Egon and Hannelore Guenther with friends at their home on Linksfield Ridge, Johannesburg (img South African Panorama)

Note

Read about the Mannheim period in

"Vision und Magie?" Surrealistische Kunst im Nachkriegsdeutschland"

by Prof. Dr. Martin Schieder, Universität Leipzig für Kunst

From 1948 to 1950, Egon Guenther exhibited African art alongside contemporary art in his reopened gallery in Mannheim

(“Testimonies of the early post-war years in African Art in Private German Collections” (K.F. Schädler) (1973)

Not all exhibitions are listed as some data is missing!

This webpage has been put up by The Haenggi Foundation Inc., Basel, in July, 2019 as a tribute to a colleague

We thank Prof. Federico Freschi, Dr Gavin Watkins, Miriam Grech-Cumbo and the Caveng family for making their archives available,

also Fred van Staden for his research on https://sagoldsmiths.blogspot.com/search?q=egon+Guenther

Data retrieved from the Egon Guenther family archives, Chronikstar MARCHIVUM and artists' websites

Additional images and data will be linked in due course from here!

Links

https://art-archives-southafrica.com/

http://www.pelmama.org/Johannesburg_artscene_general.htm

Last update 9th May, 2020

The gallery wing was designed by Donald D. Turgel

Photo © by Paul Vink, illustrated in South African Tatler, Johannesburg, October, 1965,p45

1965 Group Show - Ben Arnold, Giuseppe Cattaneo, Barbara Greig, Hannes Harrs, Sydney Kumalo,

Ezrom Legae, Georgina Ormiston, Cecil Skotnes, Edoardo Villa (31st August)

1966 Ezrom Legae (22nd August)

1967 Sydney Kumalo (Bronzes and Drawings) (21^st February)

1967 Hannes Harrs (Wood sculptures and Paintings) (4th to 24th July)

1967 Edoardo Villa (Sculpture) (22^nd September)

1968 Peter Haden, Hannes Harrs, Sydney Kumalo, Ezrom Legae, Edoardo Villa and the Unknown Masters of Africa (12th November)

1969 Cecil Skotnes (woodcuts) and Peter Haden (sculpture) (21^st October)

1969 Hannes Harrs (Wood sculpture and Paintings) (25^th November)

1971 Hannes Harrs (woodcuts in colour) (10^th March)

(Egon Guenther Gallery - 1^st floor Connaught Mansions, 215 Bree Street) (©EG archives)

1957 Willi Baumeister (1989-1955) (paintings and drawings) (5^th June) (opening of gallery and exhibition by Jack Lewsen)

1957 Rudolf Scharpf (woodcuts, etchings and monotypes) (21^st August) (opening by Cecil Williams)

1957 An exhibition of fine Swiss timepieces – Watches of tomorrow (Tuesday 26^th November)

(opening by O. Berchtold, Consul for Switzerland)

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1958 Imo Lieske (Paintings, pastels, monotypes) (29^th April) (opened by Gideon Uys)

1958 Cecil Skotnes (woodcuts) (8^th August) (opened by Zandberg Jansen)

1958 Ernst Geitlinger (paintings) (10^th October) (opening by Cecil Skotnes)

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1959 Bernhard Epple (engravings) (20^th May) (opening by Frank Rosen)

1959 An exhibition of contemporary art, jewellery and horology

(Jewellery by Egon Guenther – Paintings and woodcuts by Willi Baumeister,

Rudolf Scharpf, Imo Lieske, Cecil Skotnes, Ernst Geitlinger – Watches) (25^th November) (opening by Taubie Kushlick)

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1960 Cecil Skotnes (woodcuts) (2nd August) (opened by James Ambrose Brown)

1960 Connoisseur’s Choice (26^th November) (opening by Harold Jeppe)

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1961 J.H. Pierneef (1886-1957) (woodcuts) (11^th February) (opening by Jimmy MacKenzie)

1961 Diederick Düring (Paintings) (25^th March) (opened by Esmé Euvrard)

1961 Anna Vorster (Paintings of Israel and Greece) (15^th April) (opened by A. S. Super)

1961 The Bloemfontein Group (Paintings) (29^th April) (opened by D.H. Ollemans)

1961 Walter Battiss (Paintings, Drawings, Woodcuts, Linocuts, Ceramics) (20^th May) (opened by W.Battiss)

1961 J.H. Pierneef (1886-1957) (paintings, watercolours, drawings) (10^th June) (opened by Elisabeth Eybers)

1961 The Artist’s Touchstone (drawings by 12 outstanding SA draughtsmen:

Harvey/Higgs/Krige/Lipschitz/van Essche/Battiss/Cilliers-Barnard/de Jong/van Heerden/Cattaneo/Skotnes/Ullmann

(8^th July) (opened by Charles Eglington)

