During more than 60 years, Günter Rittner created a remarkable artistic oeuvre, and has become widely known by orders of personages from politics, industry, science and art. His exceptional talent is his deep empathy for his models. As a master of portrait-painting, he portrayed extraordinary people. Since the early fifties, his preferred models have been artists, especially the personalities of actors and opera-singers, both as private persons and in their roles.
With his inherited histrionic gift, he is able to express habitus, impulse and individuality in a clear style of painting. The diverse colouring, the play of light and shadow make the person's aura and nature seem all alive.
All his great oil portraits, showing a considerable number of well-known actors such as Therese Giehse, Fritz Kortner, Curd Jürgens, Heinz Rühmann, Marcel Marceau and Senta Berger, then the concert pianist Elly Ney, cardinal Friedrich Wetter, the writer Anette Kolb, and also the images of the former President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Walter Scheel, of the former Chancellors Ludwig Erhard and Kurt-Georg Kiesinger, of Hans-Jochen Vogel and Franz-Josef Strauß, and many others, are of timeless validity.
Günter Rittner was born in Breslau on 11th March, 1927. After his return from his war captivity, he found a second home in Munich where he started his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1948. His masters were Prof. Hiller-brand and Prof. Teutsch. As a young man, Günter Rittner also started writing. Never at leisure, he occupied himself with studies of philosophy and life itself. On his trips to foreign countries, he transformed his impressions of people and landscapes into colours.
Günter Rittner was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz. His works have found their place in the Municipal Gallery of Munich, in the Municipal Museum of Munich, in the Bavarian State Opera, in the Kammerspiele (Munich), and in the Schiller Theatre, Berlin. His images can also be found in the Chancellor's Office of the Federal Republic of Germany (Chancellors' Gallery), in the Federal Ministries, and in numerous private collections of art.
The artist lived in Munich and Gran Canaria for a long time.
Günter Rittner died on November 23, 2020 in Munich.
With his inherited histrionic gift, he is able to express habitus, impulse and individuality in a clear style of painting. The diverse colouring, the play of light and shadow make the person's aura and nature seem all alive.
All his great oil portraits, showing a considerable number of well-known actors such as Therese Giehse, Fritz Kortner, Curd Jürgens, Heinz Rühmann, Marcel Marceau and Senta Berger, then the concert pianist Elly Ney, cardinal Friedrich Wetter, the writer Anette Kolb, and also the images of the former President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Walter Scheel, of the former Chancellors Ludwig Erhard and Kurt-Georg Kiesinger, of Hans-Jochen Vogel and Franz-Josef Strauß, and many others, are of timeless validity.
Günter Rittner was born in Breslau on 11th March, 1927. After his return from his war captivity, he found a second home in Munich where he started his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1948. His masters were Prof. Hiller-brand and Prof. Teutsch. As a young man, Günter Rittner also started writing. Never at leisure, he occupied himself with studies of philosophy and life itself. On his trips to foreign countries, he transformed his impressions of people and landscapes into colours.
Günter Rittner was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz. His works have found their place in the Municipal Gallery of Munich, in the Municipal Museum of Munich, in the Bavarian State Opera, in the Kammerspiele (Munich), and in the Schiller Theatre, Berlin. His images can also be found in the Chancellor's Office of the Federal Republic of Germany (Chancellors' Gallery), in the Federal Ministries, and in numerous private collections of art.
The artist lived in Munich and Gran Canaria for a long time.
Günter Rittner died on November 23, 2020 in Munich.