Michael Heindorff was born in Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, West Germany (now Germany) on 26 June 1949. He won a DAAD Scholarship that allowed him to move to London in 1976, where he studied at the Royal College of Art RCA). Heindorff soon established himself as a painter and a teacher of painting, eventually becoming Head of Painting at the RCA and receiving an Honorary Fellowship in 2002.
Painter, printmaker, illustrator and teacher, Michael Heindorff was born in Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, West Germany (now Germany) on 26 June 1949, the son of Hans Heindorff and Sigrid (Hampe) Bootz. He attended the University of Braunschweig from 1970 to 1974. During his studies in Germany, Heindorff was awarded a national scholarship that spanned from 1972 to 1976, followed by a one year DAAD Scholarship that allowed him to study in London. Consequently, he immigrated to London and enrolled at the Royal College of Art, studying there between 1976 and 1977.
Engaging across a range of media and styles, Heindorff’s work as a painter and printmaker has regularly featured natural and urban landscapes, gradually transitioning from figurative to abstract art. ‘In 2002, stating that he “paints with pencil”, at Guildhall Art Gallery he showed panoramic views of the City of London and beyond done from the top of nine churches,’ (Buckman, 2006, p. 713). His painterly lexicon in these works suggests a simplicity that echoes the uninhibited expression found in children’s paintings, where the elemental forms and bright, vivid colours are laid down with direct and bold strokes that eschew detailed elaboration. Heindorff’s oeuvre includes a recurring motif of arboreal forms, where the emphasis lies heavily on the foliage, depicted through swirling shapes and vibrant colours. His celebration of nature is not a mimetic depiction of the natural world but a rudimentary interpretation reminiscent of the Fauvist bold palette. The compositions balance between abstraction and figurative allusions. A sense of movement, generated via the swirling pattern, evokes the Impressionist fascination with capturing fleeting moments. Heindorff’s bold outlines and stylised forms also bare a resemblance to the distilled essence of shape and colour found in Henri Matisse’s cut-outs. The brushstrokes, fast and textured, betray a spirited hand that values the gestural over the meticulous. His drawings embody a completely different style. For example, the Affirmations series from the 1980s features interiors, often studios or industrial environments, filled with intricate details and objects. This series is defined by a stark black and white contrast and the rapid, dynamic strokes of the pencil.
In 1976, Heindroff was an award winner in the annual the John Moores Prize painting competition held at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and later won the German Schmidt-Rottluff Art Prize (named after the Expressionist painter Karl Schmidt-Rottluff) and the Italian Villa Massimo Prize. In 1981 he joined The London Group, a historic London-based collective offering artists exhibition alternatives since 1913. In the same year, he bought a Victorian warehouse in Shoreditch, along with poster artists Bob Linney and Ken Meharg. In the early 1980s Heindorff produced prints at the renowned Kelpra Studio in north London, along with fellow RCA printmaker, Tim Mara. Heindorff's exhibition record includes a 1987 retrospective at the Northern Centre for Contemporary Arts which displayed works created since 1977. In 1988, his works were part of the Exhibition Road Show, a group exhibit at the Royal College of Art in London. Additionally, the renowned Bernard Jacobson Gallery supported and displayed his work from 1978 until 1992 and also served as his representative in London, Los Angeles and New York. His work has been shown in the Bradford Print Biennale and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and commercially, at Marlborough Fine Art, also in London.
Beyond his own artistic practice, Heindorff also pursued a career in academia. From 1980 to 1981, he served as a Senior Lecturer at St. Martins School of Art in London. Concurrently, in 1980, he was appointed a Senior Tutor at the Royal College of Art, a role he held until 1999. His contributions to the institution were recognised when he was named an Honorary Fellow in 1988. Michael Heindorff lives and works between London and Berlin. His works can be found in several public collections in the UK including the Arts Council Collection, British Council, Government Art Collection, Victoria Gallery & Museum in Liverpool, and in London at the British Museum, London Transport Museum, Imperial War Museum (an oral testimony recording), the Royal Academy Collection, Tate and the V&A.