Lothar Baumgarten

Lothar Baumgarten was born in 1944 in Rheinsberg, Germany and died in Berlin, Germany in 2018. Over the last four and a half decades, Baumgarten has drawn wide acclaim and respect for his powerful body of work, centered on ethnography and anthropology, using a wide range of media to question the very core ideas and systems of representation -- from ephemeral sculptures, to photography, slide projections, 16 mm film works, recordings, drawings, prints, books, short stories, as well as site-specific works and wall drawings and architecture-related interventions.

Baumgarten is well known for his participation in the 41st Venice Biennale in 1984 for the German Pavilion, where he was awarded the Golden Lion, as well as numerous exhibitions in documenta: 5 (1972), 7 (1982), 9 (1992), and 10 (1997). Solo exhibitions of his work have been held over the last decade at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina, Palacio de Cristal, Madrid, Spain (2016); Botin Foundation, Santander, Spain (2012); Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany (2011); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria (2009); Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Spain (2008); Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Germany (2006); Dallas Museum of Art, Texas (2004); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2003); DePont, Tilburg, The Netherlands (2002); Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Palazzo Querini Stamalia, Venice and Museu Serralves, Porto, Portugal (all 2001).

Lothar Baumgarten was the recipient of the mfi Award, Kunst und Bau, Essen, Germany (2003); the Lichtwark Prize, City of Hamburg (1997); The Golden Lion, First Prize of the Venice Biennale, Italy (1984); the prize of the State of Nordhein-Westfalen (1976); and the prize of the City of Düsseldorf, Germany (1974).