Fred Thieler
German Informel painter of poured, dripped and layered fields, and an influential Berlin teacher.
Fred Thieler was born in Konigsberg in 1916 and began studying medicine, since his Jewish mother's status barred him from an art education under the Nazi regime; he was forbidden to work and went into hiding. He turned to painting after the war, studied in Munich, spent time in Paris among the Informel painters, and became one of the central German exponents of that manner — large canvases built from poured, dripped, sprayed and layered paint, with the physical action of the pouring left plainly legible. He taught at the Hochschule der Kunste in Berlin for twenty years and died in 1999.
A market principally in Germany, where he is a significant post-war figure with substantial museum representation. The large canvases of the 1950s to 1970s lead. Thieler poured and layered thinned paint on absorbent grounds, so surfaces are matt and unvarnished, staining is permanent, and any previous varnish is both visible and difficult to reverse. Works on paper in gouache and mixed media are numerous and form the accessible part of the output. Signature and date are usually on the reverse, and a foundation in his name supports the archive.
If you own a work by Fred Thieler
Send photographs and whatever paperwork came with it. The first question is what the work actually is — edition or unique, when, and in what condition — because everything else follows from the answer. A valuation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Write to info@whitebankfineart.co.uk, or start below.
Whitebank Fine Art is an art advisory and gallery, not an auction house, and is not affiliated with any auction house or with the artist, their estate or their representatives. This page describes the range we advise on. Nothing here is investment advice.