Franz Erhard Walther - "GELB YELLOW JAUNE", Villa FEW

We are pleased to announce a solo exhibition of Franz Erhard Walther at the Villa FEW, from September 27th, 2025 to March 1st, 2026.

“The solo exhibition GELB (YELLOW), outlined in detail by Franz Erhard Walther in 1964 in a draft poster and layout drawing and planned for 1965 in the rooms of the Galerie Junge Kunst Fulda, was based on the concept of presenting eight yellow works in the eight rooms of the gallery.

The works – all in the colour yellow, which Walther favoured at the time and used in a manifesto-like way – were intended to expound his work design developed in the years 1962–1964 in various forms. The works were sewn from yellow muslin and yellow vinyl, as well as built from cardboard, then covered with yellow muslin or patinated with yellow paint. Almost all of the objects invited visitors to participate in a possible action. Many of the works planned for the exhibition can be found in Walther’s sketchbook from 1962/63.
         
The unexpected death of the thirty-nine-year-old head of the Junger Kunstkreis (Young Art Circle) in August 1964 was a caesura for Franz Erhard Walther and the entire Kunstkreis, which meant that the planned exhibition GELB could not be realised. In 2025 – sixty years later – the exhibition with originals and reconstructions will be shown in the VILLA. 
This exhibition is part of a planned series of revivals of activations and reconstructions of Walther’s exhibitions of the 1960s as part of the VILLA program.”

Activation of the “Roten Scheibe mit drei Elementen" (Red Disc with Three Elements), Düsseldorf, 1965. Photo: Reiner Ruthenbeck

Exhibition views, GELB YELLOW JAUNE, photos by David Ertl.
© VILLA Franz Erhard Walter and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn