Dietrich Schuchardt was born on the island of Rügen in 1945. Along with her other three children, his pregnant mother had fled her home in Hinterpommern. The victorious Russian army was marching on Berlin. She arrived with hundreds of other women, children, and aged refugees to the island's overcrowded hospital of Bergen. Schuchardt was born on February 14th, the same day the British Air Force destroyed Dresden. The winter of 1945 was extremely brutal, with temperatures well below zero and 2 meters of snow. Thousands of Germans, fleeing from the ravaged Eastern German areas towards the West, had nearly nothing to eat. The Bergen hospital obstetrician cautioned Schuchardt's mother to leave her new born baby behind, predicting the infant could not survive the harsh conditions. She refused to give him up. And the baby survived!
The family lived in Erfurt, and then eventually settled in Offenburg in Baden-Württemberg in the South West of Germany, where Schuchardt attended school. He left the Gymnasium and entered a three year apprenticeship as a graphic designer, after which he entered the Navy and served for 18 months. In 1966 he began a two year training period as an art teacher and since 1969 Schuchardt has been teaching art. Despite teaching full-time he has remained a highly productive artist, thanks to his prodigious discipline. He is a completely self taught artist who received little artistic or technical inspiration or help in his formal training. He considers Dürer, Dali, Patinier, and Max Ernst among the artists who most influenced him. The artist continues to live and work in the lush Black Forest region of Offenburg with his wife, Annelies. They have two children, Julia and Marc.
The universe of Dietrich Schuchardt's oeuvre exists centered in nature, informed by the white chalk cliffs of his birthplace of Rügen, the Black Forest of southern Germany where he lives and works, and his extensive travels. Beauty, wonder, and mystery are found in the continuous cycles of decay and regeneration. Man, and his consciousness, tools, and technologies are bound into these immutable cycles.
The artist works primarily in three mediums. Images are most often initially conceived and rendered as meticulous drawings, exquisite and precise in their draftsmanship. These works are usually drawn in pencil on vellum and can be extraordinarily detailed. Those compositions that exert the greatest fascination on the artist may be further developed as gouache paintings, painstakingly executed and taking from a few weeks to as long as half a year to complete. The time period between the completion of a drawing and the beginning of a corresponding gouache can be as little as a few days or as long as several years. Schuchardt has also gained considerable renown as a master engraver and has created over 250 etching editions to date. Using an antique phonograph needle, the artist engraves a copper plate. The engraving process for one etching can take well over 100 hours. After the engraving is complete, the plate is etched in an acid bath after which it may be inked and printed, yielding black and white prints pulled one at a time. In an almost extinct tradition, Schuchardt then hand paints each impression in watercolors and the result is a limited edition print that is a true original in the strictest sense of the word.
An original etching of Dietrich Schuchardt is an artwork of extraordinary rarity and beauty.
Unlike the majority of graphics created in this, the computer age, Schuchardt engraves each etching by hand with an antique phonograph needle and copper plate. It is not uncommon for a single etching to require over 100 hours for the engraving process alone. After the engraving has been completed, the copper plate is treated in an acid bath after which it can be inked and an individual print may be pulled. This "first state" etching is in black and white but the process is not complete. Schuchardt then hand paints each impression one at a time in watercolor. The breathtakingly beautiful result is a truly original graphic artwork in the strictest sense of the word.
The family lived in Erfurt, and then eventually settled in Offenburg in Baden-Württemberg in the South West of Germany, where Schuchardt attended school. He left the Gymnasium and entered a three year apprenticeship as a graphic designer, after which he entered the Navy and served for 18 months. In 1966 he began a two year training period as an art teacher and since 1969 Schuchardt has been teaching art. Despite teaching full-time he has remained a highly productive artist, thanks to his prodigious discipline. He is a completely self taught artist who received little artistic or technical inspiration or help in his formal training. He considers Dürer, Dali, Patinier, and Max Ernst among the artists who most influenced him. The artist continues to live and work in the lush Black Forest region of Offenburg with his wife, Annelies. They have two children, Julia and Marc.
The universe of Dietrich Schuchardt's oeuvre exists centered in nature, informed by the white chalk cliffs of his birthplace of Rügen, the Black Forest of southern Germany where he lives and works, and his extensive travels. Beauty, wonder, and mystery are found in the continuous cycles of decay and regeneration. Man, and his consciousness, tools, and technologies are bound into these immutable cycles.
The artist works primarily in three mediums. Images are most often initially conceived and rendered as meticulous drawings, exquisite and precise in their draftsmanship. These works are usually drawn in pencil on vellum and can be extraordinarily detailed. Those compositions that exert the greatest fascination on the artist may be further developed as gouache paintings, painstakingly executed and taking from a few weeks to as long as half a year to complete. The time period between the completion of a drawing and the beginning of a corresponding gouache can be as little as a few days or as long as several years. Schuchardt has also gained considerable renown as a master engraver and has created over 250 etching editions to date. Using an antique phonograph needle, the artist engraves a copper plate. The engraving process for one etching can take well over 100 hours. After the engraving is complete, the plate is etched in an acid bath after which it may be inked and printed, yielding black and white prints pulled one at a time. In an almost extinct tradition, Schuchardt then hand paints each impression in watercolors and the result is a limited edition print that is a true original in the strictest sense of the word.
An original etching of Dietrich Schuchardt is an artwork of extraordinary rarity and beauty.
Unlike the majority of graphics created in this, the computer age, Schuchardt engraves each etching by hand with an antique phonograph needle and copper plate. It is not uncommon for a single etching to require over 100 hours for the engraving process alone. After the engraving has been completed, the copper plate is treated in an acid bath after which it can be inked and an individual print may be pulled. This "first state" etching is in black and white but the process is not complete. Schuchardt then hand paints each impression one at a time in watercolor. The breathtakingly beautiful result is a truly original graphic artwork in the strictest sense of the word.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
© Dietrich Schuchardt
Posts
