On the occasion of Siegward Sprotte’s 90th birthday, the Museum Ladin Ciastel de Tor presents an exhibition of the artist’s works from over seventy years of activity. The German painter and philosopher Siegward Sprotte, born in 1913, chose to live and work permanently three different locations: the island of Sylt in the North Sea, Colfosco in Val Badia, and Potsdam, his home town. birthplace. Sprotte first came to Colfosco in 1936, at the age of 23. Since then he has formed a strong bond with the people and nature of Alta Val Badia and the Dolomites.
The exhibition at the Museum Ladin Ciastel de Tor will be presented on 23 August 2003 at 6 p.m. by the President of the Ladin Museum Dr. Heinrich Huber and Ladin Culture Councillor Dr. Florian Mussner. Afterwards, the art historian Annegret Portsteffen, of the ‘Siegward-SprotteStiftung-Potsdam’ – the Siegward Sprotte Foundation in Potsdam – will make an introduction of the works of the artist. Opening the exhibition will be the President of the Provincial Government Dr. Luis Durnwalder. On this occasion, the artist will be awarded honorary citizenship of the tourist region of Alta Badia.
tourist region of Alta Badia. Sprotte’s artistic and philosophical work is attracting increasing interest internationally, among other things thanks to solo exhibitions at the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, the Puskin Museum in Moscow and the Shanghai Art Museum.
The Museum Ladin Ciastel de Tor, a museum of Ladin history and culture, is housed in the rooms of the medieval castle above S. Martino in Badia. The exhibition ‘Siegward Sprotte – Cycles and Dialogues’, specially conceived for this setting, comprises over 65 works – including watercolours, oil paintings, chalk and ink drawings, as well as an illustrated biography and several texts by and about Siegward Sprotte. Most of the works on display were donated by the author to the museum in September 1999. In co-operation with the Siegward Sprotte Foundation in Potsdam and the district of Unna in the German region of Westphalia, the voluminous exhibition catalogue was produced and can be purchased in the museum. In addition to the exhibition at the Museum Ladin Ciastel de Tor, the catalogue also includes the 200 works of the retrospective scheduled in Schloß Cappenberg, Germany, from 20 July to 19 October 2003.
Siegward Sprotte lives and works in different places and countries. He is a wanderer in constant dialogue with the people and nature. At the sea and on the dunes he has encountered fluctuating rhythms and colours, in the mountains the tectonic structure of the rocks. ‘I brought my south to the north and even in the south I never gave up my north,’ says the artist. Colour, form, rhythm and structure, backgrounds and foregrounds create in his works a balance that does not let any one aspect prevail over the others.
In his individual dialogue in the form of pictorial abstraction, the artist captures the essence of the sky, the plants, mountains and the waves of the sea. Figurative and abstract elements harmonise in a singular. Like nature, Sprotte works cyclically in ever-new variations. In his works, the creative process of conscious spontaneity can be perceived with immediacy.
Drawing on his old studies of the painting techniques of old masters, as well as ink drawing ink drawing, Sprotte has developed – in the course of his artistic career – his own language synthetic: a polychrome calligraphy in which elements of East and West, North and South merge without contrasts.
Placing himself outside of historical, modern or postmodern stylistic currents, Siegward Sprotte manages to strike a balance between painting and writing, between contemplation and words.