Werner Gutzeit

Werner Gutzeit and his “Growing together” which depicts the fusion of two church areas

Werner Gutzeit (born 1st December 1932 in Copenhagen, Denmark) is a Danish artist. He is one of the most important representatives of Neo-Cubism.

(GNU) Photo: Regina Bouillon
Werner Gutzeit “Goose-Fish”

Werner Gutzeit “Nasturtium”

Werner Gutzeit “Goose-Fish with bottle”

Biography

His mother was Danish and his father was a German designer and painter. In Copenhagen, Gutzeit studied design and after that, he also studied education. He spent some years in the Kongo and in India, working for the Danish Mission Council. Later, he designed charity stamps for this institution and received an award for the design from the Danish Queen. In the seventies, he moved to Germany, where he founded an artists’ organisation.

Works

Werner Gutzeit has a penchant for cubism, though he also paints in other styles. He admires Feininger who was a first point of orientation in the early years. Gutzeit describes his way of perceiving as follows: “Everything I see has a defined geometrical form. For me, a palm is a box, interlarded with veins, nerves and muscles. I am not round myself, I am squared.”

Gutzeit’s sense of humour leaves traces in almost all of his paintings and sculptures, many of which have a very special story. Since 1950, his heraldic animal is the goose-fish, a mythical combination of goose and fish. It has become his logo.

Other typical motifs in his paintings are harlequin, cat and pumpkin. Apart from pictures, the artist creates reversible sculptures.

Werner Gutzeit “Reversible Sculpture”

Art collection

During his active time in the artists’ organisation, Gutzeit has collected a huge number of paintings of renowned colleagues he met like for example Hans Gross, Angelo Bossi and Milan Klima. He has archived all the pictures together with the biographies of the artists. The collection is an interesting source for art historians.

External links

• Personal Website