Mission

The Foundation's Mission

The Foundation was set up in 1989 by the Krefeld light and object artist Adolf Luther (1912- 1990) and in 1990 accredited by the State of North Rhine-Westfalia as a non-profit organisation founded under private law.

Dieter Pützhofen, Eberhard Stock, Dr. Magdalena Broska, Gregor Kathstede – © samla.de
Dieter Pützhofen, Eberhard Stock, Dr. Magdalena Broska, Gregor Kathstede – © samla.de

The aims and task of the foundation consist in promoting and supporting research into the intellectual foundations of Concrete Art since the early 1950s, the portrayal and further development of the city of Krefeld as a major focus in Concrete Art, and the upkeep of the founder’s artistic oeuvre and his collection.

The Adolf Luther Foundation is the artist’s sole legatee and thus the holder of the rights to his works and writings.

The foundation, which is located in the building that formerly served as the artist’s home and studio, is under the full-time direction of the art historian Dr Magdalena Broska. Apart from supervising the estate, it maintains close contact with museums, collectors, galleries and auction houses. A small team of conservators and a scientific assistant are at hand to write expertises, carry out conservation work, and to maintain a digital catalogue raisonné.

The foundation seeks to keep Adolf Luther’s work alive by organising exhibitions focused on Concrete Art and Adolf Luther’s concept of light. In Luther’s understanding of Concrete Art, the underlying concept not only revolves around an inherent elementarism in the painting, as stated by Theo van Doesburg,  but also directs its focus to phenomena outside of the image, such as light, space and movement.

“It is nature itself that is concrete.”

– Adolf Luther

Luther Betacam 010001

Apart from Adolf Luther’s oeuvre, the foundation also keeps a collection of works from among on others the Dusseldorf Zero group, the Nouveaux Réalistes, and works by Joseph Beuys, Antoni Tàpies, Ad Rein­hardt and Mario Merz. A further focus of the collection consists of examples of Geometrical Abstraction from the 1920s and 1930s – Ella Berg­mann-Michel, Henrik Berlewi, Theo van Does­burg, El Lissitzky, Kasimir Male­vich, and Fried­rich Vordem­berge-Gilde­wart. The collection, which resides in part in the form of permanent loans in museums where it is accessible to the public, has been expanded since the middle of the 1990s by purchases of works by young artists, including for instance the winners of the Adolf Luther Foundation Art Award Andreas Slominski, Michel Verjux, Bethan Huws, Stephen Craig, Katja Strunz and Julius Popp.

Adolf Luther Foundation

was set up in 1989 by the Krefeld light and object artist Adolf Luther (1912- 1990) and in 1990 accredited by the State of North Rhine-Westfalia as a non-profit organisation founded under private law.

Address

Adolf-Luther-Stiftung
Viktoriastraße 112
47799 Krefeld
Germany

Email

info@adolf-luther-stiftung.com

Telephone

+49 (2151) 27 91 3