Undoubtedly, Richard Ziegler is one of the artists whose importance has not yet been duly appreciated in the art history of our century. There are many reasons that can be responsible for this: the early emigration; the absolute honesty in the artistic will; the impossibility of being able to assign his work to a firmly defined style, or the artist's disinterest in the art business in general.

In view of the abundance of works collected in the Calw Steinhaus, it is almost incomprehensible that Ziegler, who compiled tens of thousands of sheets into picture books, picture sheets, and picture bibles, and whose real life's work was devoted to a complete "Book of Life," can look back in his ninetieth year on just a dozen books published by publishers that revealed his graphic mastery to a larger audience.

 

Richard Ziegler's idiosyncrasy of carefully binding his hitherto uncounted drawings, pastels and prints between book covers, series after series, in order to add another little stone to the mosaic of his work, is certainly without precedent. Even if this meant that he himself largely excluded the public - actually a contradiction to "making books" - on the other hand it is thanks to this circumstance that a large part of his work did not fall victim to the adverse circumstances of war and emigration.

 

Excerpt from a speech by Heiko Rogge
on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition on the occasion of Richard Ziegler's 90th birthday.

 

Further information on the life and work of Richard Ziegler can be found on the Richard Ziegler - Portal
and in the archive of the Akademie der Künste (AdK) in Berlin as well as the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek

(current article on the 30th anniversary of his death: Lust und Leiden in den Goldenen Zwanzigern)