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

In his 'Immaterial' series, Johannes von Stumm has eliminated the shadows to create figures of light and ultimate transparency, powerful figures which use the negative space to let light into increasingly complex and exciting forms. These works are a logical progression in his continual wish to translate and transform into solid sculpture the transitory effects of light, to de-materialise the image in space. The 'Immaterial Figures', however, represent much more than a technical solution to a problem of form; it is hard to imagine a greater embodiment of purity than this image of light streaming through space purity not in the subjective and limiting sense of morality, but as a freedom of spirit which transcends vanity and cynicism and other such obstacles to human aspiration. Here, light is quite literally enlightenment.

"It is spiritual energy of a piece of art which counts, and nothing else" Johannes von Stumm

by Nicola Upson

Johannes von Stumm's unique combination of three different materials has attracted public and critical acclaim in a decade of successful exhibitions, both in Britain and abroad. His startlingly original sculpture, which engages continually with risk and a defiance of accepted laws, joins iron, granite and glass to create abstract or reduce figurative works in which apparently conflicting materials exist in complex harmony.

Von Stumm's choice of media and instinct for experimentation is deeply rooted in his background, in a childhood, and adolescence spent at the foot of the Alps with long winters, ice and rocks.His love of steel, in particular, is interwined with his family history:

ancestor on his father's side were blacksmiths and steel factory owners for 250 years and, as a young man, he painted on cardboard in the cellar of his parent's house, mixing broken glass and metal objects into the paint.

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 strenghthened 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.

Recent developments in von Stumm's work have taken him further from those early artistic influences, from the earthbound suffering of Rodin's figures and from the work of Italian Impressionist sculptor, Medardo Rosso, with its intense manipulation of light and shade. In his "Immaterial" series, von Stumm has eliminated the shadows to create figures of light and ultimate transparency, powerful figures which use the negative space to let light into increasingly complex and exciting forms. These works are a logical progression in his continual wish to translate and transform into solid sculpture the transitory effects of light, to de-materialise the image in space. An earlier piece, "Reflection" a seated figure made entirely from glass had been an effort to create a form of absolute purity, but technical limitation made it impossible to increase the scale.

The "Immaterial Figures", however, represent much more than a technical solution to

a problem of form; it is hard to imagine a greater embodiment of purity than this image of light streaming through space purity not in the subjective and limiting sense of morality, but as a freedom of spirit which transcends vanity and cynicism and other such obstacles to human aspiration. Here, light is quite literally enlightenment.

There is a clearly-evident spirituality in von Stumm sculpture, an expansive wisdom which draws its richness from his fascination with Buddhism, Hinduism, Shamanism and Christianity, which rejects exclusive religious references and defies a single interpretation. When the human body is represented, it is represented in recognisable postures with universal meanings: the "Welcome Figure" opens its arms wide to meet an approaching person; in "Offering", a kneeling figure holds the bowl in its hands, pointing to a position of humility; "Couple" speaks of a strong and simple unity; and the large-scale "Immaterial Seated Figure" is a calm and serene observer, looking out at the world.

The powerful physicality and extraordinary spirituality which converse so intensely in a single piece of von Stumm's sculpture is ultimately about much more than a challenging combination of symbolic materials: the impact comes undeniably from the artist's psychical and emotional struggle to express a transforming vision, and it is done so in a way which cannot fail to be felt and understood.