Wolfgang Tillmans

by Wolfgang Tillmans, Theodora Vischer

In his creative artistic work, Wolfgang Tillmans (*1968 in Remscheid) revolutionized the medium of photography in an unprecedented way and opened it up towards other media. Beginning in the early nineties, Tillmans documented the people and situations in his immediate surroundings in scenes from London, New York, or Berlin, creating the portrait of a new generation in a style-defining manner. Since the late nineties he has been creating a greater number of cameraless, abstract images that develop from his direct work with and on photographic paper, some of which acquire a sculptural, object-like character. He has also been developing innovative, anti-hierarchical installations of his photographs in space in exhibition contexts. This catalogue is published on the occasion of an extensive exhibition of Tillmans’s oeuvre at the Fondation Beyeler in Basel and arranges and groups his works in a fresh way.

304 pages, Hardcover

Published May 30, 2017

About the author

Wolfgang Tillmans is an influential contemporary German photographer whose work is in dialogue with artists such as Andreas Gursky and Gerhard Richter. Emerging in the 1990s with his snapshots of teenagers, clubs, and LGBTQ culture, Tillman’s practice has expanded to include diaristic photography, large-scale abstraction, and commissioned magazine work. “I want the pictures to be working in both directions,” the artist has said. “I accept that they speak about me, and yet at the same time, I want and expect them to function in terms of the viewer and their experience.” Capturing landscapes from an airplane window, still lifes of crustaceans, or straightforward portraits, his work conveys the profundity of an encyclopedic archive. Tillmans’ attention to even the most incidental moments can be seen in his Concorde Grid (1997), a group of 56 color photos depicting the airplane taking off along with the surrounding scenes captured during the moments in between.

Born on August 16, 1968 in Remscheid, West Germany, Tillmans spent the early part of his career in London after graduating from the Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design. In 2000, he was awarded the prestigious Turner Prize, marking the first time the prize had been awarded to a photographer or non-British artist. In 2006, Tillmans established Between Bridges, a non-profit exhibition space located in Berlin. His survey show “Wolfgang Tillmans: 2017” opened at the Tate Modern in London to critical acclaim, cementing his stature in the contemporary art world. The artist currently lives and works between Berlin, Germany and London, United Kingdom. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, and the Kunstmuseum Basel, among others.