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Painting is another of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's secondary
interests that has developed into something rather more than
just a hobby. His interest in painting goes back to his childhood,
but he says that he didn't begin to paint seriously until around
1960. As is the case with his other activities, Fischer-Dieskau
has proven to be a prolific painter, but this remained largely
hidden from the public until 1980, when some of his paintings
were displayed for the first time in an exhibition in Bamberg.
That he was interested in painting became known to the English-speaking
public for the first time through Gerald Moore's memoirs, AM
I TOO LOUD?, and the public's first glimpse of Fischer-Dieskau
the painter was most likely the portrait of Gerald Moore that
was included in the liner notes of the EMI recording of Moore's
farewell concert in 1967.
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Gerald Moore |
Jörg Demus 1979 |
Slava Richter 1982 |
Subsequently, record collectors encountered a series of Fischer-Dieskau's
watercolors that served as cover art for DG's series of reissued
recordings in honor of Fischer-Dieskau's 60th birthday in 1985.
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Hindemith 1984 |
Since his exhibition debut in 1980, Fischer-Dieskau's paintings
have been displayed frequently in Germany, Austria, France, and
Japan. The most recent exhibition was in June 2000 at the Galerie
Dietz in Potsdam.
The intellectual curiosity, versatility, and productivity
that characterize Fischer-Dieskau in the other aspects of his
artistic life are also present in his painting. He works in a
variety of media (ink, watercolor, pastel, oil, acrylic), in
both representational and non-representational forms, and in
a variety of styles. Those who have seen his work have especially
remarked on his striking portraits, including those of Sviatoslav
Richter, Alfred Brendel, and Julia Varady, but there are also
landscapes, and many abstract works where the emphasis is on
line and color.
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Terrasse im Regen 1980 |
In addition, there are many self-portraits, going back as
far as an early drawing of himself as a 16-year-old. His own
models, inspriations, and favorites among painters range widely:
Moreau, Courbet, Klee, Beckmann, Janssen, and Gerhard Richter,
to name just a few. When asked, as he frequently is, about the
connection between his painting and his music, he tends to minimize
it, seeing painting as an art that appeals to entirely different
senses and calls upon a different aspect of his artistic personality,
yet quite a number of his paintings have musical themes.
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Portrait der Mutter 1965 |
Beim Nähen 1981 |
Those who see Fischer-Dieskau's paintings may be attracted
or repelled by them, but anyone who sees them must be convinced
of the seriousness of his devotion to this art. He is, as art
historian Werner Spiess observed, anything but a "Sunday
painter." But who would have expected anything different?
Comments and Opinions
- "The age of reproduction has not yet managed to render invalid
the originality of a work of art. There is a deep and lasting need
within us to see ourselves in art, a sort of challenge, but also
a confirmation that cannot be imitated or replaced by any other
reality." (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Reverberations)
- "Following a memory from my childhood, I have collected the
entire spectrum of art history in illustrations, which I have organized
so that all the works are easy to find." There are many truths;
therefore there is no truth" stated Nietzsche, and art provides
the proof. One comes close to the conclusion that our everyday life,
the so-called reality, is actually only a construct secured by custom
and consent, one of a number of possibilities. Otherwise there would
be no history of seeing, no development in art, just reproductions
of an eternal sameness." (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Zeit eines
Lebens)
- "The immediate translation of his own ideas into symbolical
form proved at least to be irrestible. The decision came after visitng
an exhibition of works by Paul Klee, the swiss painter, in Berlin
in 1960. The "play of colors" there exercised an enormous
spell on him. Just as he tells young singers that the most important
lesson is to "learn by listening," so he too began to
"learn by looking." It seems remarkable that Fischer-Dieskau,
whenever he writes or speaks about painting, tries, like every outside
observer, to build first of all a bridge between his profession
as a singer and that of a painter." (Hans A. Neunzig, Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau: A Biography)
- "What he brings to personal expression here takes place in
the context a freedom that doesn't need to take account of taste
or opinions, because the significance of his painting lies ulimately
in the fact that this painting has to exist. One of his first remarks
in his studio still rings in my ears: It is a case of a very serious
occupation. And he added that this work at the easel had in the
meantime made itself so autonomous that he couldn't live without
it any longer. He spoke of "an activity constant over time."
This existential statement must touch anyone who stands before these
works. For what can move a person like him, who is a bringer of
happiness like no other, to seek out an additional happiness? It
is the singer's fear of time running out. In his studio, all this
came together in a profound impression: this is not the place of
a Sunday painter who is looking something to while away the time."
(Werner Spiess, "Das Nichterlebte ersetzen")
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