Conrad Westpfahl

1891 born in Berlin on November 23

1907-11 studies with Emil Orlik

from 1910 in master class for graphics

1911-12 Studies at the Academy of Art in Munich with Habermann

1913-14 Attends the Ranson Academy in Paris with Félix Valloton

1914-18 military service as battery commander and aviator

1918-21 Resides in Berlin

1921 Master studio at the Dresden Academy of Art

1925-26 First trip to Italy, exhibitions of the Berlin Secession

1927 First solo exhibition at the Goltz Gallery in Munich

1928 Interest in abstract art

1930-33 Stay in Paris, encounter with Max Ernst and Pablo Picasso, acquaintance with Georges Braque and Fernand Léger

1932 First abstract collages

1933 Return to Berlin

1934-39 Closure of an exhibition in Stuttgart by the National Socialists

1936 Prohibition to work, emigration to Greece

1937-39 Exhibitions in Athens

1939-40 forced return to Germany, painting ban, studio in Pöcking near Munich, secret portrait commissions

from 1944 friendship with Ernst Wilhelm Nay

1946 Begins his publications on art

1947-49 Participation in the Augsburg exhibition "Extreme Malerei", exhibitions at the Günther Franke Gallery in Munich

1950 Friendship with Winter, Gilles and Vedova, participation in the "1st Darmstadt Talk", move to Munich

1951-52 First exhibition of purely abstract works at Kunstverein Munich

1953 Solo exhibition Museum Witten, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, participation in the Biennale in Sao Paulo

1955-57 Participation in the exhibitions of the group ZEN 49 as a guest

1958 Participation in the Marzotto Prize exhibition in Milan, Munich and Paris

1960-71 Moves to Birnfeld Castle near Stadtlauringen in Lower Franconia

1961 Solo exhibition at the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich

1961-62 Guest of honor at the Villa Massimo in Rome, first solo exhibition in Paris, guest of honor at the Villa Romana in Florence

1963 Water Lily Award of the City of Munich

1972 Beginning of the album paintings

1976 three-month stay at the Villa Massimo in Rome

1976 Westpfahl dies on 23 July in Wetzhausen