1989 The Museum of Modern Art, New York
1992 Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
1993 Wiener Sezession, Wien
1994 »natürlich«, Städtische Galerie am Markt, Schwäbisch Hall
1995 Kunsthalle Bremen; »Anna and Bernhard Blume: Metaphysics is Man's Work«, Goethe Institut, London
1996 »Anna & Bernhard Blume. Photo-Works«, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, subsequently at Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Busch-Reisinger Museum and Fogg Art
Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge/MA; »Anna & Bernhard Blume. Transsubstanz und Küchenkoller«, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover
1997 »Transzendentaler Konstruktivismus Il«, Galerie sima, Nuremberg
Anna und Bernhard Johannes Blume: Joint participation in Group exhibitions (selection)
1981 »Gegeneinander/Miteinander«, Galerie Insam, Vienna
1982 »Mit Fotografie«, Museum Ludwig, Cologne
1985 »Zugehend auf eine Biennale des Friedens«, Kunsthaus Hamburg und Kunstverein Hamburg
1988 »Zurück zur Natur, aber wie?«, Städtische Galerie im Prinz-Max-Palais, Karlsruhe
1989 »Inszenierte Fotografie«, Clemens-Sels Museum, Neuss; »Das Verhältnis der Geschlechter«, Kunstverein Bonn
1990 The Biennale of Sydney, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; »Images in Transition«, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, subsequently at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
1991 »Schwerelos«, Große Orangerie, Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin
1992 »Photography in Contemporary German Art: 1960 to the Present«, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, anschließend Dallas Museum of Art/Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth, Dallas, The Saint-Louis Art Museum/The Forum for Contemporary Art, Saint Louis, Missouri, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York; and at venues in Los Angeles, Cologne, Basle and Humlebaek
1994 »Exhibition«, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
[Katharina Raab, 1997]