Guido Jendritzko,
aus der vierteiligen Fotoarbeit Distribution XXXI, 1988
Collage
Vintage-Print
81 x 61 cm
Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal
© Rechtsnachfolger:in
for his 100th birthday
October 11, 2025 - February 8, 2026
From sculptor to conceptual artist: To celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday, the Von der Heydt Museum is honouring Guido Jendritzko (1925, Kirchhain/Niederlausitz – 2009, Wuppertal) with an exhibition. The exhibition provides an insight into the extensive and diverse body of work of the Branden-burg-born, Berlin-trained artist and Documenta participant. The exhibition ran-ges from his early sculptures and graphics to his action and performance art of the 1970s, his photographic works of the 1980s, and his late serial pieces.
The exhibition illustrates Jendritzko's radical change in working methods from the early 1970s onwards. He created the genre of 'intimate performance', centring on the relationship between men and women. From the 1980s onwards, Jend-ritzko focused on photography. His large-scale photo installations address the re-lationship between humans and their environment.
Jendritzko evolved from a traditional abstract sculptor into a conceptual artist interested in contemporary criticism and cultural politics. At the end of the 1960s, he played an active role in the discussions in Wuppertal about the construction of a new museum. This was also part of his artistic practice.
The Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal, where he lived from 1964 and taught at the Werkkunstschule (School of Applied Arts), today houses eight sculptures, numerous ink drawings, and an extensive collection of photographic works. The exhibition is complemented by numerous works from his estate that have not yet been displayed.
His work can be found in both museums and public spaces. In Wuppertal, for instance, Jendritzko's two-metre-high bronze sculpture outside the Uellendahl-Katernberg comprehensive school on Kruppstraße is well known. This sculpture was one of three with which he was represented at documenta II in Kassel in 1959. Jendritzko studied at the University of the Arts Berlin from 1950 to 1956, where he was a master student of Karl Hartung. In 1957, he received a scholarship from the 'Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft' (Cultural Circle of German Business), and in 1960 he won the Villa Romana Prize. He taught as a professor of free sculp-ture at the Werkkunstschule Wuppertal until 1990, a school which became part of the Gesamthochschule Wuppertal (Wuppertal University of Applied Sciences) in 1972 and was later renamed Bergische Universität (University of Wuppertal).
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