Dieter Leuenberger
Born 1951 in Biel. Raised in Basel and Zurich.
Following studies in education and a three-year spell as a teacher, Dieter Leuenberger studied art history. As a self-taught artist, he succeeded early on with his pictures and gave up his studies in 1978 to concentrate exclusively on painting. He received three scholarships each from the city and canton of Zurich. In 1982 Dieter Leuenberger was award winner in the competition «50 Young Swiss Artists» at Seedamm Cultural Center, Pfäffikon (CH).
In 1983 he lived and worked in Palermo. He went travelling, most notably to Italy, Africa and the USA. Various solo exhibitions in Zurich, Basel, Berne, Brunnen, Uznach, Hannover (Germany) and Genoa (Italy). Took part in group exhibitions in Germany, France, Canada, United Arab Emirates and Switzerland. Completed a number of murals, for example for the large meeting room of the television studios, Zurich.
He illustrated two children's books:
«Der Urwaldschreibtisch» (The primeval forest writing table),
text by Franz Hohler, 1994
«Die Stadtgartenschnecke» (The city park snail),
text by Max Huwyler, 1999
Additionally, he was involved in projects with the artists' group O.M.O. whose book «O.M.O. – Harte Jahre» (O.M.O. – The hard years) appeared in 1997. In 2002 a book «Bis der Regen nachlässt» (Until the rain eases off) appeared with pictures from an exhibition of the same name and text by Franz Hohler, Max Huwyler, Helen Issler and Jean Ziegler. In 2005 a book «Aus der Welt» (From the world) was published with pictures from an exhibition of the same name. Each picture had a text alongside it written by an author from the publishing house Zytglogge.
Dieter Leuenberger lives and works in Zurich.