Diet Sayler

Sayler worked across painter, sculptor, university teacher, kinetic artist and visual artist. This article rests on 7 published texts and 5 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

Diet Sayler studied at Politehnica University of Timișoara. The recorded working language is German. The field of work recorded is visual arts, painting and art of sculpture. Kazimir Malevich is recorded as an influence. Employment is recorded with Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg. Work by Diet Sayler is recorded in the collections of Tate and Print Collection.

• Name — Diet Sayler • Born — 15 December 1939 • Birthplace — Timișoara, Romania • Known for — Painter • Training — Technical University of Timișoara • Movement — Constructive art • Awards — Camille Graeser

• Illustration — AK59 1969, oil on paper, Museum of Modern Art, New York Diet Sayler was born on 15 December 1939 in Timișoara, Romania. He studied Structural Engineering at the Technical University of Timișoara (1956–1961) and Painting under Julius Podlipny. In the early 1960s he created an abstract painting that was subsequently defamed as Western and decadent and excluded from all exhibitions. It was not until 1968, during the Prague Spring, that the exhibition "5 young artists" (Bertalan, Cotosman, Flondor, Molnar and Sayler) in Galeria Kalinderu in Bucharest showed abstract-constructive art in Romania for the first time. That was the breakthrough. Sayler moved to Bucharest and was able to exhibit abroad, but he was not allowed to travel. In 1971 the political climate changed. The spring of reforms in Bucharest came to an end, and afterwards Sayler's works could no longer be shown. Sayler gave several interviews in the foreign press and as a result became very isolated.

• Illustration — Bodenplastik 1982, acrylic glass and steel, 96,4 x 48,2 x 10,2 cm On emigrating to Germany in 1973, Sayler moved the center of his work and life to Nuremberg, where from 1976 onwards he also worked as a lecturer alongside continuing his artistic work. In 1975 he showed his works at the Grand Palais in Paris for the first time. Solo shows followed at Galerie Grare in Paris, Galerie Hermanns in Munich, later at Galleria Lorenzelli in Milan, and at Galeria Edurne in Madrid. He now presented his work in many West European nations as well as in Brazil, Japan and the United States. In 1990, following the fall of the Iron Curtain, retrospectives of Diet Sayler were also shown in Eastern Europe, at the Czech Museum in Prague, Vasarely Museum in Budapest and the National Museum in Bucharest. The "konkret" exhibition series in Nuremberg (1980 to 1990), which Sayler directed, received international acclaim. Around 100 artists took part, including Dan Flavin, Ellsworth Kelly, Kenneth Martin, Vera Molnár, François Morellet, Aurélie Nemours, Mario Nigro, Leon Polk Smith and Jesús Rafael Soto. In 1988 Sayler curated the German-French exhibition "Construction and Conception" in Berlin. That same year he received the Camille Graeser Prize in Zurich. Alongside the exhibitions of paintings, prints, sculpture and photography, a series of site-specific installations was also held, in Galerie Grare, Paris; Palazzo Ducale, Genoa; East West Gallery, New York; St. Peter's, Cambridge; Gallery A, London; Ely Cathedral, Ely; University Gallery, Plzeň, Czech Republic; MUWA, Graz, Austria; Museo CAMEC, La Spezia, Italy.

• Illustration — Malatesta 2002, Dyptichon, Neue Galerie Kassel The young Diet Sayler was a great fan of Brâncuși and Malevich. At the start of his career he was above all inspired by Suprematism and Russian Revolution art. He studied the theories and works of the De Stijl and Bauhaus artists. Later he borrowed from Dadaism the principle of chance, on which his own works are based. Sayler arrived at Concrete art by opposing political reality and the doctrine of socialist realism. The drive for change is a central theme in his work. Sayler's early works are highly colorful. In the years of rejection and opposition color disappeared from his work, which became black and white. Following the culture shock of emigration he concentrated on thin lines on white canvases. Towards the end of the 1980s Sayler developed a system of basic elements, which became a repertoire of his painting. Color returned. He produced his ‘Paintings Pieces’, ‘Bivalences’ and ‘Throw Pieces’. The late 1990s saw the creation of wall pieces or ‘Bodies’ and Engrams (‘Norigrammes’) as site-specific installations in the urban architecture. Parallel to this he developed site-specific "Fugues" for the rooms of museums, churches or galleries.

