Ö66 "Kirkes Garten" 1961 90x150cm Öl auf Leinwand Ö66 "Kirkes garden" 1961 90x150cm oil on canvas

HUBERT BERKE

1908 – 1978

deutscher Maler und Grafiker

german painter and graphic artist

Concentration Camps, Figurines of the Limbo, The Prisoner, Biafra, Beauty Competitions

In the 1960ies, Berke processes his impressions and personal history of the Nazi trials, human need and poverty in Biafra and the rest of the word. His appealing paintings join the movement of politicization of the international art scene of that time. As part of a historical and cultural discussion, they are extremely expressive, alarming and intensive. They depict human inhumanity, cruel acts of violence, deformed bodies, destruction of personalities and sadism and immortalize them on canvas and paper.

Berke also paints excessively displayed femininity inspired by the Miss World beauty pageant as a distorted reality. Through the means of distorted bodies and horrific females he interprets the destruction of humanity and the degradation of one’s person as the price of beauty competitions. These paintings show his distrust in his time and the society even log after the end of the war.

Figurines of the limbo

Prisoner and concentration camps

Biafra

Beauty competitions

© Erbengemeinschaft Hubert Berke