Helmut Sturm

Furth im Wald 1932 - München 2008


Helmut Sturm was born in Furth im Wald on 21 February 1932. In 1952 he passed the entrance exam in art education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and became Erich Glette's master pupil in 1953. As a student he founded the group "SPUR" in 1957-58 together with Heimrad Prem, HP Zimmer and Lothar Fischer. In 1958 the first "SPUR" manifesto and the "SPUR" graphic portfolio with 12 etchings by the artists and texts by Asger Jorn, Hans Platschek and Conrad Westphal was published.
During half a year in Paris he contacted Guy Debord, leader of the "Situationists". From 1959 to 1962 the group was a member of "INTERNATIONALE SITUATIONNISTE" (S.I.).
In 1962 the group published the "SPUR"-book, in which the "SPUR" magazines 1-7 were printed. The same year a lawsuit began at the local court in Munich, in which Helmut Sturm, Heimrad Prem and Dieter Kunzelmann were accused of spreading obscene scripts and abuse of religions.
Helmut Sturm had a one-man show at the gallery van de Loo. After some projects in co-operation "SPUR" joined with the artist group "WIR" in 1965-66 under the name "GEFLECHT", which was cancelled during the student riots in 1968. In 1970 Helmut Sturm was co-founder of the children's forum at the gallery van de Loo in Munich, in which he worked for ten years.
In 1980 he accepted a guest professorship at the Art Academy in Berlin. In 1985 he was appointed professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich at Günter Fruhtrunk's chair.
Helmut Sturm got famous in Germany after numerous one-man exhibitions, particularly with the groups "SPUR" and "GEFLECHT". In 1986 Helmut Sturm was awarded the Fritz-Winter-Prize. He has been a member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in Munich since 1991.
Helmut Sturm died on February 19, 2008 in Munich, as the last member of the "SPUR" group.

Asger Jorn
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