Exhibition and publication on the diverse artistic works of the architecture professor

Author: Tanja Scheffler

The architect, painter and graphic artist Karlheinz Georgi (born in 1934) influenced the professional paths of multiple generations of architecture students at TU Dresden through his courses on freehand drawing and artistic representation. This went far beyond nature and building studies typical at other colleges. He taught his students the basics of rapid sketching, emphasized three-dimensional representations of rooms and bodies and heightened their awareness of architectural details and urban situations. His influence was so great that his school produced not only numerous excellent design architects and architectural drafters like Dieter Bankert (UJ 3/2018), but also talented artists like Carsten Nicolai. Alongside his long years of teaching, Georgi also created his own, wide-ranging artistic work. Of these, selected works can now be seen at the Dresdner Haus der Architekten (Dresden House of Architects).

Born in Oberhohndorf near Zwickau, Karlheinz Georgi, studied architecture from 1952 to 1958 at what was then still known as the Technische Hochschule Dresden, the forerunner to today’s Technische Universität Dresden. He studied at a time when large building projects were being undertaken in the still widely devastated city and the professors from the Faculty of Architecture planned most of the new buildings on the campus. Back then, however, more and more of the renowned design architects like Walter Henn and Karl Wilhelm Ochs (UJ 6/2018), as well as the Professor of Freehand Drawing Heinrich Röcke, were leaving the college for West Germany. This opened up the path for the upcoming younger generation.

Karlheinz Georgi had always been a master of rapid sketching. His great talent for drawing was noticed by Georg Nerlich, the Professor of Painting and Graphic Arts at the time, who already took him on during his studies in 1955, first as an aid and later as a research assistant. Here, Georgi was able to quickly establish himself and taught from 1964 as a senior assistant and associate lecturer for decades in the fields of freehand drawing and elementary design, painting, color design and architectural representation. Georgi would not allow himself to be directed by the functionaries and provided his students with a wide range of other architectural concepts beyond the proscribed training, which was strongly tailored to the GDR construction industry. This meant he was only named an Associate Lecturer for Freehand Drawing after the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990 and appointed Professor of Architectural Delineation in 1992. After his retirement in 2000, he worked as a freelance painter and graphic artist.

During the GDR period, Georgi also designed building-based artworks and organ cases for churches (incl. in Zittau, Görlitz and Warsaw). One of his best-known applied works is a nine-part panel piece in the Neue Mensa Cafeteria on Bergstraße. In his dissertation (1978), he also considered the “Interactions between Architecture and the Visual Arts”.

A multi-faceted selection of architectural drawings, print graphics and paintings by Karlheinz Georgi from various creative periods can now be seen thanks to the efforts of Prof. Niels-Christian Fritsche, one of Georgi’s former students and his later successor at the Institute of Foundations of Design and Architectural Delineation. The artwork on show at the exhibition includes some landscapes in the tradition of the Dresden Romantic Style, as well as various abstract compositions. This exhibition was organized by Fritsche together with the art historian Gwendolin Kremer, Curator at TU Dresden’s Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections and the Stiftung Sächsischer Architekten (Foundation of Architects in Saxony), which belongs to the Chamber of Architects. A catalog with comprehensive images has also been created.

Karlheinz Georgi Exhibition, Architektenkammer Sachsen, Haus der Architekten, Goetheallee 37, 01309 Dresden, through September 20, 2018, open Mon-Fri, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm. www.aksachsen.org Karlheinz Georgi Catalog, published by: Stiftung Sächsischer Architekten, Edited by: Susann Buttolo, ISBN 978- 3-95498-425-1, price: 18 Euro. This publication appears as the fourth volume of the Foundation’s series “Contributions to Architecture” and can either be obtained at the exhibition or ordered via email at .

Dieser Artikel ist im Dresdner Universitätsjournal 13/2018 vom 04. September 2018 erschienen. Die komplette Ausgabe ist hier im pdf-Format kostenlos downloadbar. Das UJ kann als gedruckte Zeitung oder als pdf-Datei bei doreen.liesch@tu-dresden.de bestellt werden. Mehr Informationen unter universitaetsjournal.de.