Wolfgang Mattheuer
(1927 - 2004)

Wolfgang Mattheuer was a German painter, graphic artist and sculptor. Together with Werner Tübke and Bernhard Heisig he was a leading representative of the Leipzig School, a figurative art current in East Germany. He came to prominence with allegorical, pessimistic and sometimes heroic paintings which were accused of expressing political dissidence. He was later an open critic of both socialism and capitalism. He taught at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig (HGB) for many years. In 1974 he resigned from his position as professor at the HGB to work as a freelance painter. In 1988 he left the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.
In the West he was for a long time seen as an untrendy Sunday painter, but a large retrospective held in Chemnitz for his 75th birthday raised his profile. He was married to the painter Ursula Mattheuer-Neustädt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Mattheuer


Große Straße I (Large Street I)
1961
Oil on board
103,5 x 86,5 cm
Private collection
Sold by Sotheby’s, March 20, 2024
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2024/modern-contemporary-auction-part-i/grosse-strasse-i

Große Straße I (Large Street I) by Wolfgang Mattheuer constitutes an essential advance in his artistic development. Painted in 1961, it embodies the artist’s profound engagement with the socio-political landscape of East Germany and represents his first careful inquiry into the complexities of the era. The composition prefigures a pictorial formula that from then on will evoke a unique sense of ambiguity in his oeuvre. Mattheuer was destined to become one of the most prolific artists in East Germany, and was uniquely able to walk a fine line between expressing his individual artistic ideas whilst avoiding criticism of official ideology all too blatantly.