Fascination of the stageDoris Schilffarth and Wolfgang Buchner in dialog
15.12.2023– 12.05.2024 at Grafisches Kabinett
Theater has always been fascinating. The heart of the theater is the stage, whose form has different effects on the audience. The graphic designer and painter Doris Schilffahrt and the long-standing stage and costume designer Wolfgang Buchner each have a very special relationship to the stage. On the one hand, there is Doris Schillffarth, a subtle observer who makes drawings of ballet and theater productions for the daily and weekly press. On the other hand, there is Wolfgang Buchner, who conceives and draws stage sets and costumes and stages them in a painterly and practical manner. Both approach stage events artistically and both find their own expressions for them, which show astonishing parallels.
We cordially invite you to the opening on Thursday, December 14, in the dining room of the Schaezlerpalais at 6 pm! A tour of the exhibition at Grafisches Kabinett follows the opening.
CV of the artist Doris Schilffarth
Born in Würzburg, the painter and graphic artist Doris Schilffarth completed her graphic art studies in Munich. She has been working as a freelancer since 1970 and has participated in numerous international exhibitions, including the Great Munich Art Exhibition and the Great Swabian Art Exhibition in Augsburg. She has had solo exhibitions at Art Karlsruhe, but also at the Deutsches Theatermuseum, the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, the Galerie an der Pinakothek der Moderne and the Kunstpavillon im Alten Botanischen Garten in Munich, as well as at the Ecke-Galerie, the Galerie Schröder and the Kunstsammlungen und Museen Augsburg. Other venues have included Beirut (Goethe-Institut), Vienna (Galerie am Graben), Cologne (Galerie Rösinger) and Sommerhausen am Main (Galerie im Rathaus).
Her work focuses on illustrations for the Weltbild Publishing House, the Schwäbische Neue Presse and the Augsburg Journal, for which she illustrates reviews of Augsburg Theater premieres. Doris Schilffarth also demonstrated her skills live in a special feature on Bavarian for Augsburg's 2000th anniversary celebrations in 1985. Her exhibition of large-format theater impressions in the Great House in 2016 as a highlight before the closure due to the renovation of the theater is also unforgettable. Doris Schilffarth has received numerous awards, including the Swabian government's art prize.
CV of the artist Wolfgang Buchner
Wolfgang Buchner studied stage design, theater painting and costume design at the Mozarteum in his home town of Salzburg. After his first engagements at the Salzburg Festival and as an assistant to Prof. Günther Schneider-Siemssen, the Theater Ulm hired him as a stage designer and workshop manager from 1976 to 1980. Hans-Ulrich Schmückle, the head of equipment, then appointed him to the same position in Augsburg.
In 40 years as a stage and costume designer and as head of the artistic workshops at the Stadtstheater and today's Staatstheater Augsburg, he supervised almost 1,000 productions. He created more than 120 of his own stage and costume designs in Augsburg and during his guest engagements in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In his work as head of the painting room, the decoration workshops and the theater sculpture department, it was always important to him to express the signature of the respective stage designer and the diversity of artistic interpretations.
In 1999, Buchner conceived the Opera Ball against much resistance and moved it from the Kongresshalle to the Grosses Haus in 2001. With a new set every year, it was extremely successful for 16 years and a much-acclaimed celebration of Augsburg Society, even beyond the city's borders.