1961 Hannes Harrs (Batiks) (5^th August) (opened by Elsabe Sauer)

1961 Work by young and Student Artists (9^th September) (opened by Giuseppe Cattaneo)

1961 Erica Berry (watercolours) (7^th October) (opened by Prof. John Fassler)

1961 Cecily Sash (graphic work) (4^th November) (opened by Cecily Sash)

1961 Frans Claerhout (Paintings) (25^th November) (opened by Ambassador P. Vanderstichelen)

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1962 Group Exhibition:

(Erasmus, Skotnes, Gordon Vorster, Whippman, Ormiston, Cattaneo, Mylchreest, Turvey, Battiss, Peta Marshall, Anna Vorster)

(10^th February) (opened by A.J. Werth)

1962 Gordon Vorster (Graphic Work) (3^rd March) (opened by Gordon Vorster)

1962 Dirk Meerkotter (Ceramics, Paintings) (24^th March) (opened by Cecil Skotnes)

1962 George Boys (Paintings) (17^th April) (opened by Dr Simon Biesheuvel)

1962 Sydney Kumalo (Sculpture and Drawings) (8^th May) (opened by Khabi Mngoma)

1962 Cecil Skotnes (13 Paintings, 3 watercolours, 6 drawings, 1 totem) (5^th June) (opened by Egon Guenther)

1962 Transvaal Student Art (3^rd July) (opened by Esmé Berman)

1962 Renée le Roux (Paintings) (31^st July) (opened by Bartho Smit)

1962 Bettie Cilliers-Barnard (Paintings) (21^st August) (opened by Mimi Coertse)

1962 Jan Buys (Paintings) (4^th September) (opened by Michael Scott)

1962 Anna Vorster (Paintings) (18^th September) (opened by Esmé Berman)

1962 Giuseppe Cattaneo (Satirical Drawings) (23^rd October) (opened by Prof I.D. MacCrone)

1962 Reginald Turvey (Paintings, watercolours) (13^th November) (opened by Lowell Johnson)

1962 Giuseppe Cattaneo, Egon Guenther, Hannes Harrs, Cecily Sash, Cecil Skotnes, Marguerite Stephens,

Phyllis Turgell, Eduardo Villa, Ilana Zygielbaum

(Christmas Exhibition) (27^th November) (opened by Pidie Wilson)

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1963 Cecil Skotnes (Drawings) (Collection Ian Fraser Jones) (5^th February)

1963 Gunther van der Reis (Paintings) (5^th March) (opened by Dr Albert Werth)

1963 Edoardo Villa (Sculptures) (26^th March) (opened by Jamie Uys)

1963 Sydney Kumalo, Cecily Sash, Cecil Skotnes (drawings and woodcuts) (7^th May) (opened by Jack Lewsen)

1963 Baerwind, Epple, Geitlinger, Scharpf (4^th June) (opened by Cecil Skotnes)

1963 Barbara Greig (Ceramic Panels) (6^th August) (opened by Dr Simon Biesheuvel)

1963 Cecily Sash (Paintings) (27^th August)

1963 Maggie Laubser (Paintings (1920-1959) (24^th September) (opened by Egon Guenther)

1963 Amadlozi (Giuseppe Cattaneo, Sydney Kumalo, Cecily Sash, Cecil Skotnes, Edoardo Villa) (15^th October)

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1964 Fred Schimmel (Paintings) (4^th February) (opened by Cecil Skotnes)

1964 Dirk Hudig (Paintings) (13^th March)

1964 Dirk Meerkotter (Paintings and Ceramics) (22^nd April) (opened by A.A. von Maltitz)

1964 Ben Arnold (Sculpture and Drawings) (10^th June)

1964 J.H. Pierneef Festival (jointly with Adler Fielding Galleries over 2 venues - 311 works) (28th August) (catalogue)

1964 Composite Exhibition (22 artists) (10th November) (opened by Monty Ashman)

Egon Guenther Private Gallery – 4 Krans Street – Linksfield, Johannesburg

Egon Guenther in “The Diamond News and the S.A. Watchmaker and Jeweller, February 1957, p. 10

1st public exhibition of original modern jewellery by Egon Guenther held at The Studio, Connaught Mans., 215 Bree Street, Johannesburg, on 25^th November, 1953

Egon Guenther, the gallerist in Mannheim and Johannesburg

Selected exhibitions held (solo and participation in group shows)

Mannheim

1947 Opening Exhibition - works by Max Ackermann, Willi Baumeister, Rudolf Baerwind, Kunz, Otto Ritschl

and Traditional African Sculptures (1^st February)

1947 Bernhard Schultze (Paintings)

1947 Karl Otto Götz (Paintings and Graphics) (14^th June) (solo)

1947 Peter Herkenrath (Paintings) (12th July)

1947 Kölner Künstler (Paintings, Sculptures, Graphics) (30th August)

1947 Berliner Maler und Bildhauer aus dem Kreis der Galerie Gerd Rosen (closing on 29th October)

1947 Rudi Baerwind (Paintings, graphics) (1^st November) (solo)

1947 Alexej v. Jawlensky (1864-1941) (Paintings, Graphics) (6^th December)

1948 Willi Baumeister (Oeuvre) (20th January)

1948 Conrad Westpfahl (31st January)

1948 Max Ackermann (Paintings, Graphics) (solo) (28^th February)

1948 Bernhard Schultze (Paintings, Graphics) (April)

1948 Frans Masereel (woodcuts) (April)

1948 Franz Radziwill (Paintings, Graphics) (May)

1948 Vision und Magie in Malerei und Dichtung – Erste zusammenfassende Ausstellung surrealer Tendenzen deutscher Künstler (19th June)

