1940–2017
Arno Rink was a German painter best known for his role in shaping the second generation of the Leipzig School — a movement rooted in the figurative traditions of German art, yet marked by intellectual depth and symbolic complexity.
Born on 26 September 1940, Rink studied at the prestigious Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (HGB) in Leipzig beginning in 1962, where he was taught by influential artists such as Werner Tübke, Hans Mayer-Foreyt, and Harry Blume. These formative years placed him at the intersection of classical technique and the ideological frameworks of East German art education.
Rink began teaching at the HGB in 1979 and later served as its headmaster from 1987 to 1995. His tenure as educator was marked by rigor, vision, and a deep respect for the craft of painting. Perhaps his greatest legacy lies in the generation of artists he mentored — including leading figures of the New Leipzig School such as Neo Rauch, Tilo Baumgärtel, Michael Triegel, Tim Eitel, David Schnell, and Christoph Ruckhäberle.
His own work, often imbued with mythological, allegorical, or surreal elements, stands as a testament to the power of figurative painting in an era that often sought to dismiss it. Arno Rink’s canvases balance the sensual with the cerebral, the personal with the political — revealing a painter deeply engaged with both form and meaning.
He passed away on 5 September 2017, leaving behind not just a body of work, but an enduring influence on 21st-century European painting.
