{{short description|German art scholar}} thumb|{{center|Peter Michel July 2019}}
'''Peter Michel''' (born 14 October 1938) is a German art scholar, publicist and exhibition organizer.<ref>[https://www.berlin.de/ba-marzahn-hellersdorf/aktuelles/pressemitteilungen/2013/pressemitteilung.308040.php Pressemitteilung Bezirksamt Marzahn-Hellersdorf]</ref><ref>[https://www.bernau-bei-berlin.de/de/buergerportal/aktuelles/stadtnachrichten/artikel-19_april_kunstraum-gespraech_mit_peter_michel.html ''19 April: Kunstraum-Gespräch mit Peter Michel''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220225153949/https://www.bernau-bei-berlin.de/de/buergerportal/aktuelles/stadtnachrichten/artikel-19_april_kunstraum-gespraech_mit_peter_michel.html |date=2022-02-25 }}, Bürgerportal Bernau, with a short biography of Michel</ref>
== Life == {{BLP unreferenced section|date=November 2023}} Born in Freyburg (Unstrut), Michel comes from a craftsman family. After attending the {{Ill|Immanuel-Kant-Gymnasium (Berlin)|de}}, after the Abitur, he studied German studies and art education at the {{Ill|Pädagogische Hochschule Erfurt/Mühlhausen|de}} from 1956 to 1959. From 1959 to 1964 he was a teacher at the secondary school {{Ill|Neudorf (Sehmatal)|de|Neudorf (Sehmatal)|lt=Neudorf}}. Afterwards he worked in the district administration Annaberg and in the district administration Karl-Marx-Stadt of Free German Youth. From 1970 to 1974 followed an {{Ill|Aspirantur|de}} at the {{Ill|Akademie für Gesellschaftswissenschaften beim ZK der SED|de}}; there he completed his doctorate on the topic "Interrelations between professional and non-professional art". In 1974 he became a member of the {{Ill|Verband Bildender Künstler der DDR|de}} (VBK) and member of the Central Board of the VBK. From 1974 to 1987 he was the director of the journal ''{{Ill|Bildende Kunst (Zeitschrift)|de|Bildende Kunst (Zeitschrift)|lt=Bildende Kunst}}'' (Organ of the Central Board of the VBK) published by {{Ill|Henschelverlag|de}}.
Because of public criticism of the curriculum for the subject art education, Michel was regulated in 1976 by the {{Ill|Ministerium für Volksbildung (DDR)|de}}. A year later, a controversy followed with politician {{Ill|Hans Koch (politician, 1927)|de|Hans Koch (politician, 1927)|lt=Hans Koch}} about the contemporary nature of the term "Socialist Realism". From 1979 to 1991 he was a member of the International Association of Art Critics. From 1987 to 1989 he worked as secretary of the central committee of the {{Ill|Verband Bildender Künstler der DDR|de}} (VBK). At the end of 1989 he resigned from the VBK and from the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED/PDS). Up to the dissolution of the publishing house structure he was for a short time artistic-technical director of the {{Ill|Kinderbuchverlag Berlin|de}}; then unemployment followed. From 1991 until 2003 he worked as a freelancer for pb-Verlag Munich, exhibition organizer and freelance journalist. Michel had working stays in 19 European and non-European countries. Since 1990 he has focused his attention on a respectful treatment of art created in the German Democratic Republic. In 1995 he handed over a collection of texts for archiving and research to the Art Research Center in the Getty Center. In 1991 Michel became a founding member of the association {{Ill|Gesellschaft zum Schutz von Bürgerrecht und Menschenwürde|de}} (GBM) and member of the federal board of the GBM. He was speaker of the GBM's "Culture" working group and a founding member of the "Art from the GDR" circle of friends. From 2004 to 2008 and in 2012 he took over as editor-in-chief of the magazine ''ICARUS'' of the GBM, which was discontinued in the same year.
