eigene Arbeiten, Biografien

Clara Mosch had no manifesto and no objectives formulated beyond experimentation and collective artistic exchange. It was thus “initially not a group in the traditional sense,” as Thomas Ranft put it.

The individual works shown here testify to the individual approach of each artist, which, however, find a common medium of expression in printmaking.

Ranft’s delicate, sensitive lines; the energetic, sometimes austere forms of Morgner; the animated landscapes of Ranft-Schnike; the mystical-philosophical calligraphy of Claus; the gloomy, somewhat expressionistic shadow figures of Kotzik: They are the result of an intensive examination of the expressive possibilities of liberated art. In their attempt to express their own visual language, the artists met beyond any set program or didactic constraint. Experimenting in the group always had to lead to individual results.

BIOGRAPHIES:

Thomas Ranft was born in Königsee on January 11, 1945. After an apprenticeship in a tree nursery, he moved to Leipzig, where he studied at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst from 1967 to 1972 and married Dagmar Schinke in 1969. After moving to Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1972, from 1975 on he increasingly worked with Gregor-Torsten Schade. Among other endeavors, they form of the duo “Berghäusler”. in 1977 he became a board member of the Galerie Oben. After his divorce from Ranft-Schinke in 1984, he holds a teaching position at the Fachschule für angewandte Kunst in Schneeberg from 1986 to 1989. He was a member of the presidium of the Freie Akademie der Künste zu Leipzig from 1995 to 1998. Ranft lives and works in Amtsberg near Chemnitz.

Dagmar Ranft-Schinke was born in Chemnitz on April 10, 1944. Before studying at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig from 1963 to 1968, she had completed an apprenticeship as a draftswoman. In 1982 she realized a mural in Karl-MarxStadt, from 1984 to 1985 she works on another mural in the Ferienhotel in Schöneck. Several international trips and participations in exhibitions take place after 1990. Ranft-Schinke lives and works in Adelsberg, Chemnitz.

5 years Clara Mosch poster edition

Michael Morgner was born in Chemnitz on April 6, 1942. After studying at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig, he moved to Karl-Marx-Stadt, where he became a founding member of the Galerie Oben in 1973. From 1975 onwards he regularly participated in plein airs and performances, in 1988 he wins the main prize of the Sofia Triennial. He was a founding member of the Saxon Academy of Arts in 1991 as well as the Free Academy of Arts in Leipzig. After 1996, Morgner became increasingly involved with christian art. Morgner lives and works in Chemnitz.

Gregor-Torsten Schade was born in Hildburghausen on May 14, 1948. After completing his apprenticeship as an offset retoucher, he studied at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig from 1967 to 1972, where he met Thomas Ranft and Lutz Dammbeck. With Ranft he founded the artist group Sinngrün in Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1974, and the duo Berghäusler in 1976. In the same year, Schade holds the first public performance in the GDR, “Das schwarze Frühstück” (“The Black Breakfast”), at the Arkade Gallery in Berlin. After marrying Vera-H. Kozik, he changes his name to Gregor-Torsten Kozik. He lives and works in Chemnitz.

“5 Jahre Clara Mosch”/1982/serigraphs each designed by Ranft, Morgner, Ranft-Schinke, Kozik and Claus/courtesy: Galerie Barthel + Tetzner Berlin and courtesy: Thomas Ranft, Amtsberg

05 Beuys

Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) was increasingly well-known in the GDR by the end of the 1970s and was on Clara Mosch’s artistic radar. Both his performances and his vision of an “expanded concept of art” were a source of stimulation and inspiration, as was his political stance in the sense of a “free democratic socialism”.

The Polaroid shown here was shot on the occasion of an exhibition by Beuys in 1981 at the permanent mission of the Federal Republic of Germany in Berlin, a sign of mutual recognition and exchange between the West and East German art scenes. Artists like the members of Clara Mosch were well-informed about the new developments in the West, both through their own observations as well as with the help of others such as the lawyer, printmaker and Beuys collaborator Klaus Staeck.

Through his brother Rolf, who lived in Bitterfeld until 1984, Staeck was able to stay in touch with East German art from Heidelberg and attended plein airs and Clara Mosch performances. These performances were opportunities for international artistic exchange and at the same time one of the reasons the group was under close surveillance by the state security.

“Ranft, Joseph Beuys, Staeck”/1981/Polaroid/courtesy:

Thomas Ranft, Amtsberg

Carlfriedrich Claus was born on August 4, 1930 in Annaberg and died on May 22.1998 in Chemnitz. He is trained as a salesman and art dealer and worked until 1958 in the office supplies and art shop Claus, which belonged to his mother. It was not until 1980 that he was honored with a solo exhibition at the Kupferstichkabinett Dresden. His avant-garde approach to visual and concrete poetry was difficult to reconcile with the GDR’s official understanding of art. In 1997 he was honored with the award of the Federal Cross of Merit for his complete works. His extensive estate is housed at the Carlfriedrich Claus Archive Foundation in the Chemnitz Art Collections.

„Morgner“/1994/catalog: Galerie Oben/courtesy: Galerie Barthel + Tetzner, Berlin

06 Community, Mehl-Art and Football

A typically ironic form of transferring Western art forms into the group’s own work was the “Mehl-Art” (Flour-Art) performance, which took place in October 1980 on the sidelines of a plein air in Glachau. The internationally popular “Mail-Art” is here translated linguistically and physically as the artists baked art in or out of bread in two bakeries. Beyond the wordplay, the performance speaks to the state-mandated artistic engagement with industry typical of the GDR.

The contact with artists from the GDR was also established within the framework of the plein airs and the performances, such as at the soccer games Leipzig against Karl-Marx-Stadt, held for the opening of the gallery or to celebrate the three-year anniversary. These both artistic performances, a “Bilderstreit” or artistic conflict played out on the field, as well as simple fun among friends.

“Mehl-Art” (flour-art)/1980/Photograph: Ralf-Rainer Wasse/new print 2023/© Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg/Archive Ralf-Rainer Wasse

Soccer match Leipzig against Chemnitz, 3 years Clara Mosch

1980/Photographs: Uli Eichhorn/new print 2023/© Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg/Archive Ralf-Rainer Wasse hat/original/courtesy: Thomas Ranft, Amtsberg