Mebusch Gave Art a Face
By Artforum Culture Foundation / 28 March 2024
Artforum Culture Foundation is delighted to shine a light—together with the Winter Stiftung Hamburg - on the enduring artistic legacy of Heinz Günter Mebusch (1952–2001), one of the most distinctive conceptual photographers of the late modern era. Through his portraits of artists, particularly in dialogue with figures such as Meret Oppenheim, A.R. Penck, Meuser, James Lee Byars, and Louise Rösler, Mebusch has become a vital voice in the history of contemporary art.
His photographs transcend the traditional portrait format—they are conceptual encounters that reframe both artist and artwork. Each image merges biography, visual language, and artistic stance into a cohesive whole that reaches far beyond documentary photography. Mebusch’s approach was singular: he gave art a face—not through mere documentation, but through a subjectively informed, conceptual exchange with those he portrayed.
The result is more than a photographic oeuvre—it is a series of visual thought-spaces. Major exhibitions on contemporary art rarely do without Mebusch’s portraits. His work is held in prestigious collections including the Documenta Archive, MoMA New York, Berkeley University Museum, the Princeton University Art Museum, and Kunstmuseum Bern. His photographs are frequently seen as indispensable to contextualising artistic discourse. The exclusive point of contact for museums, curators, and publishers wishing to feature Mebusch’s work in exhibitions, publications or digital platforms is the Artforum Culture Foundation.
Louise Rösler (1907–1993): Paris, Königstein, Berlin
22 March – 25 August 2024, Museum Giersch, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main
This major retrospective explores the complex and multi-layered work of Louise Rösler, an artist whose creative openness and eclectic material approach continue to resonate today. Rösler seamlessly combined drawing and painting with found objects—candy wrappers, paper fragments, cupboard panels—creating visual worlds that are as historically rich as they are visually fresh.
Thanks to the initiative of Goethe University President Enrico Schleif, curator Susanne Wartenberg, and Anka Kröhnke, the artist’s daughter, this project has brought Louise Rösler’s work into long-overdue public recognition.
A comprehensive monograph accompanies the exhibition, edited by Susanne Wartenberg, with contributions by Laura Domes, Katrin Kolk, Rebecca Leudesdorff, and Wartenberg herself. Across 256 pages, the publication traces not only Rösler’s artistic development but also the life of a woman who remained unwaveringly committed to her art despite war, loss, and social barriers. A particular highlight is a conceptual photograph by Heinz Günter Mebusch—a visual homage that enriches the dialogue between the artist’s life and legacy.
Monograph edited by Susanne Wartenberg | €34
www.mggu.de
In Focus: A Summer with Meret Oppenheim
A key element in recent discourse is Mebusch’s portrait of Meret Oppenheim, created through an exceptional artistic experiment. Oppenheim—renowned for her iconic “fur-lined teacup”—entered into a creative collaboration that culminated in a visually ‘tattooed’ portrait. The image resonates with both symbolic power and intimate depth.
This striking work is now at the heart of the major exhibition project at Kunsthaus Apolda Avantgarde:
Meret Oppenheim & Friends
12 May – 18 August 2024, Kunsthaus Apolda Avantgarde
This exhibition initiates a visual dialogue between Oppenheim’s work and that of her contemporaries and creative companions. Mebusch’s portrait has become the key visual of the show, embodying Oppenheim’s artistic spirit and shaping the exhibition’s visual identity.
Far from a conventional retrospective, Meret Oppenheim & Friends is a vibrant, multi-layered conversation between a visionary artist and those who shaped, and continue to reshape, the world around her. The exhibition spotlights the continued relevance of Oppenheim’s ideas—often provocative, poetic, or surreal—as they pertain to questions of freedom, identity, and creativity.
The portrait by Mebusch—forceful, enigmatic, and intimate—becomes a symbol not only of Oppenheim’s persona but also of the unbroken dialogue between photography and the visual arts.
New Biography: "Meret Oppenheim – Wandlungen"
By Bärbel Reetz | Autumn 2024 | Rüffer & Rub Verlag, Zurich
This sensitive biography approaches Oppenheim not only as an art historical figure but through a literary lens. Mebusch’s portrait is not used illustratively, but atmospherically—it forms a visual interpretation of Oppenheim’s complex inner world.
As the first German-language biography of Meret Oppenheim to combine literary insight with artistic depth, Reetz’s book offers a nuanced portrait of an extraordinary life. From her early years on the tri-border region to the Parisian avant-garde of the 1930s, from her Swiss retreats to a late oeuvre shaped by doubt and inspiration, the biography reveals a woman who was never anything less than radical.
The artistic dialogue between Oppenheim and Mebusch culminates in a photograph that stands as an icon—haunting, symbolic, and layered with meaning. Mebusch, an internationally acclaimed conceptual photographer (1951–2000), developed a visual language of silent precision and symbolic depth. His portrait functions as a visual commentary—evocative, nuanced, and deeply aware of material, space, and shadow.
In a world where women artists have too often been marginalised, this publication offers a respectful, in-depth engagement—through both word and image. Mebusch’s contribution bridges past and present, showing how alive Oppenheim’s spirit remains.
ISBN 978-3-907351-26-0 | 400 pages | Hardcover | €36.00
Preview: Princeton University Art Museum (2026)
A new publication planned for 2026, edited by the Curatorial Research Associates of Princeton University Art Museum,
will feature Mebusch’s portrait of Meret Oppenheim.
Contact & Image Rights
The Artforum Culture Foundation is the sole representative of the estate of Heinz Günter Mebusch. For all image rights, exhibition, or publication inquiries, please contact the Foundation directly.
Last updated: 17 April 2025
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