1948 Deutsche Abstrakte Malerei (Ackermann Baumeister Nay Ritschl) (June-July-August) (small gallery)

1948 „4 Pariser Maler“(Atlan, Gear, Goebel, Henri Goetz) (September)

1948 Willi Baumeister (Collective Exhibition) (13th November) - simultaneously with

"Das Unbehagen an der Modernen Kunst" - a lecture by Dr G.F. Hartlaub relating to the gallery's

Permanent Collection of Masters of the Abstraction and the Surrealism - Exotic Art (on 20th November)

1949 Atlan – Gear – Goebel – Goetz / “4 Maler aus Paris” (Paintings) (15^th February)

1949 Deutsche Maler der Avantgarde - Kreis der Galerie Egon Günther - exhibition held at the

Gemäldegalerie Gewerbemuseum, Kaiserslautern (12th March - 3rd April)

1949 Rudolf Schlichter (35 Paintings, Watercolours, Drawings) (30^th April)

1949 Rudolf Scharpf (Woodcuts) (9^th July)

1949 Peter Herkenrath (Paintings) (17th September)

1949 "Exotische Plastik - Moderne Malerei und Graphik" (19th November)

1950 Heinz Daniel „Bühnenbilder“ (Mannheimer Nationaltheater) (11th February)

1950 "Sehr exotisch" - 3. Karneval der Künstler ("Femina") (18th February)

1950 Edgar Jené (Paintings and Graphics) (18th March)

1950 Max Ackermann (Pantings) (22nd April)

1950 Gruppe ZEN 49 (Paintings - Baumeister,

Winter, Fietz, Cavael, Geiger, Hempel) (Sculptures - Brigitte Meier-Denninghoff) (8^th July)

1950 Bernhard Schultze (Paintings, Graphics) (19^th August)

1950 Epple Gassenmeier Leppien Liske (Paintings + Graphics) (7th Oct)

1950 Boris Kleint (Paintings) (11^th November)

1950 Closing Exhibition (the last of 21 shows) (Paintings and Graphics)

(Ackermann, Willi Baumeister, Geitlinger, Ritschl, Herkenrath and Rudolf Scharpf) (9^th December)

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To view some of the invitation cards with additional data, refer to this link!

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1950 Margot Krug-Grosse wove a tapestry designed by Willi Baumeister, commissioned by Egon Guenther, for a Johannesburg collection.

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During his Mannheim period, Egon published a.o.

"Rudolf Scharpf" - a block book with 21 woodcuts and 4 poems, printed by the artist

“Rudi Baerwind” – “zehn steinzeichnungen” – Mappe mit 10 Lithographien”, 1948

Vision und Magie : ein Veranstaltungszyklus um die erste zusammenfassende Ausstellung

surrealer Tendenzen deutscher Künstler : Juni, Juli, August 1948 (Rudi Bärwind) (Galerie Egon Günther, Publ.)

„Alexej von Jawlensky“ (Wilhelm Moufang) (Wanderausstellung, 1948) (exhibition cat.)

Johannesburg

Egon with his wife Hannelore and visitor

Egon Guenther married Hannelore in 1947; they emigrated to South Africa in 1951.

In Johannesburg he worked for a short while as a silversmith at the Haglund workshop before opening his own studio in partnership with Edy Caveng (1955-1965).

In 1957 he again opened an art gallery called the ‘Egon Guenther Gallery’, together with his partner Edy Caveng, where he featured African art

(including wood sculptures, masks, bronze casts) alongside exhibitions of abstract and surrealist works.

The partnership with Edy Caveng ceased in 1965 when the Caveng family returned to Switzerland.

Egon began to concentrate more on the gallery than his jewellery work and in 1969 he sold his jewellery workshop

to Kurt Donau, a Swiss immigrant who had worked from 1958 to 1961 in the Guenther workshop, Johannesburg.

Egon Ferdinand Guenther died on 30^th January, 2015

Egon Guenther, the jeweller, goldsmith and silversmith

Egon Guenther in 1947

CV

Egon Ferdinand Guenther was born in Mannheim in Germany on 24^th January, 1921, both parents working as jewellers.

Under their guidance he served a full apprenticeship in Pforzheim, Germany along with formal studies at the Vereinigte Goldschmiede Kunst- und Werkschule, Pforzheim.

Afterwards he worked in his father’s studio.

From 1946 to 1950, he had his own gallery in Mannheim (with co-founder Rudi Baerwind (q.v.) who was the gallery’s artistic director till 1949)

Egon Guenther

His Galleries in Mannheim and Johannesburg

A Tribute

ART ARCHIVES - SOUTH AFRICA