Franz Erhard Walther

Franz Erhard Walther was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he lives and works. Walther studied at the Düsseldorf Kunstakademie in 1962-64, and lived in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He has exhibited extensively worldwide since 1967. He participated in documentas 5 (1972), 6 (1977), 7 (1982), and 8 (1987), and his work was included in the landmark 1969 exhibition When Attitudes Become Form, Kunsthalle Bern, Bern. A major retrospective of his work since 1958 is currently on view at Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Geneva. An exhibition of Walther's work from the 1960s will open at Peter Freeman, Inc. New York, on March 11 and remains on view until May 1, 2010.

Images: Franz Erhard Walther, Sockel, vier Bereiche (Keeping the Canvas Square in Shape), number 49 from 1.Werksatz, 1967 & Franz Erhard Walther, Connection (Head), number 31 from 1.Werksatz, 1967, cotton Photos: Timm Rautert. Courtesy Peter Freeman, Inc.

The show is devoted to the artist’s early works from the 1960s, most of which were created when Walther

lived in New York City from 1967 to 1971.

The exhibition presents four elements from Walther’s “1.Werksatz” (“First Set of Works”), a

series of fifty-eight canvas objects intended for use. Each work in the series – whether a

kilometer-long cord meant to be unrolled, a bag with pockets in which to collect objects while

walking, or a padded curtain hanging in a doorway through which the visitor must pass – draws

attention to the body as sculptural form by guiding the participants through specific actions.

When several works from the group were shown in Harald Szeemann’s seminal exhibition

“When Attitudes Become Form” (1968), Walther noted: “These objects are only instruments,

they have little perceptual significance. The objects are important only through the possibilities

originating from their use.”

The works presented at Peter Freeman, Inc. span the entirety of Walther’s early production,

beginning with his first participatory piece: “Two Cardboard Rolls (Piece to Overcome

Embarrassment)” (1962), which consists of tubes meant to be handled. In “Connection (Head)”

(1967), two viewers place their heads through a single piece of canvas, while facing each other.

In “Plinth, Four Areas” (1969), participants stand in the corners of a canvas block, pulling it taut.