Ostblog notes the passing of Wolfgang Mattheuer, one of the more famous artists of the GDR. [Here's a memorial story at the Märkische Allgemeine.]
I feel a conflicted empathy of some mysterious kind towards the artists I "work on:" I just finished a draft of a paper on the Nationalgalerie's Kunst in der DDR, thinking a lot about Western perceptions of Eastern artists and their work, and the self-definition of Eastern artists. Perhaps because of that temporary, extra-deep immersion, Mattheuer's death hits me extra hard.
[I'm purposely avoiding, for now, the debates around M's position as a favored artist in the GDR. Will do later, though, maybe after the panels on Ostalgie this weekend.]
Posted by Heather at April 8, 2004 10:29 AM
Comments