Jörg Immendorff was born in Bleckede, near Lüneburg, in 1945. He is considered one of Germany’s most internationally successful artists. Beginning in 1963 he attended Düsseldorf’s art academy, first studying stage design under Teo Otto and then fine arts under Joseph Beuys. After several provocative art activities he was expelled from the academy in 1969. In East Berlin Immendorff met A. R. Penck in 1976 and they became close friends. This is manifested in their common concerns: both artists take on post-war German issues in their paintings and actions. Around this time Immendorff began with his sixteen-part, large-format series Café Deutschland. From the 1980s onwards he taught in various cities, among them Frankfurt am Main, Düsseldorf and Tianjin, China. His works were and are exhibited internationally. He participated in 1972 and 1983 in documenta 5 and 7 in Kassel, and in 1972 in the 37th Venice Biennale. He produced stage and costume designs, including work for the Salzburg Festival in 1994. The artist was honoured with numerous awards, for example the Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany in 1998 and the Goslar Kaiserring in 2006. After a long, difficult illness, through which he continued to be artistically active, Immendorff died in Düsseldorf in 2007.
