CHRISTOPH NIEMANN


Christoph Niemann gained his reputation as one of the most recognized international illustrators and graphic designers after 1997 when he left Germany to live in New York. His work has appeared on the covers of The New YorkerThe New York Times Magazine and American Illustration whilst his corporate clients include Google and The Museum of Modern Art. For his column in the New York Times blog Abstract City he draws and writes essays about politics, the economy, art and modern life. With few concise strokes he encapsulates the essence of daily life in a profound and humorous way. In 2008 he moved back to Germany where his illustrations meanwhile cover the Zeit Magazin among others. Niemann is the author of many books, most recently "Abstract City" and "The Potato King".

"The root of Niemann’s storytelling comes down to how he sees things – major and minor things, and otherwise imperceptible things – and how he  reinterprets them as art and design. Abstract City is not illustration in the conventional sense, rather a kind of visual thinking that is as rational as  science and as irrational as art. It is a curiously entertaining but also forward-thinking vision, that appeals to senses on various levels. Each piece is so distinct that they can appear to have come from a different person. Niemann is stylistically ambidextrous yet also attitudinally  consistent. Clearly, what draws him to a particular style is critical to his visual decision-making. ‘I am a designer by education, and my approach to  styles is similar to a designer and his typefaces,’ he says. ‘There are styles that are fashionable, and sometimes I find myself trying to find a venue for a spiffy pencil drawing, but ultimately it is always the idea that dictates what style I must use. Every idea needs a pretty exact amount of realism / abstraction, certain emotional warmth or cold graphic objectivity. I try to constantly broaden my range, and adapt new ways  of solving problems, not out of vanity, but because it’s essential to my approach.’"

Steve Heller, Storytelling Giant in Eye Magazine, London 2009

Image: Galerie Max Hetzler celebrates 40 years of VfB Stuttgart, 2013, 4-7 colours, silkscreen print, 29,4 x 23 cm

Biography


VITA

1970

Born in Waiblingen


2010

Induction to the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame

Lives and works in Berlin

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2017

Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin

The Masters Series: Christoph Niemann
School of Visual Arts Gallery, New York

Galerie Stihl, Waiblingen

That's How!
Cartoonmuseum Basel, Basel

Colette, Paris


2016

Under The Line
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg


2015

Christoph Niemann: The Observer
Bluerider Art, Taiwan

Drawing the Line
MAK - Austrian Museum for Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna

Es gibt nichts gutes
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin


2014

Menü

Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt

Unterm Strich - Bilder und politische Kommunikation
Stiftung Mercator, Berlin


2013

Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin (catalogue)

Galerie der Stadt Backnang, Backnang


2010

NLB Galerija, Ljubiljana


2005

1000 Spots
The New York Times, New York


2000

Gallerie Le Lys, Paris
 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2017

Talking Pictures
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Hello, Robot. Design Between Human and Machine
Vienna Biennale, MAK, Vienna


2016

New Gameplay
Nam June Paik Artcenter, South Korea

Drawing After Digital
Xpo Gallery, Paris


2015

As far as the mind can see
EXPERIMENTA 2015, Lisbon and Porto

Bluerider ART, Taipei

Framed by FUKT
Satellite, Berlin


2014

Berga Urban Museum, Vicenza

Tango - Illustration & Art
Galerie der Stadt Wels, Wels

Complaints
Wolfsonian Museum, Miami


2013

Tear Sheet
PNCA/MoCC, Portland, Oregon

The New Yorker

Galerie Martel, Paris

Echelle 1
GR2013, Marseille


2011

It's about Time
Broodwork, Ben Maltz Gallery, Los Angeles

Being American
School of Visual Arts, New York



Cartografias do Processo

Palácio Quintela, Lisbon



Lego Art Box

Preview Berlin & LEGO-Gruppe, Berlin



Project Mah Jong
Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York



Der Traum vom Fliegen
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin





2010



Hall of Fame Laureates 2010

Art Director's Club, New York



Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin





2007



Hansel and Gretel

Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery Met, New York





2005



Catalysts! The cultural force of Communication Design

ExperimentaDesign, Centro Cultural de Belem, Lisbon



The Art of The New Yorker: Eighty Years in the Vanguard

Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge





2003



Neue Illustration

Deutsches Haus, New York



Second National Design Triennial: Inside Design Now

Cooper - Hewitt National Design Museum, New York





2001



Young Guns

Art Director's Club, New York





1999



Young Guns
Art Director's Club, New York


SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Monographs

Abrams (Ed.): Christoph Niemann: Sunday Sketching, New York 2016

Galerie Max Hetzler (Ed.): Christoph Niemann. Galerie Max Hetzler celebrates 40 Years of VfB Stuttgart, Berlin 2013


Publications of the Artist

Christoph Niemann, Jacoby & Stuart: Der Kartoffelkönig, Berlin 2013

Christoph Niemann, Knesebeck Verlag: Abstract City. Mein Leben unterm Strich, Munich 2012

Christoph Niemann, Jacoby & Stuart: So funktioniert das!, Berlin 2011

Christoph Niemann, Greenwillow Books: Subway, New York 2010

Christoph Niemann, Knesebeck Verlag: I (love) NY: eine spielerische Liebeserklärung an New York, Munich 2010

Christoph Niemann, Jacoby & Stuart: Der kleine Drache, Berlin 2008

Christoph Niemann, Schwartz & Wade Books: The Police Cloud, New York, 2007

HarperCollins Children's Books: The Boy with two Belly Buttons, New York 2007

Nicholas Blechmann, Christoph Niemann, Princeton Architectural Press: 100% Evil, New York, 2005

Nicholas Blechmann, Christoph Niemann, Princeton Architectural Press: Fresh Dialogue I, New York 1999

Christoph Niemann, Maro: Das gute Porträt, Augsburg, 1998


Others

Kästner, Erich: Es gibt nichts Gutes. Mit Zeichnungen von Christoph Niemann, Berlin 2015

Thore Barfuss, Lars Mensel: Keiner hinterfragt den Wunsch des Hundes nach Knochen, in: The European Magazine 2013

Anne Waak: Lebenslinien. Die bestürzend einfachen Arbeiten des Grafikers Christoph Niemann gibt es nun auch in Buchform, in: Monopol 6/2012

Anne Waak: Dieses Leben unterm Strich, in: Die Welt 2.5.2012

Andreas Platthaus: Das ist Christoph Niemanns Welt, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 20.5.2012

Robert Urquhart: Niemann, in: Graphic Design Magazine 2011

Steven Heller: Storytelling-giant, Eye Magazine, no. 72, vol. 18, Summer 2009

Dan Bloom: Pet Dragon explains chinese with character(s), in: Taipei Times 2009

Steven Heller: Head of Humour, in: Indaba Magazine 2006

Steven Heller: Force of nature, in: Varoom Magazine 2006

Andreas Platthaus: Gipfelzeichner, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2005

Steven Heller: My Life as an illustrator: the art and science of Christoph Niemann, in: Print Magazine 2005
 

Publications


Christoph Niemann at Galerie Max Hetzler

Galerie Max Hetzler / Holzwarth Publications, Berlin 2013

€ 35.00

Selected Press


Berliner Morgenpost 2018

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Zeit Magazin 2016

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Berliner Zeitung 2014

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Spiegel Online 2014

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Die Zeit 2013

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MoMA 2009

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