== Publications and exhibitions == === Own book publications === * ''Die Staffelei im Hühnerhof'', Der Kinderbuchverlag Berlin (2 editions 1981,1982) * ''Buchbilder. {{Ill|Klaus Ensikat|de}} und seine Illustrationen'', performed by Michel, Der Kinderbuchverlag Berlin 1989 * ''Ankunft in der Freiheit. Essays gegen den Werteverlust der Zeit'', Verlag am Park, Berlin 2011 * ''Kulturnation Deutschland? Streitschrift wider die modernen Vandalen'', with documentary picture section; Verlag Wiljo Heinen, Berlin and Böklund 2013, {{ISBN|978-3-95514-003-8}} * ''Künstler in der Zeitenwende I. Biografische Miniaturen und ein Prolog von {{Ill|Armin Stolper|de}}'', Verlag Wiljo Heinen, Berlin und Böklund 2016, {{ISBN|978-3-95514-911-6}} * ''Künstler in der Zeitenwende II. Biografische Miniaturen und ein Prolog von {{Ill|Wiljo Heinen|de}}'', Verlag Wiljo Heinen, Berlin und Böklund 2018, {{ISBN|978-3-95514-912-3}} * ''Gewissenstrommler. Essays zur bildenden Kunst 1994–2018'', Verlag Wiljo Heinen, Berlin and Böklund, 2018, {{ISBN|978-3-95514-036-6}}.
List of publications.<ref>[https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&reset=true&cqlMode=true&query=auRef%3D14400240X&selectedCategory=any Publications] on Deutsche Nationalbibliothek</ref>
=== Contributions in other book publications and catalogues === * ''Mythos und Ethos. Essay für die Monographie {{Ill|Heidrun Hegewald|de}} – Zeichnungen, Malerei, Graphik, Texte'', ed. by Angelika Haas and Bernd Kuhnert, ARTE-MISIA-PRESS Berlin 2004 * ''Lexikon Künstler in der DDR'', ed. by Dietmar Eisold, Verlag Neues Leben Berlin 2010, Leitung der Redaktionsgruppe * ''Text für den Katalog "Gudrun Brüne – Lebensspuren" des Museums am Dom Würzburg'', ed. by Michael Koller and Jürgen Lenssen, o. J. * ''Mit Kopf und Herz'', text for the catalog {{Ill|Nils Burwitz|de}} – It’s about time…" on the occasion of his personal exhibition at the Forum ALTE POST in Pirmasens 2017
=== Articles in the German press === * ''Die Naiven – Verklärung und Realität'', Artikelfolge in der Zeitschrift „Bildnerisches Volksschaffen“, issues 2 to 5/1974 * ''20 Jahre Kultur-Vandalismus. DDR-Kunst soll als "ein hässlicher Regentropfen der Geschichte rasch verdunsten"'', in special issue of the ''Deutsche Geschichte'': 20 Jahre deutsch-deutsches Dilemma – eine alternativlos ehrliche Bilanz, Einheit in Zwietracht, issue 1/2010
=== Articles in foreign newspapers and magazines === * ''Kammerton der Bildhauerkunst. Bemerkungen zur Ausstellung „Kleinplastik und Graphik aus der DDR“ in Moskau'', in Sowjetliteratur (deutschsprachige Ausgabe, Moskau), Heft 11/1976 * ''Kathedrale eines Zeitalters. Zum Panorama-Gemälde Werner Tübkes in Bad Frankenhausen'', in Vytvarny Zivot (Bratislava), issue 3/1987; Müvészet (Budapest), issue 11–12/1986; Iskusstvo (Sofia), issue 8/1986; Tvortschestvo (Moskau), issue 9/1986; arta (Bukarest), issue 1/1987
=== Articles in the newspaper ''Marxistische Blätter'' === * ''Fünf Schwierigkeiten im Umgang mit der Kunst Willi Sittes'', issue 4/1994 * ''Schreiben über die Kunstgeschichte der DDR oder Anatomie eines Glaubenswechsels'', issue 1 and 2/2001
