Richard Winther

Richard Ludvig Philip Weibull Winther (23 July 1926, Maribo, Denmark–30 August 2007, Vindeby, Denmark) was a Danish artist.

He focused on painting, graphics, photography and sculpture.

Richard's work was influenced by Asger Jorn and Richard Mortensen, both Danish artists part of the Linien group.

Richard Winther was the youngest of three children, born to Carl Christian Winther and Ely Maria Ricardis Weibull.

He grew up in a sugar factory.

Interested in the arts from an early age, Richard started working on art at age ten and exhibiting his paintings during high school years, after the Linien (The Line) artists' work.

Records of his work exist since the early 1940s.

While an artist, Richard was inspired by his father, who was an engineer and approached not only his work but also other interests in a systematic way.

Therefore Richard's art is the product of intense investigation to arrive to a deep understanding, through process, documentation and creation.

Due to his father and older brother Lambert's interest in photography, Richard started taking pictures when he was ten and later on he built cameras to come away from conventional photography as well as production efficiency to create art.

While some artists focus on a given medium of expression, Richard used multiple techniques: drawing, painting, photography, film, graphic printing, sculpture, collage.

He also wrote, did textile and furniture design.

His themes traveled across the materials and techniques.

Richard Winther was a student at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts where later he became a professor.

He founded the exhibition group Linien II (1947-52), a follow up from Linien with other young artists which initially focused on a spontaneous-abstract style of painting but with time transformed into a geometric-abstract type of movement.

Linien II style falls into the concrete art movement.

Later on some of Richard Winther's work became intensely abstract and had some of the characteristics of the De Stijl/Konkret Art characteristics.

Richard Winther, 12 juni 1947, Digte af Winther, Linien II Udstilling 1947, p. 4.

Richard Winther, 1947, Samtale med GIACOMETTI, Linien II Udstilling 1947, p. 5.

Richard Winther, 1949, Et besøg hos Georges Vantongerloo, Linien 1949, p. 3-4.

Richard Winther experimented with lithography in the 1950s.

Later, his focus shifted to painting the human body.

While always interested in photography, he dedicated a significant part of the 1960s to this technique, which he would revisit time after time the following decades including his last years.

Richard Winther's work is marked by particular themes such as Hieronymus and the biblical flood.

Many of these themes fit the idea of recycled classicism.

He was a member of Eks-Skolen founded in 1961 by one of his friends, the artist Poul Gernes.

There, he taught several upcoming artists, including Per Kirkeby.

Richard Winther received several awards for his work: the Eckersberg Medal in 1971, Thorvaldsen Medal in 1997, and the Prince Eugen Medal.

Richard Winther was also involved in the movie The Wake directed by Michael Kvium and Christian Lemmerz where he was the character St Patrick.

He was a member of the following groups: Arme og Ben, Decembristerne, Linien II, and Den Frie Udstilling.

There is a permanent collection of his work at the Silkeborg Kunstmuseum in Denmark.

Libraries: Helsingør (1974, 2019), Hvidovre (1973), Lyngby (1970), Stege (2001), Tåsinge og Svendborg (1952).

Art groups: Arme & Ben (Luzern 1976, Århus 1977, Tranegården 1977 + 1980, Willumsen Museet 1978, Hedegårdsskolen 1981, Tørring 1982, Aragonien 1983), Decembristerne (1960-1964, 1971, 1973-1975, 2008, 2018), Linien II (1947-1950).

Between 1994 and 2007 he took the idea of recycling forward, making many of his pieces in cardboard.

He took recycling to another level when taking previous artists' lives and works and building further on those personalities.

An example of this approach is illustrated by the pieces Winther generated on Wie, referring to the Danish neoclassical sculptor Wiedewelt and Gammel Holtegaard took selected pieces of this effort and exhibited Winther's work on Wie in 2005.

Further, Richard Winther took his idea of recycling and applied it to his own work: he revisited many paintings of his as well as his photographic cameras accomplishing an "Rdo Re-do" where Rdo was his latest way of signing his art pieces.

Other venues: Fotografisk Center (København, 2011), Gammel Holtegaard (2005), Grafik Galleriet (Næstved, 2017), Kunstforeningen (1968, 1971), Lys over Lolland (2010, 2015), Maison du Danemark (Paris, 1980), Møstings Hus (Frederisksberg, 2011), Nikolaj (København, 1989), Richard Winthers Hus (Vindeby, 2012-2023), Trefoldigheden (København, 1951), UMass Art Gallery (Dartmouth, Massachusetts, 2009).

Museums: Fuglsang Kunstmuseum (2012), Glyptoteket (1981, 1984, 1988), Museet i Sundsvall (1972), Museum Jorn (2010), Randers Kunstmuseum (1970), Statens Museum for Kunst (1975 (Kobberstiksamlingen), 1988), Stevns Museum (1963), Thorvaldsens Museum (1966, 2018).

Galleries: Borch (Berlin 2014), Clausens Kunsthandel / Banja Rathnov Galleri (1954, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2018), Daner Galleriet (1977), Galleri DAMP (2011), Galleri Klejn (2013), Galleri Köpcke (1959), Galleri Ole Jensen (1966, 1972, 1974), Galleri Tom Christoffersen (2012, 2013, 2021), Niels Macholms Kunsthandel (1943, 1952), P. H. Nielsen (Fåborg, 1967), Tal R galleri (2013).