RAINER ALOIS KOHL
21.03.1942 – 19.07.2021
Born 1942 in Dresden, East Germany, Rainer joined his parents, who had fled to Frankfurt am Main, West Germany after WW2, as a child aged 10. From age 14, he received art lessons by the Frankfurt based painter and art tutor Hans Scheil, with whom he studied for many years, becoming his assistant while still in high school.
At age 17, his first major commission was a large wall graffito for a boys high school in Frankfurt. Many other commissions followed. After completing high school, Rainer attended the renowned Werkkunstschule (Art Academy) in Offenbach near Frankfurt, where he studied Graphic Design as well as Fine and Applied Arts. His painting style was mostly abstract in oil, mixed media and watercolour.
After several impressionable study tours throughout Europe and North Africa, he was chosen to become a member of the prestigious Grupo Ibiza (Spain) in 1963, where he held his first one-man show. In the same year he met, and was encouraged by Pablo Picasso.
Rainer's paintings and drawings also featured in several exhibitions within the 'Berufsverband Bildender Kuenstler e.V.' (Federation of Fine Artists) in Germany - Rainer was the youngest Frankfurt based member. His works of those early years were bought by European and American private collectors. Having also excelled at free-lance graphic design from the time of his art studies, Rainer chose to pursue a career in advertising. In 1964, he was head-hunted by, and joined, Heumann & Ogilvy Ad-Agency as Junior Art Director in Frankfurt, where he conceptualised campaigns for a variety of major German and international clients, such as Lufthansa, Daimler Benz (Mercedes), Proctor & Gamble and Jaffa Fruit.
In search of new horizons and challenges, Rainer and his future wife and business partner, Hedy, traveled to South Africa in 1965, and, enchanted by the beauty of Africa, decided to stay. In 1966, the Kohls established a Design Studio in Pretoria, with commissions in Southern Africa and Europe, while also being innovative in instituting and promoting ongoing cross-cultural events.
Rainer's first one-man art exhibition was held in 1968 at the SA Arts Association in Pretoria, opened by the then Cultural Attache´ of Germany. Numerous private and gallery exhibitions followed, resulting in worldwide sales from 1968 to 2021, at cultural and fund-raising events, various embassies and private homes. One of Rainer's paintings was presented to his namesake, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, during his visit to South Africa in 1995.
Throughout the years, Rainer's painting evolved in style and depth, challenging his multi-faceted creativity. His art reflects his impressions of Africa, its brilliant colours, dimensions and mystique. He painted vividly, with an approach all his own and a complimentary combination of semi-abstract images, forms and colours, presenting an uncompromised African feel and effect. . . somewhat romantic, always meaningful, strong and original.
Rainer's main focus during the years 1970 to 2012 fostered on his and his wife's uniquely innovative design studio Kohl Graphics, with diverse emphasis on Graphic Design, Advertising, Exhibition and Product Design.
After semi-retirement, from 2012 to 2021, Rainer again concentrated mainly on his art output. After two most successful exhibition tours to Switzerland and Germany in 2013 and 2014, Rainer was set back by a stroke in 2015. Not having completely recovered, and after contracting COVID-19 in 2021, Rainer passed into the realms of peace.
Rainer will always be lovingly remembered by his wife Hedy, his sons Oliver and Robin, his daughter-in-law Fazila, and all who knew and revered him.
Rainer lives on in our hearts and in his art.