=== Articles in the newspaper ''Icarus'' === * ''Häftlingsnummer B 3936. Der arge Weg {{Ill|Heinrich Sussmann|de}}s'', issue 2/2005 * ''Die Verhältnisse durchschaubar machen.'' Laudatio zur Verleihung des Menschenrechtspreises des Vereins GBM an Heidrun Hegewald, Willi Sitte and Walter Womacka, issue 1/2010 * ''Verbrechen an der deutschen Kultur. Gedanken zum 75. Jahrestag der Eröffnung der Ausstellung Entartete Kunst in München'', issue 3–4/2012
=== Articles in the daily ''junge Welt'' === * ''Nachdenken in einem beseitigten Mahnmal. Heidrun Hegewald gewidmet'', 20 October 2006 * ''Er ist hier bei uns. Gedanken zum 130. Geburtstag von Pablo Picasso'', 25 October 2011 * ''Theatrum mundi. 14. September 1989: Einweihung des Panoramabildes „Frühbürgerliche Revolution in Deutschland“ von Werner Tübke in Bad Frankenhausen'', 13./14 September 2014 * ''Dialektischer Realismus. Grundbegriff für eine Kunstgeschichte der DDR. Zum Tod des Kunsthistorikers Peter H. Feist'', 4 August 2015 * ''Ein eigenes Urteil bilden. Das Potsdamer Museum Barberini zeigt Kunst aus der DDR – darunter zahlreiche Bilder, die nach 1990 nicht mehr zu sehen waren'', 15 November 2017 * (Further more than 100 contributions for press, radio, television and catalogues; lectures and readings at home and abroad)
=== Exhibitions === * Personal exhibition of the Moscow painter Tatjana Nasarenko in the Haus der Bürgerschaft Bremen 1986 (opening speech) * Der eigene Blick. Berliner Kunstkritiker zeigen Kunst ihrer Wahl im Ephraim Palace Berlin 1988 (participation with own collection, catalogue text) * Personalausstellung des österreichischen jüdischen Malers Heinrich Sussmann im Prussian Heritage Image Archive Berlin 1989 (Konzeption, Organisation, Eröffnungsrede) * {{Ill|Gerhard Rommel|de}} for his 80th birthday. Exhibition in the Klostergalerie Zehdenick 2014 (opening speech) * Four lives. Two pairs of artists in the Armenian tradition. Exhibition at the Kulturhaus Berlin-Karlshorst 2016 (co-curator, catalogue author, statement on the opening) * Participation in further numerous exhibitions in Freudenstadt, Wittlich, Seeheim-Jugenheim, Neu-Ulm, in the GBM-Gallery and other Berlin galleries, in Kuopio (Finland), in the Art Gallery Gera, the Protestant Academy Meissen, the Municipal Gallery Eisenhüttenstadt, in the Art Association Templin and others
== Participation in juries == * 100 selected graphics, 100 best posters, selection committee painting and graphics of the X. {{Ill|Kunstausstellung der DDR|de}}
== Literature == * Anke Scharnhorst: [https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/de/recherche/kataloge-datenbanken/biographische-datenbanken/peter-michel Michel, Peter] in ''{{Ill|Wer war wer in der DDR?|de}}'' 5th edition. BVolume 2, Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, {{ISBN|978-3-86153-561-4}}.
== Awards and honours == * 1983 {{Ill|Verdienstmedaille der DDR|de}} * 1984 Banner of Labor * Human Rights Award of the Society for the Protection of Civil Rights and Human Dignity 2015 The laudatory speech was held by the painter and graphic artist {{Ill|Heidrun Hegewald|de}}.
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{DNB portal|14400240X}}
{{Authority control}} {{Portal bar|art|Germany}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michel, Peter}} Category:Art writers Category:Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Category:1938 births Category:Living people Category:People from Freyburg, Germany