100 illustrations and original graphic works from the 1950s and 1960s will be on display as of 15 February in Berlin, including numerous self portraits which show the artist’s "writing", "baroque", "elegiac" and "dramatic" self. Horst Janssen’s countless facets, his exuberant imagination, his profound sense of humor and his overall uniqueness do not only become obvious in his portraits, but in each and every single work. The artist, who seemingly provoked with abstruseness, ugliness and obscenity, holds a completely different view: "To me all of this is not ugly, hideous or repulsive, as I wouldn’t be able to draw it if that was the case. I can only depict things I love".*

The Hamburg-born Horst Janssen grew up in the city of Oldenburg where his museum was opened in 2000. Exhibitions in, among others, Los Angeles, London, Moscow, New York, Paris and Rome are proof of the artist’s international popularity.

Whether one regards Horst Janssen a "remarkable illustrator occupying a special position in art history" as Walter Koschatzky**, former director of the graphic collection of the Albertina in Vienna does or a "monomanic genius" as it was said by the author Wolfgang Hildesheimer**, one thing can be said for sure: Horst Janssen counts among the most outstanding artist of the 20th century. He was an exceptional artist who made enormous accomplishments. Especially as far as his drawings are concerned, he didn’t leave anything to chance, but yet, the usage of coincidence is what he possessed particularly mastery in, this aspect becomes most obvious in his aquatints. Like no other, Janssen ennobled drawings far beyond their status as preliminary works for paintings, bestowing an originality upon them as it had never occurred before.

The exhibition Horst Janssen: Der große Grafiker des letzten Jahrhunderts - Originalgrafik und Zeichnungen der 1950er und 1960er Jahre "Horst Janssen: The Great Graphic Artist of the Last Century - Original Prints and Drawings from the 1950s and 1960s" pays tribute to this ingenious accomplishments and will be on display at Ketterer Kunst in the Fasanenstr. 70 in Berlin-Charlottenburg from 15 February to 12 March 2011. Doors are open from Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 pm and Saturdays from 11 am to 4pm. From 16 March to 13 April the exhibition will be shown at Ketterer Kunst, Messberg 1 in Hamburg (monday to friday from 10am to 5pm). All works are for sale, prices range between € 150 and € 14.000.

* Stefan Blessin. Eine Biografie. 1984. page 254
** in the preface of a catalog published in 1982 on the occasion of a Horst Janssen exhibition at the Albertina in Vienna.