Early Life and Artistic Training

Henning Kürschner was born in 1941 in Wernigerode, Germany. His early years were shaped by a dual interest in the structure of language and the history of visual forms. Before committing fully to the canvas, he spent time studying Art History and German Studies in Mainz and Tübingen. These academic pursuits provided a foundation for how he would later approach the composition of his images.

The focus of his work shifted toward the physical act of painting when he moved to Berlin. From 1963 to 1968, he studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Berlin. During these years, he worked under the guidance of Fred Thieler, learning the technical nuances of the medium. It was a period of intense formation, where the theoretical knowledge of his earlier studies met the practical demands of the studio.

By 1967, Kürschner was part of a specific creative circle in Berlin, holding membership in the group "Großgörschen 35" until 1968. This involvement placed him within a particular segment of the city's artistic landscape during a formative decade. His time in Berlin during the mid-sixties helped define his presence in the local scene before his later academic and professional shifts.

Awards and Academic Career

The years following his studies were marked by a steady accumulation of recognition. In 1971, he was awarded the Rompreis of the Villa Massimo. This was followed closely by the Premio Città di Garda in 1972. By 1975, he had received the Preis der Neuen Darmstädter Sezession. These honors coincided with a transition into teaching and institutional roles.

His presence in academia grew through several appointments. He was appointed to Fachhochschule Hildesheim in 1976, and by 1979, he held a professorship at Fachhochschule Münster. A long tenure followed at the Hochschule der Bildenden Künste, Berlin, where he served as a professor from 1981 to 2007. During this period, his standing within the Berlin art community was acknowledged with the Will-Grohmann-Preis from the Akademie der Künste Berlin in 1996.

Artistic Style and Technique

Kürschner’s practice moves between the boundaries of abstraction and figuration. He often works with large-scale monochrome color surfaces that act as backgrounds for his subjects. Within these fields, forms and figures emerge through the application of multi-colored pigments. These shapes are not defined by outlines, but instead rely on the meeting of different colors to establish their presence on the surface.

The way he handles paint suggests a focus on the physical weight of color. In works like Siamesische Figur (originally titled Expressive), he uses oil on canvas to build a sense of presence. His approach avoids the sharp edges of traditional representation, opting instead for a method where color itself dictates the structure of the figure. This creates a tension between the solidness of a form and the fluid nature of the paint used to create it.

Notable Works and Collections

The physical presence of Kürschner's work often occupies significant space. His oil on canvas piece, Spaltung (1993), measures 170 x 200 cm. This work was held within the Bayer Collection and was acquired by Bayer AG, Leverkusen in 2005. Another large-scale presence is found in Blaue Figur (1991), an acrylic on mounting paper that reaches 184 × 91 cm.

His earlier output is represented in institutional settings, such as the Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich, which holds one of his works. In the late 1960s, he produced Letting Off Steam, a work dating from about 1968.