• Illustration — One Man Show, fortunaarte, Messina, 2008 • Illustration — One Man Show, Kunstmuseum Bayreuth, 2009 • Illustration — Teodosio 2002, acrylic on canvas, private collection Nuremberg • Illustration — Gargano 2005, acrylic on canvas, 147 x 287 cm • 2013 • Diet Sayler: Die Realität der Poesie. Neues Museum Nürnberg • Neue Galerie – neu gesehen. Neue Galerie, Kassel • Structure & Energie. The Need for Abstraction. 418 Gallery, Bucharest • 2012 • Chance as Strategy. Vasarely Muzeum, Budapest • Ornamentale Strukturen. Kunstverein Pforzheim • Künstler aus Rumänien im Ausland. Galerie Emilia Suciu, Ettlingen • 2011 • Schöne Aussichten. Wiedereröffnung der Neuen Galerie. Neue Galerie, Kassel. • Ornament – Seriality. Vasarely Museum Budapest. • De lineas, formas, medidas, color y materia. Galeria Edurne, Madrid. • Diet Sayler: Norigramme. Muzeul de Arta, Timișoara. • Ornamental Structures. Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken. • 2010 • Diet Sayler: Fuga ligure. Museo CAMeC, La Spezia. • Diet Sayler: Fuge. Museum der Wahrnehmung, Graz. • Couleur & Geometrie. Actualité de l'art construit européen. Musées de Sens. • Die Neue Galerie – Auftritt im Schloss Neue Galerie, Kassel. • Twentysix Gasoline Stations Ed Altri Libri DArtista. Museo Regionale di Messina. • 2009 • Diet Sayler: Malerei lügt nicht. Kunstmuseum Bayreuth. • L'oblique. Musée du Chateau de Montbéliard. • Diet Sayler: La Pittura non mente. Fortuna Arte, Messina. • Reflections upon Drawing. BWA Lublin. • Spazio Libro d’Artista. Palazzo Manganelli, Catania. • Sehen ganz nah und sehr fern. Städtische Galerie Erlangen. • 2008 • Diet Sayler. Galerie Ursula Huber, Basel. • Diet Sayler. Galerie der Moderne, Munich. • Diet Sayler. Retrospektive Städtische Galerie Erlangen. • Arhiva Demarco. Brukenthal National Museum Sibiu. • Dialog der Generationen. Forum konkrete Kunst, Erfurt. • Intelligible Non-Violent. Art Atlas Sztuki, Łódź. • 2007 • Still & Konsequent. Die Sammlung Uwe Obier, Kunstverein Siegen. • 2006 • Bewegung im Quadrat. Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch. • Kolekcja W centrum wydarzen. Zacheta, Lublin. • Diet Sayler. University Gallery Plzeň. • Diet Sayler und Tatsushi Kawanabe. kunst galerie fürth, Fürth. • Diet Sayler. BWA Lublin. • Motiva. Austria Center Vienna, Vienna. • Square. Eröffnungsausstellung Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch. • Identidades. Galeria Edurne, Madrid. • 2005 • Stets Konkret. Die Hubertus Schoeller Stiftung. Leopold Hoesch Museum, Düren. • Diet Sayler. Galerie Uwe Sacksofsky, Heidelberg. • La boite en valise oder Die Neue Welt liegt mitten in Europa. Academy of Fine Arts, Prague. • Gelb und Gold. Galerie Linde Hollinger, Ladenburg. • experiment konkret. Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt. • 2004 • Europa konkret. Altana Galerie, Dresden. • 2003 • Kunst zeigt, was man nicht sieht. Städtische Galerie Erlangen. • Diet Sayler. Galerie Linde Hollinger, Ladenburg. • Diet Sayler. Galerie Kunst im Gang, Bamberg. • Konkrete Kunst – Einheit und Vielfalt. Kunsthalle Villa Kobe, Halle. • 2002 • Segni e contesti. Studio B2, Genoa. • Diet Sayler., Nottingham Trent University. • 2001 • Diet Sayler: Geometria e tempo. Palazzo Ducale, Genoa. • Kunst für Kaliningrad-Königsberg. Kaliningrad State Art Gallery. • 2000 • Diet Sayler. Czech Museum of Fine Arts, Prague. • Diet Sayler. Retrospective Kettle's Yard, Cambridge.

Diet Sayler was born on 1 January 1939 in Timișoara. Sayler held the nationality of Germany and Romania. Sayler was educated at Politehnica University of Timișoara. Sayler worked as painter, sculptor, university teacher and kinetic artist, and the authority record catalogues a further 1 occupations under the same name, among them visual artist. Sayler was employed by Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg. Sayler worked in German. Sayler is placed by the collections within Constructivism.

• Illustration — Wurfstück 1995, Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg From 1992 to 2005 Diet Sayler was a professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg. In 1995 he worked as a guest professor at the Statens Kunstakademi in Oslo. As professor emeritus he was appointed 2006 director of the XIII International Summer Academy in Plauen.

Sayler taught, and is recorded as university teacher. The work is documented at Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg.

• Illustration — Duccio 2004, Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch • Albertina, Vienna • Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham • Museum of Modern Art, New York City • Museum of Grenoble, Grenoble • Kunstmuseum Bayreuth, Bayreuth • Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt • New Gallery, Kassel • Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen • Neues Museum Nürnberg, Nuremberg • Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg • Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch • Museum im Kulturspeicher, Würzburg • National Museum of Art of Romania, Bucharest • Muzeul de Artă Timișoara, Timișoara • Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro