BIOGRAPHY
Johannes von Stumm grew up with the desire to be an artist, but was discouraged from such a career at a young age by both mentors and art teachers alike. Studying 'sensible' subjects like law and politics into his early adulthood, von Stumm still couldn't get away from 'the calling' of making art. He dropped his law studies and set course for artistic pursuits.
At eighteen, during a visit to Paris, von Stumm was deeply moved by the power and beauty which he saw in Rodin's sculpture; he immediately began to work figuratively with clay and plaster, first at home and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich; six months spent in a quiet Italian village strengthened his desire to test the potential of glass, stone and steel combinations. On returning to the Academy, he asked for help, only to be told that the alliance of these very different materials was impossible.
The challenge was irresistible: after three years of breaking glass, he finally developed a way of joining these opposing forces in an inseparable unity, a form in which inter-dependent pieces hold each other upright and are often linked as a carpenter would join two pieces of wood. Such a breakthrough has proved rich in possibilities: in fifteen years of combining metal with glass and stone, von Stumm has expanded the boundaries of expression by fusing the strong and the fragile, the solid and the liquid, the dark and the transparent.
Since his initial breakthroughs with materials, von Stumm has continued to trailblaze within the sculptural discipline. He continues to be a forward thinking, established figure, taking on larger scale commissions in the recent years. His upcoming exhibitions are to be held in London, Berlin, and Munich.
Born in Munich, Germany
1969 - 76 Gymnasium (Grammar school), monastery Ettal
1976 - 80 Gymnasium (Grammar school), Munich
1980 work in a stonemason`s workshop
1980 - 83 Studied Law and Politics at the University of Munich
studied drawing at evening classes
1984 - 88 Studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Art, Munich
1988 Diploma received
1988 - 96 Studied at the Summer - Art - Academy Bildwerk, Frauenau
1993 - 95 Assistant teacher at Bildwerk, Frauenau
1988 - 95 Worked as a self employed sculptor in Munich
1989 Worked with Peter Layton, London, Clifford Reney, London
and at the Experimental Glass - Workshop, New York
1990 - 95 Teaching sculpture at studio, Keferloh, Munich
1995 Opening of present studio in South Fawley, Wantage, Oxfordshire,
ongoing work with Neil Wilkin, Hot Glass Studio, Frome, Somerset
1996 Workshop with Bertil Vallien, Lybster, Scotland
1997 Guest speaker at NEWI, College of Art and Design, Wrexham,
Member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors
1998 Second prize for a sculpture at Munster / Sculpture show / Niedersachsen/ Germany
1999 Workshop with Tony Cragg at Lybster / Schottland
Teaching sculpture at New Greenham Common Arts Centre
Member of the Oxford Art Society
2001 Guest teacher at Dartington/ England for Contemporary Glass Society
Guest teacher for patients of Thornford Park
Commission for Prior’s Court School’s sculpture garden
2002 Guest teacher at Prior’s Court School, Newbury for autistic children
Workshop at New Greenham Common Arts Centre
Workshop at Prior’s Court School
Finished commission for Cushman & Wakefield, London
Finished commission for Prudential Corporation plc
Finished commission for Accel Venture Capital
2003 Lead artist for Commission from The Vale of the White Horse in Wantage
Member of the Council of the Royal British Society of Sculptors
2004 Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors and Treasurer of the RBS
EXHIBITIONS:
2005 Daniel Katz Gallery, London, UK
German Embassy, London, UK
2004 Nottinghamshire County Council, UK
Thompson’s Gallery, London,UK
2003 One-man Show, Gallery Beaux Art, Bath, UK
Royal British Society of Sculptors, London, UK
One-man Show, Orangerie, Munich, Germany
Leicester University, Botanic Garden, UK
2002 City of Munster, Outdoor Sculptures, Germany
Leicester University, Botanic Garden, UK
2001 Mall Gallery, London, UK
Goodwood Sculpture Park, Sussex, UK
2000 One-man Show, Curwen Gallery, London, UK
Royal Society of British Sculptors, UK
1999 Oxford Art Society, Abingdon, UK
