Biography of Willi kissmer ; sketch of his early career Willi Kissmer was born in Duisburg, ( then West Germany) , 1951. He attended Gymnasium , (Grammer School) , but didn’t like the teachers..... He was more interested in Art and Music. cartoons AND Modern comics ..... Folk Music especially and other music from this time. To this day he avidly reads, collects Modern comics, plays guitar, with friends and sometimes local bands. It was during the 1960’s that playing the guitar WAS perhaps his MAIN INTEREST. By the age of fifteen he was already playing in a Duo ..... Willi and Jenni........... They played folk music. Willi met Jenni playing music and this duo marked the beginning of his muSical career. . 1967 Willi left school aged 16 and continued to play music.... 1969 he was playing Guitar for Brosel Machine, a local Duisburg band. Then Three albums later he realised this was not enough for him. 1971 he began to study ART at the prestigious Folkwang Academy in Essen, graduating in 1976. Throughout this period he continued to play Music, Art was his main passion. But......... Music was very much a part of his daily life 1973 He started to teach Guitar aT the VHS ,( Adult evening classes) in Duisburg. providing several classes every term. He had 140 pupils regularly receiving tuition when he quit teaching 1983. 1982 Willi taught Printmaking for one year at the university in Duisburg 1973 until 1983 teaching Guitar helped Willi finance his ART EDUCATION. He was extremely busy in this period,........... preparing copper plates, proofing and printing them, painting in oils, attending and preparing lessons for the Folkwang and VHS in the daytime, and teaching for up to five hours in the evening. By 1983 HE HAD ENOUGH SUCCESS to live from Art alone. Willi continues to live in Duisburg , living since 1989 in a 19th century Gothic revival styled tower built in 1856 on the banks of the Rhein. this Tower when combined with an identical Tower on the opposite bank of the Rhein, craned complete trains, carriage by carriage, off railway tracks and onto steamships, which, after crossing the Rhein, were craned back onto railways tracks by the sister tower . A time before bridges existed that were strong enough to carry complete trains across the Rhein. He lives with his wife, model and Muse, BEATE . . Definitive hardback Catalogue Raissonne of etchings 1980-2000. This edition is now out of print and a reprint is not expected. a new publication to include all etchings 1980- 2010? may materialize at some future date Hardback Published in 2006 with over 70 full-page colour reproductions of Willi’s favorite oils from 1980-2005. Essential for collectors and galleries alike. Useful reference or commission guide (call for more information.) 32 page A4 paperback catalogue from an exhibition at the Nevada Institute for Contemporary Art, entitled “Touching with a sense of Vision” , Sept. 1993 US review from the Sept. 1993 exhibition A4 paperback Catalogue containing 21 full page colour reproductions of oils and etchings for an Exhibition organised by Stadtwerke Duisburg AG, entitled” WILLI KISSMER MALEREI UND GRAPHIK” April 1992 Local Duisburg newspaper report, April 1992 32 page A4 paperback promotional catalogue from Die Galerie of Frankfurt October 1996 Gatefold promotional catalogue from the Turm Galeriie, Bonn , February 2000 8 page promotional leaflet from Burroughs Contemporary Art, 1998