Wieland Förster: bust of 'Otto Niemeyer-Holstein'

• Wieland Förster (born 1933), bust of 'Otto Niemeyer-Holstein',
  bronze, 1967;
  height: 33 cm

Otto Niemeyer-Holstein is friends with many of his fellow artists. He meets Wieland Förster, a sculptor in the early phase of his oeuvre and still working in relative seclusion, and the bust is produced as a result of their friendship.

Otto Niemeyer-Holstein's (1896-1984) artistic development begins in 1917 with his ongoing appraisal of trends and styles in the early 20th century. Otto Niemeyer-Holstein – even his late work – is influenced by Expressionism and New Objectivity especially. The encounter with Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin and Arthur Segal in Ticino, Ascona, leaves a direct impression on the self-taught young painter.

Niemeyer-Holstein achieves his big breakthrough in 1961 with a major retrospective of his work in the National Gallery in East Berlin. Niemeyer-Holstein is elected president of the international committee when the first Biennale is held in the Baltic states in 1963. This function reflects his personal concern to actively foster cultural exchange within art and aesthetics. The Biennale allows him to do so on an international stage.

He contributes to exhibitions in Scandinavia, Asia, America and Japan between 1963 and 1984. There are major shows of his work in Berlin, Potsdam, Dresden, Leipzig, Erfurt, Chemnitz, Rostock, Zurich, Hamburg, Kiel and Ascona.

He is appointed professor in 1964 and accepted into the GDR Academy of Arts five years later. The Patriotic Order of Merit of the German Democratic Republic, 2nd Class, is awarded to him in 1974.