Monika

1972

Documenta 5 in Kassel

Penck takes part in Documenta 5 in Kassel (Fridericianum).

1975

The Will Grohmann Prize

After military service in 1974, Penck is awarded the Will Grohmann Prize in 1975 by the Academy of Arts in West Berlin; by this time state security control over him has also increased.

3 August 1980

Moves to West Germany

Penck moves to West Germany, first living in Kerpen, southwest of Cologne. After emigrating he becomes one of the foremost exponents of new figuration, alongside Jörg Immendorff, Georg Baselitz and Markus Lüpertz.

1981

The Rembrandt Prize in Basel

The Goethe Foundation awards Penck the Rembrandt Prize in Basel, Switzerland.

1982

Documenta 7 in Kassel

Penck takes part in Documenta 7 in Kassel (Fridericianum); he had already taken part in Documenta 5 in 1972.

1983

“New Art” at the Tate and other landmark shows

In the 1980s the work of Penck and his circle is shown by major museums and galleries in the West; the important shows include the famous Zeitgeist exhibition at the Martin Gropius Bau and the New Art show at the Tate in 1983. In these years he becomes known worldwide for paintings with pictographic, neo-primitivist imagery of human figures and other totemic forms.