The artist Christa Näher studied with Martin Engelmann at the Hochschule der bildenden Künste in Berlin and was a master student of Marwan. From 1987 to 2013, she was the first female artist to hold the professorship of painting at Städelschule. Her paintings and drawings draw from the historical and self-experienced past. Existential fears, nightmares and feelings such as pain are processed in her artistic work. Her view of the dark and negative comes from a deep darkness which she came into the world with. Mixed creatures of animal and human, werewolves and centaurs are recurring motifs in Näher's paintings and, as mediators between the worlds, they relate to her conviction that nature is superior to humans. In the course of her artistic work, she has developed her own visual language, combining form and vision genuinely. The ambivalence of the living and the polarity of light and darkness form constants in her artistic works. Näher reaches deep into the collective consciousness of our time with her multilayered and enigmatic visual worlds. Thus, her rapturous paintings trigger existential emotions and forcefully show the viewers who they are. Näher was a participant in Documenta 9 (1992) and her work has been included in numerous exhibitions, nationally and internationally. Important solo exhibitions include: Aus Deutschland..., Museum of Art Lucerne (1984); Portikus, Frankfurt (1995); Die Vertreibung der Mauren, Galerie Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt (1999); Nachgesang. Das Malwerk und das Schöne, Kunstraum Innsbruck and Frankfurter Kunstverein (2001); Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville (2005); Aus heiterem Himmel, Kunstverein Konstanz (2017); Schwarze Wanderung, Kunstmuseum Bernau (20019). Her work was included in numerous group exhibitions, including: Von Hier aus - Zwei Monate neue deutsche Kunst in Düsseldorf, Messe Düsseldorf (1984); Open Mind, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Gent (1989); Refigured Painting: The German Image 1960-1988, Toledo/Ohio, New York and Williamstown/Massachusetts and the Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf and the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (1988/89); Art from Köln, Tate Gallery, Liverpool (1989); Arbeiten auf Papier aus der Sammlung des Westfälischen Kunstvereins, Westfälischer Kunstverein Münster (1996); Einfühlung und Abstraktion – Die Moderne der Frauen in Deutschland, Kunsthalle Bielefeld (2015/16) and Die 80er – Figurative Malerei in der BRD, Städel Museum, Frankfurt (2015/16). In 2019, Näher was awarded the Hans-Thoma-Preis by the State of Baden-Württemberg in recognition of her lifetime achievements as an artist.
Professors

Monika Baer
Fine Arts and Painting
Daniel Birnbaum
Philosophy and Art Education
Gerard Byrne
Film
Benjamin Foerster-Baldenius
Cohabitation
Isabelle Graw
Art History and Art Theory
Judith Hopf
Fine Arts
Hassan Khan
Fine Arts
Philippe Pirotte
Art History and Curatorial Studies
Yasmil Raymond
Rector, Professor for Curatorial Studies
Tobias Rehberger
Sculpture
Willem de Rooij
Fine Arts
Haegue Yang
Fine Arts, Vice-RectorGuest
Professors

Eric Baudelaire
Fine Arts
Francisco Camacho Herrera
Fine Arts
Niklas Maak
Fine Arts – Frankfurter Prototyp
Vera Mey
Curatorial Studies and Art History
Ruth Noack
Curatorial Studies and Art History
Slavs and Tatars
Fine Arts
Omar Kasmani
Fine ArtsHonorary
Professors

Kasper König
Cultural Education
Christa Näher
Fine Arts
Wolfgang Tillmans
Fine ArtsResearch
Fellows

Monika Szewczyk
Artistic Research and Curatorial StudiesTeachers

Liberty Adrien & Carina Bukuts
Portikus
Eric Bell
Photo Lab
Karl Kliem
Production Studio
Marius Moll
Film and Video Lab
Nino Pezzella
Drawing
Bernhard Schreiner
Film and Video LabAdditional Teachers
Milena Büsch
Photo Lab
Juliet Carpenter
Production Studio
Anja Cooymans
Print Workshop
Daniel Fort
Sound Studio
Panagiotis Fotiadis
German Class
Claudia Gaida
German Class
Christopher Garthe
Sustainibility
Sandra Havlicek
Production Studio
Jacqueline Jurt
Print Workshop
Yasuaki Kitagawa
Sculpture Workshop
Harald Pridgar
Computer Workshops
Peyman Rahimi
Print Workshop
Nermine Saadeh
Production Studio
Katharina Schücke
Photo Lab
Sebastian Stöhrer
Wood and Ceramics Workshop
Silke Wagner
Print Workshop
Stefan Wieland
Portikus
Wolfgang Winter
Sculpture Workshop
Christian Zickler
Print Workshop
Past Faculty

Clémentine Deliss
Winter Semester 2022/23: Guest Professor for Art History and Curatorial Studies
Asad Raza
Winter Semester 2022/23: Guest Professor for Fine Arts
Hannah Black
Winter Semester 2021/22: Guest Professor for Fine Arts
Tania Bruguera
Summer Semester 2021: Guest Professor for Fine Arts
Keren Cytter
Summer Semester 2022: Guest Professor for Fine Arts
Cyprien Gaillard
Winter Semester 2020/21: Guest Professor for Fine Arts
Ayşe Güleç
Winter Semester 2021/22–Summer Semester 2022: Research Fellow
Jenny Nachtigall
Summer Semester 2019–Winter Semester 2020/21: Guest Professor for Art Theory
Rahraw Omarzad
Summer Semester 2022: Guest Professor for Fine Arts (Gasthof)
Walid Raad
Summer Semester 2022: Visiting Artist