Wilhelm Imkamp

Abstract painting is at the heart of Wilhelm Imkamp’s work: shaped by his impressions of nature and by music, it seeks, according to the biographical source, to offer the eye an experience of visual pleasure. His artistic training takes shape at the Bauhaus in Dessau, where he begins his studies in the winter of 1926–1927, attends Josef Albers’s preliminary course and Kandinsky’s teaching on colour and form, and, from 1927, joins the free painting classes of Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. In 1929, he is granted leave to study in Paris for a year; the 29 sheets of the “Pariser Mappe”, assembled during this period, are presented as the core of his work.

As early as 1928–1929, he takes part in the touring exhibition “Junge Bauhausmaler”, shown in Halle, Braunschweig, Erfurt, Berlin and Krefeld, among other places, and then exhibits at the “Juryfreie Kunstschau” in Berlin in 1929. Under the Nazi regime, in order to avoid a ban on painting, he works officially as a portraitist until 1945 while secretly continuing to paint abstract works; in 1946, he is classified as “unbelastet” as part of denazification. After his home and studio in Gießen are destroyed in a bombing in 1944, he settles in Allendorf (Lumda) in 1945, then in Asperg in 1948. His first post-war solo exhibition is held in 1946 at the Museum of the University of Marburg, with the help of the art historian Richard Hamann.

Imkamp produces more than 500 portraits, which provide him with an income for several years, but his abstract work remains central. He paints without sketches or preparatory studies and works on several paintings at the same time. A member of the artists’ association Gruppe sw from 1951, he moves to Stuttgart in 1953 and serves voluntarily on the Kunstverein’s jury and hanging committee until 1959. From 1953 to 1987, he regularly takes part in the Große Kunstausstellung at the Haus der Kunst in Munich. During his final decade, he creates numerous small-format works with a narrative and humorous quality, populated by fanciful creatures; the graphic element assumes greater importance in them. The biographical source states that more than 70 of his paintings are held in over 30 museums, while most of his work is in private hands. In 1979, the Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg confers on him the honorary title of professor.

Works recorded at auction

Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer · Lot 82

Ohne Titel, 1954

Oil on cardboard

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel, 1954
Öl auf Karton

Catalogue period : 2022-11-04

Published result : 1855 CHF

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : CHF 1200–1600

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Dobiaschofsky · Lot 566

Untitled

Oil on artist’s board

Original catalogue wording

Ohne Titel.
Öl auf Malkarton

Catalogue period : 2020-11-06

Published result : 2200 CHF

Fees not specified in the available data

Estimate : CHF 2600

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Dobiaschofsky · Lot 564

Composition

Mixed media on paper

Original catalogue wording

Komposition.
Mischtechnik auf Papier

Catalogue period : 2020-11-06

Published result : 1800 CHF

Fees not specified in the available data

Estimate : CHF 2200

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Dobiaschofsky · Lot 780

Composition

Gouache

Original catalogue wording

Komposition.
gouache

Catalogue period : 2020-11-06

Published result : 850 CHF

Fees not specified in the available data

Estimate : CHF 1000

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