German painter, collector, and former director of the prestigious Städelschule art academy Raimer Jochims is celebrating his 90th birthday this Monday, marking nine decades of a distinguished career that has significantly influenced postwar German art. Born in Kiel in 1935, Jochims has carved out an entirely independent path among German painters of the second postwar generation, establishing himself as both a master artist and influential educator.
While Jochims shared the collective experiences of his generation—witnessing the retreat of Nazi terror and living through the destruction of German cities—his artistic journey has been marked by remarkable singularity. Although he is often categorized among the followers of color painting of the 1960s for historical reference, his unique approach became increasingly distinct over the decades. What sets him apart is a profound dedication to understanding how art could be possible again after the devastation of war.
This fundamental question drove Jochims to pursue diverse activities throughout his career. He taught himself the craft of painting through contact with renowned artist Ernst Wilhelm Nay, earned a doctoral degree in philosophy writing about Konrad Fiedler—the first theorist of visual cognition—and dedicated decades to teaching at Frankfurt's Städelschule, where he also served as director. His captivating lectures and presentations, along with several books exploring his concept of visual identity and the mystery of material color, further established his reputation as both practitioner and theorist.
Jochims' artistic philosophy centers on what he calls "the work of the eye," which aims not for passive representation of the world but for its renewing interpretation. His primary medium for this transformation is the energy of color, which he believes can uncover the hidden energies of the visible world beneath civilization's frozen crust. Contrary to his reputation as a theorist, Jochims describes himself as someone who incessantly seeks to understand "what I am doing."
A pivotal moment in his artistic development came in 1974 when he critically advanced his initial concept of "flow paintings"—horizontal color transitions. This led to his often-quoted principle: "Color is not rectangular." This insight resulted in the open color forms that he continues to work on today, where broken edges and torn paper demonstrate how he balances contradiction, tension, and harmony through color differences.
Jochims' artistic output encompasses canvas paintings, drawings, and paper works, as well as his distinctive "color forms" created on particle boards and torn papers, and even works incorporating stones. His extensive engagement with world art, through both travel and collecting, has enriched his understanding and practice. His 1990 exhibition "Images and Models" at Portikus in Frankfurt impressively demonstrated his ability to work within broad spatial and historical horizons.
Like many modernist artists, Jochims grounds his work in the central foundation of Western modernism—the questioning of one's own artistic and existential premises. However, he has realized this approach across unusually wide spatial and historical contexts, incorporating influences from world art traditions into his practice.
In his wisdom years, Jochims has established himself in Hochstadt-Maintal, where he founded the Eliashof Foundation. This institution serves as both his working space and a venue where visitors can view his collection of world art. The foundation represents the culmination of his lifelong commitment to art education and cultural preservation, continuing his mission to make art accessible and meaningful to new generations of viewers and artists.
