Biography
Hans Diebschlag was born in Bensheim-Auerbach, Hessen, Germany in 1951 but soon after moved to nearby Rüsselsheim. Encouraged to gain a vocational training he duly trained as a typesetter but this completed he turned to his true calling as a painter. He studied at the Staedel Art Academy in Frankfurt and then at the Academy for Design in Offenbach.
He left his native country in 1976 for England and continues to live and work in Sussex although he retains close ties to Rüsselsheim and his homeland.
Hans paints figurative works using traditional glazing or overlay techniques working largely with oil and tempera. His work is inspired by a multitude of interests and influences which continue to evolve and which he appropriates to express his take on life. Particular interests are the process of becoming truly human, spirituality and mythology, both eastern and western, and a great love of India.
In addition to a large body of single pictures these interests have inspired series of paintings including the modern meditation images in the Calendarium an annual cycle; the Hanuman paintings that retell the Indian Ramayana epic against the background of the artist's overland trip to India (catalogue 2001); a contemporary update of the old testament Plagues (catalogue 2005); a life story of the Tibetan Buddhist saint Milarepa set in the English landscape, and the spirit in the landscape with tree portraits particularly of the ancient yew.
Hans has created another body of work that deals with the influence of growing up in Rüsselsheim, a town dominated by the car manufacturer Opel. The Rüsselsheim pictures have been shown in a number of exhibitions and featured in two catalogues Rücksicht auf Rüsselsheim (1993) and Erinnerungen (1997). A film portrait of Hans Diebschlag Die Diebschlag Monologe (2008) looks at the artist, Rüsselsheim and Opel and against a continuing series of his work illustrating the triumphs and frustrations of Opel and the lives of the Rüsselsheimer employees.
Diebschlag's work has been at the centre of controversy with We Love the Marching (1992). The story of the painting, which recalled a dark chapter in Rüsselsheim's past, and the controversy it created, a controversy that escalated when the picture was removed from the council chambers for which it was commissioned, is fully documented by forum urbanum in Dialogue (2000).
Hans works predominately from his studio at home in Sussex where he lives with his second wife Shelagh. His work has been exhibited internationally since 1982 and his pictures are in private, commercial and municipal collections worldwide.
Hans Diebschlag was born in Bensheim-Auerbach, Hessen, Germany in 1951 but soon after moved to nearby Rüsselsheim. Encouraged to gain a vocational training he duly trained as a typesetter but this completed he turned to his true calling as a painter. He studied at the Staedel Art Academy in Frankfurt and then at the Academy for Design in Offenbach.
He left his native country in 1976 for England and continues to live and work in Sussex although he retains close ties to Rüsselsheim and his homeland.
Hans paints figurative works using traditional glazing or overlay techniques working largely with oil and tempera. His work is inspired by a multitude of interests and influences which continue to evolve and which he appropriates to express his take on life. Particular interests are the process of becoming truly human, spirituality and mythology, both eastern and western, and a great love of India.
In addition to a large body of single pictures these interests have inspired series of paintings including the modern meditation images in the Calendarium an annual cycle; the Hanuman paintings that retell the Indian Ramayana epic against the background of the artist's overland trip to India (catalogue 2001); a contemporary update of the old testament Plagues (catalogue 2005); a life story of the Tibetan Buddhist saint Milarepa set in the English landscape, and the spirit in the landscape with tree portraits particularly of the ancient yew.
Hans has created another body of work that deals with the influence of growing up in Rüsselsheim, a town dominated by the car manufacturer Opel. The Rüsselsheim pictures have been shown in a number of exhibitions and featured in two catalogues Rücksicht auf Rüsselsheim (1993) and Erinnerungen (1997). A film portrait of Hans Diebschlag Die Diebschlag Monologe (2008) looks at the artist, Rüsselsheim and Opel and against a continuing series of his work illustrating the triumphs and frustrations of Opel and the lives of the Rüsselsheimer employees.
Diebschlag's work has been at the centre of controversy with We Love the Marching (1992). The story of the painting, which recalled a dark chapter in Rüsselsheim's past, and the controversy it created, a controversy that escalated when the picture was removed from the council chambers for which it was commissioned, is fully documented by forum urbanum in Dialogue (2000).
Hans works predominately from his studio at home in Sussex where he lives with his second wife Shelagh. His work has been exhibited internationally since 1982 and his pictures are in private, commercial and municipal collections worldwide.
Commentary
"a precious brightness that reveals a plane beyond where existence is light-heartedly allowed to exist, where it is alright to be" Ulrich Kramer
"Hans Diebschlag bridges the divide between western and eastern culture. He intertwines the two in a completely new way" Norbert Küpper
"Symbolism and surrealism are closer to Diebschlag than the orient inspired salon painters of the 19th century....Diebschlag is therefore closer to movements that have more to do with representing inner emotional and spiritual conditions" Roland Held
"Hans Diebschlag's pictures are deceptively simple to look at; the surfaces of these accessibly figurative paintings reflect the world about and beyond them but, like still bright water, the reflection ofone world overlays, obscures, yet does not quite conceal another. A slight shift in our angle of observation and each realm interpenetrates the other" Larry Berryman
"a precious brightness that reveals a plane beyond where existence is light-heartedly allowed to exist, where it is alright to be" Ulrich Kramer
"Hans Diebschlag bridges the divide between western and eastern culture. He intertwines the two in a completely new way" Norbert Küpper
"Symbolism and surrealism are closer to Diebschlag than the orient inspired salon painters of the 19th century....Diebschlag is therefore closer to movements that have more to do with representing inner emotional and spiritual conditions" Roland Held
"Hans Diebschlag's pictures are deceptively simple to look at; the surfaces of these accessibly figurative paintings reflect the world about and beyond them but, like still bright water, the reflection ofone world overlays, obscures, yet does not quite conceal another. A slight shift in our angle of observation and each realm interpenetrates the other" Larry Berryman
hans diebschlag
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