Basic Info

Name: Dieter Hönisch
Country of Origin: DE

Description

Dieter Honisch was director of the Neue National Galerie at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin from 1975 to 1997. In 1970 and 1972, he served as commissioner of the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

Honisch studied art history in Münster, Vienna, and Rome. In 1960, he received his doctorate with a thesis on Anton Raphael Mengs (1728–1779). He initially worked for the Westphalian Art Association, where he deepened his exchange with Josef Albers and inspired him to create his first screen print in 1961. He also exhibited works by Ossip Zadkine and Ernst Wilhelm Nay in solo exhibitions in 1964. From 1965 to 1968, he worked for the Württemberg Art Association, where, among other works, he presented the exhibition “Forms of Color” from February 18 to March 26, 1967, which explored a new understanding and contribution of color to the image.

His next position was at the Folkwang Museum in Essen. From there, he was appointed director of the New National Gallery in West Berlin, located in the Mies van der Rohe building at what is now the Kulturforum. After German reunification, he became director of the reunified National Gallery, which he led until 1997. Shortly after taking office, he reestablished the “Association of Friends of the National Gallery” in 1977.

From August 14 to October 16, 1977, Honisch organized the 15th European Art Exhibition “Tendencies of the Twenties” (catalogue) under the patronage of Federal President Walter Scheel, on behalf of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Senate of Berlin, under the auspices of the Council of Europe, at the Neue National Galerie Berlin, the Academy of Arts, and the Great Orangery of Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin. The complex subject matter required a differentiated presentation. The exhibition was divided into four sections: “From Constructivism to Concrete Art,” “From the Futurist to the Functional City – Planning and Building in Europe from 1913 to 1933,” “Dada in Europe – Works and Documents,” and “The New Reality – Surrealism and New Objectivity.”

Dieter Honisch died in Berlin in 2004 at the age of 72. His grave is in the Dahlem Forest Cemetery.

image is courtesy of the National Galerie, Berlin