Figurative sculpture for the 75th birthday – work between antiquity and the present
On Friday, October 10, 2025, the Netuschil Gallery in Darmstadt will open a major anniversary exhibition featuring the work of sculptor Thomas Duttenhoefer . Following successful museum exhibitions in Bremen, Erfurt, and Speyer, the gallery will present his work under the title "Myths and Myth .
Duttenhoefer is one of Germany's most important figurative sculptors. His oeuvre, developed over five decades, combines existential themes such as illness, death, and loss with motifs from antiquity. Figures from Ovid's tales, heads, torsos, and portraits of famous people—his sculptural vocabulary preserves classical forms, reinterprets them, and imbues them with philosophical and humanistic depth.
Duttenhoefer's works give humanity, in its contradictory states—grief, suffering, joy, happiness, ecstasy—a distinctive character, from the ancient style to the contemporary interpretation of the human image. Among his approximately 250 portraits are portraits of artists such as Mario Adorf, Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Rita Süssmuth, Hilde Domin, Karl Krolow, Edgar Reitz, and Thomas Bernhard.
Thomas Duttenhoefer was born in Speyer in 1950 and has lived in Darmstadt-Rosenhöhe since 1979. In addition to many years of artistic work, he has taught in Trier and Mannheim, among other places. He has received numerous awards for his life's work, including the Darmstadt Art Prize in 1988.
Mirjam Verhey-Focke, MA (Gerhard-Marcks-Haus, Bremen) and Claus K. Netuschil (gallery owner and curator) will speak at the opening on October 10. Public tours, a book launch in honor of Karl Krolow, and a bicycle tour to locations where Duttenhoefer's sculptures were located in Darmstadt will take place parallel to the exhibition.
Event information:
- Date: Friday, October 10, 2025, 7 p.m.
- Location: Galerie Netuschil, Schleiermacherstraße 8, Darmstadt
- Opening hours: Thu–Fri 2:30–7:00 pm, Sat 10:00 am–2:00 pm; and by appointment
- Further information: www.galerie-netuschil.net
