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 Yorker, The 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
Solo Exhibitions
Selected Institutional Exhibitions
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
Zeit Magazin 2016
Berliner Zeitung 2014
Spiegel Online 2014
Die Zeit 2013
MoMA 2009