Clemens Gröszer was born in East Berlin in 1951. From 1972 to 1976 he studied at the Weissensee University of the Arts in East Berlin. From 1980 to 1983 he was a master student at the Academy of Arts of the GDR under Wieland Förster. Later he created material collages and experimented with Super 8 film and sound experiments. In 1981 he was a co-founder of the artists’ group NEON REAL. Gröszer died in Berlin in 2014.
In 2015 the Museum Dieselkraftwerk in Cottbus paid tribute to him with a retrospective.

Johannes Grützke was born in Berlin in 1937. From 1957 to 1964 he studied painting at the University of the Fine Arts in West Berlin. In 1973 he was a co-founder of the School of the New Magnificence. From 1989 to 1991, he created the monumental mural Procession of People’s Representatives in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt am Main. From 1992 to 2002 he taught as a professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg. In 2012 he received the Hannah Höch Prize of the State of Berlin and the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin honoured him with a retrospective. Grützke died in Berlin in 2017.

Hubertus Giebe was born in Dohna (Saxony) in 1953. From 1974 to 1976 he studied painting and graphics at the University of Fine Arts in Dresden, after which he was a masters student there under Bernhard Heisig and lectured from 1987 to 1991. In 1985 he won the main prize in the competition “100 Selected Graphics of the GDR” in Berlin. In 1997 he was awarded the Graphics Prize of Nordwestkunst in Wilhelmshaven and in 2007 the Wilhelm Morgner Prize for painting. In 2020 the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, awarded him the Falkenrot Prize. Giebe lives and works in Dresden.

Albrecht Gehse was born in Borsdorf near Leipzig in 1955. From 1976 to 1981 he stud­ied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig. He also worked with the Leipzig artists’ group “37,2”. In 1984 he received the special prize in the exhibition Young Artists of the GDR – 1984. From 1987 to 1990 he was a master student at the Academy of Arts of the GDR under Bernhard Heisig. Since 1991 Gehse has lived and worked in Berlin.

Klaus Fussmann was born in Velbert near Düsseldorf in 1938. He studied at the University of the Fine Arts, West Berlin, from 1962 to 1966. In 1972 he received the Böttcherstrasse Bremen Prize and the Villa Romana Prize in Florence. From 1974 to 2005 he taught as a professor at the University of Arts, Berlin. A retrospective was shown at the Kunsthalle Bremen in 1992. In 2011 he was awarded the Order of Merit and in 2018 the Culture Prize of the State of Schleswig-Holstein. Fussmann lives and works in Berlin and Schleswig-Holstein.

Hartwig Ebersbach was born in 1940 in Zwickau (Saxony). From 1959 to 1964 he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig under Bernhard Heisig. From 1979 to 1983 he held a teaching position there for experimental art. In the 1980s he was a member of the Leipzig artists’ group “37,2”. In 1982 he was honoured with a retrospective at the Lindenau-Museum in Altenburg and in 1985 received the Art Prize of Düsseldorf Artists. In 1992 Ebersbach was a founding member of the Free Art Academy in Leipzig and in 1996 was appointed a member of the Saxony Academy of Arts in Dresden and the Academy of Arts in Berlin. He was awarded the Jerg Ratgeb Prize, Reutlingen, in 2006 and the Max Pechstein Prize of Honour of the City of Zwickau in 2017. Ebersbach lives and works in Leipzig.

E.R.N.A. was born Elke Neubert in Lichtenstein (Saxony) in 1954. In addition to training as a children’s nurse, she attended the Academy of Art in Dresden as an evening student. From 1979 to 1984 she studied art there under Gerhard Kettner. In 1982, together with Paul Böckelmann, she acquired old farm buildings in Altenau (Brandenburg), which they converted into an art workshop. In 2004 a producer‘s gallery was opened, also in Altenau (Brandenburg), where E.R.N.A. lives and works.

Rolf Faber was born in Münster (North Rhine-Westphalia) in 1908. From 1928 he studied German, philosophy and theatre studies in Münster and Munich, followed by painting studies at the art academies in Munich and Kassel and at the State Uni­versity of Art in Berlin. He spent a year abroad at the Académie Julian, Paris. In the 1950s he was co-founder and chairman of the Neue Aachener Gruppe. In 1962 he moved to West Berlin. Faber died in Berlin in 2007.

Rainer Fetting was born in Wilhelmshaven (Lower Saxony) in 1949. He studied paint­ing at the University of the Fine Arts, West Berlin, under Hans Jaenisch from 1972 to 1978. In 1977 he co-founded the Galerie am Moritzplatz. In 1978 a DAAD scholarship took him to New York. Fetting received international attention in 1981 in the show A New Spirit in Painting at the Royal Academy, London, and a year later in the Berlin exhibition Zeitgeist. In 2005 he was awarded the Henri Nannen Prize. His first retro­spective was shown at the Berlinische Galerie in 2011. In 2020, the Museum Schloss Gottorf presented his extensive work. Fetting lives and works in Berlin and Wester­land (Sylt).

Wieland Förster was born in Dresden in 1930. From 1953 to 1958 he studied sculp­ture at the Academy of Art in Dresden, followed by Fritz Cremer’s master class in East Berlin. In 1974 he was awarded the Käthe Kollwitz Prize of the Academy of Arts of the GDR. In 1974 he became a member of the Academy of Arts of the GDR, and in 1985 he was appointed professor. In 2000 he received the Federal Order of Merit, and in 2009 he was awarded the honorary prize of the Brandenburg Art Prize. Förster lives and works in Berlin and Oranienburg (Brandenburg).