Bernd Zimmer, Bilder-Landschaften, 1983-1985

Published in 1986 by Der Kunstverein, this catalog serves as a retrospective document of Bernd Zimmer's work between 1983 and 1985. Zimmer was a central figure in the Neue Wilde movement in Germany, a neo-expressionist group that emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a reactionary movement against the austerity of conceptual and minimalist art. The publication focuses on his signature approach to landscape painting, which prioritized raw, gestural brushwork and intense, non-naturalistic color palettes to evoke the psychological energy of the natural world.

The book design reflects the ethos of the time, emphasizing large-scale reproductions that allow the reader to engage with the tactile, impasto surfaces of Zimmer’s paintings. By capturing a period where Zimmer shifted toward increasingly monumental and dynamic compositions, the catalog documents a critical pivot in contemporary German painting. It was received as an essential primary resource for curators and scholars interested in the transition from traditional landscape aesthetics to the visceral, neo-expressionist vernacular that defined the era.