Fuchs, Günter Bruno (editor).

[BETWEEN EAST AND WEST: BERLIN POST-WAR AVANT-GARDE WITHOUT THE WALL] Zinke. Nos. 1–3 (all published).

Berlin: Galerie Zinke, March 1960–March 1961. Quarto and unfolded folio (ca. 30 × 21 cm, unfolded ca. 60 × 42 cm). Each issue a single sheet on red stock, folded into four sections, printed in black to recto and verso. Very good or better. Item #55211

Complete run of the mouthpiece for the groundbreaking gallery that became an important meeting place and center for avant-garde activity in West Berlin in the early 1960s. Published under the direction of Robert Wolfgang Schnell, Günter Bruno Fuchs, Sigurd Kuschnerus, and Günter Anlauf, the journal presented textual material and illustrations in a style and form that anticipated developments later in the decade and beyond. It was not only artists and writers from West Germany, such as Günter Grass with his recently published novel “The Tin Drum”, who appeared in the sparsely furnished room in a Kreuzberg backyard building, with its coal stove and crates. Before the Wall was built, Berlin had been the only place where artists and intellectuals from West and East could still move and exchange ideas freely. Thus, Helene Weigel and Anna Seghers were also part of the network surrounding the ‘Zinke’ group. The protagonists of the Zinke stood decisively against the Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel that prevailed in West Germany on the one hand, and the Socialist Realism dominant in East Germany on the other. In contrast to the emphasis on the autonomy of form or its instrumentalization, the Berlin bohemians opted for the interplay between visual art and literature. The closest point of reference was Fantastic Realism. Lack of discipline, not enough money, and a proclivity toward heavy alcohol use have been cited as reasons for the gallery's decline and eventual closure.

As of June 2025, KVK, OCLC show three copies in North America.