Dietrich Klinge

The sculptor Dietrich Klinge was born in Heiligenstadt, Thuringia, in 1954 and grew up in Stuttgart. After an extended trip through Nepal and India, Klinge began studying graphic arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart in 1973. There he laid the foundation for his distinctive artistic language. In 1978, he began studying sculpture, graduating in 1984. Since then, he has worked as a freelance artist. He lives and works in Weidelbach, Bavaria.

Dietrich Klinge is now one of the most prominent sculptors of his generation. His powerful, expressively crafted sculptures are characterised by an unmistakable combination of physical presence and contemplative tranquillity. With their rough surfaces and intense aura, his works bring together strength and meditative reflection, intuition and technical precision.

The human being in his physical and psychological existence is the defining theme of Dietrich Klinge’s work. His figures, torsos, heads and limbs appear archaic, often mask-like or block-like in their reduced form – monumental and vulnerable at the same time. In their dignity and composure, his figures are reminiscent of totemic shapes or ancient steles.

The artist himself describes his work as a dialogue with the nature of the material – a process in which he does not impose his form on the wood or bronze, but gently releases it. He initially saws and cuts models out of wood, which are then cast in bronze. This allows him to combine the characteristics of both materials. The original vitality of the wood remains palpable in the bronze, lending each sculpture an organic, almost pulsating energy. Thanks to the distinctive patina that Dietrich Klinge personally applies to each individual bronze cast, each piece differs slightly from the next, making it virtually one of a kind.