Neo Rauch
Both parents died in a train accident in May 1960. Rauch then grew up with his grandparents in Aschersleben near Magdeburg. After graduating from school with a high school diploma, Rauch initially studied with Professor Arno Rink at the Leipzig University of Graphics and Book Arts in 1981. From 1986 to 1990, Neo Rauch was a master student of Professor Bernhard Heisig at the Leipzig Academy. After German reunification, he became Professor Heisig's assistant at the Leipzig Academy from 1993 to 1998. Rauch became one of the main representatives of the so-called "Leipzig School". This became a synonym for the realistic painting that predominated in the former GDR, while abstract and conceptual art set the tone in the West.
In 1997, Neo Rauch received the Leipziger Volkszeitung Art Prize. With the end of the euphoria surrounding the artists of the so-called "Young British Artists" promoted by Charles Saatchi, the "Leipzig School" became the focus of the international art market from the end of the 1990s. From 1999 onward, after numerous exhibitions in the most renowned galleries, Rauch became a star of the international art trade, especially in the USA. As a result, realistic and figurative painting was encountered more and more frequently, not only in galleries and museums in East Germany, but also in the West. From August 2005 to February 2009, Neo Rauch, succeeding Arno Rink, was appointed professor at the Leipzig University of Graphics and Book Art.
From 2013 to 2016 the artist was accompanied by the filmmaker Nicola Graef. The recordings resulted in the documentary film "Neo Rauch - Companions and Companions," which celebrated its premiere on November 2, 2016 in Leipzig at the 59th International "Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film"; The cinema debut followed on March 2, 2017. In his career, Rauch was represented in particular by the gallerist Gerd Harry Lybkes of the "Eigen + Art" gallery (Leipzig, Berlin) and by David Zwirner in New York. In 2018, Neo Rauch received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and in 2019 he was honored with the Taurus European Cultural Prize.
In 1997, Neo Rauch received the Leipziger Volkszeitung Art Prize. With the end of the euphoria surrounding the artists of the so-called "Young British Artists" promoted by Charles Saatchi, the "Leipzig School" became the focus of the international art market from the end of the 1990s. From 1999 onward, after numerous exhibitions in the most renowned galleries, Rauch became a star of the international art trade, especially in the USA. As a result, realistic and figurative painting was encountered more and more frequently, not only in galleries and museums in East Germany, but also in the West. From August 2005 to February 2009, Neo Rauch, succeeding Arno Rink, was appointed professor at the Leipzig University of Graphics and Book Art.
From 2013 to 2016 the artist was accompanied by the filmmaker Nicola Graef. The recordings resulted in the documentary film "Neo Rauch - Companions and Companions," which celebrated its premiere on November 2, 2016 in Leipzig at the 59th International "Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film"; The cinema debut followed on March 2, 2017. In his career, Rauch was represented in particular by the gallerist Gerd Harry Lybkes of the "Eigen + Art" gallery (Leipzig, Berlin) and by David Zwirner in New York. In 2018, Neo Rauch received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and in 2019 he was honored with the Taurus European Cultural Prize.
