Biography

Martin Kippenberger was one of the most influential German artists of his generation. Emerging alongside Albert Oehlen and Günther Förg, Kippenberger’s work often featured caustic commentary on the art world and reactionary takes on iconic art-historical tropes. “My style is where you see the individual and where a personality is communicated through actions, decisions, single objects and facts, where the whole draws together to form history,” he once explained. Born on February 25, 1953,​ in Dortmund, Germany, he attended the Hochschule für Bildende Kunst where he was influenced by the work of Sigmar Polke. After graduating, he became a member of the burgeoning Cologne art scene and developed a reputation for his politically charged and provocative work. Though he employed a number of artistic disciplines, many of Kippenberger’s best-known works are paintings, including his series of self-portraits from 1988. Kippenberger’s life was cut short at the age of 44 on March 7, 1997 from liver cancer in Vienna, Austria. Posthumously, the artist has been subject of several exhibitions including the large-scale show “Martin Kippenberger: The Problem of Perspective” held at The Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2009. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Tate Gallery in London, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Migros Museum in Zurich, among others.