Norbert Schwontkowski Bremen, Germany, 1949-2013
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Norbert Schwontkowski © Photo: Fabian Georgi -
Norbert Schwontkowski’s paintings possess a quiet magnetism — a rare balance of simplicity and depth that renders the ordinary poetic and strangely profound.
1949–2013, Bremen, Germany
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Born in Bremen in 1949, Schwontkowski studied Free Painting at the University of Design in Bremen and at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg between 1968 and 1973. His first solo exhibition took place in 1973 at the Kunstschau Böttcherstraße in Bremen, followed by participation in 20 Bremer at the Kunsthalle Bremen the following year. Over subsequent decades, his work was shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Europe and abroad, including in New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Italy. His artistic achievements were recognized with several awards, among them the Bremen Advancement Award for Visual Arts (1985), the Bremen Art Prize (shared with Andreas Slominski, 1994), and the Overbeck Prize for Visual Arts (1994).
Schwontkowski developed a singular painterly language that defies simple categorization, uniting abstraction and figuration with a restrained lyricism. His works combine playfulness and melancholy, evoking both irony and introspection. Using sparse compositions and muted tones, he captured scenes that hover between the everyday and the dreamlike.
Working with self-ground pigments, which he mixed directly on the canvas, Schwontkowski often incorporated metal oxides to create subtle, shimmering effects. This alchemical process produced surfaces that seemed to breathe and change over time, imbuing the paintings with a living, temporal quality.
At once poetic and philosophical, his work reflects on the contradictions of human existence — the humor, solitude, and fragility of daily life. Within these restrained, luminous canvases, the familiar becomes elusive, and the simple gains unexpected emotional weight.
In 2003, Schwontkowski was elected a member of the Deutscher Künstlerbund (German Artists’ Association). Alongside his artistic practice, he taught in Bremen and Greifswald, served as Guest Professor in Braunschweig, and, from 2005, held a professorship in painting at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg.
His works are represented in major museum collections, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York) and the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston).Artist’s heritage can be found in numerous museum and public collections around the world, including Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
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