Michael Sowa (1945) is a German artist known mainly for his paintings, which are variously whimsical, surreal, or stunning. His paintings often feature animals and are titled in English and German. His art is widely available as posters, notecards, postcards, and calendars.
Sowa studied at the Berlin State School of Fine Arts for seven years and worked briefly as an art teacher before focusing entirely on his career as a painter and illustrator. A book of 50 paintings titled Sowa's Ark: An Enchanted Bestiary was published in 1996. He also illustrated Esterhazy, The Rabbit Prince by Irene Dische and Hans M. Enzensberger. He is the illustrator of The Little King December and A Bear Called Sunday, both authored by Axel Hacke.
He was the cover artist for several albums, including Mad Season by Matchbox Twenty and two covers for The Beautiful South's Miaow and for their single "Everybody's Talkin'."
He gained new followers for his work on the 2001 film Amélie where his art on the walls comes to life. Sowa contributes illustrations to the satirical German magazine, Titanic, and he also did the art work for magazine covers of several well-known periodicals, most notably the December 2, 2002 issue of The New Yorker.
His work has been exhibited in the Wilhelm-Busch-Museum Hannover, in the Kunsthalle Oldenburg, at The Liebenweintrum in Burghausen and repetedly in Japan. In September 2020 Michael Sowa was awarded with the e.o.plauen Prize.
© 2024. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Michael Sowa or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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Michael Sowa |
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Herbert |
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February |
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Kranker Hund |
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Sharks of Suburbia |
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Greetings From Berlin |
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Sheep with Laptops |
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Haunted City |
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A Turkey Provides Seven Kinds of Meat |
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Seemannslos |
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Köhlers Schwein |
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Carpathian Chicken |
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Happy Easter |
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Straße frei! (Johannes R. Becher) |
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Die Melancholie eine Sommerabends |
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Biker |
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On The Road |
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Schwanblumen |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKA5CJBKLG8FR47JnF_RaFmwuvPWtU7bcv-1I_h4qa8iibDmVy6PI9NCoz6H1q32zuY70QAd15yGCPyzid_pYFnQ6Jr8-odXp3S7Yq9R9Mu4D1FvhwaEcPzgwM7W1PuK46QwSCPh6X9DLSYsf-70nK-_u6UuQxkp_FB_bbDKhiCKANqlJLltrLNfynfw/s16000/Ark%20.jpg) |
Ark |
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Ark (detail) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitYX8v3S-v4RpdNOD8725z6zYDW9ruTv8RblfBeLuh7Lys-awzh3b_P0HM2Wr8dYp5uVu4MfHhOcdJqb6Pl1752gYaEuPQvxkoyvxuBd8LEG5gvmxLXVyakouDzSWwqH8EtxN2Zpd57qpYGX0EfbQGuNki1FAZ4-HTziJqDVaSv27W_ggav6DnjQ5QSZk/s16000/Ark%20(detail)%203.jpg) |
Ark (detail) |
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Ark (detail) |
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Big Buzzer |
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Die Einladung |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheM2SP8nP_KkQxeSLNvi30UZAMXQellEZVt_UuGg44QgEn4ldnYr36_mWF5Kmc4_qAqE4kCsHtCeaZliaQACWLogYKfVk_GJmsvW9KjUbPRasITqjNuebxikX2Snuue6ctneZ8zOO81LJvuXTrhc2VAHF0eSFVe3Gmmo382LJdb3037CfsvjtK8fbk5l0/s16000/Friends.jpg) |
Friends |
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Giraffe |
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Herta |
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Instant Relief Therapy |
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Man, Table, Fish |
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Portrait of a Singer |
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Quiet Days |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYLR7s7vuXIuFRrB3_8zsMYNIgNJGa2xbj5C2-Mj_BoLoj-XP4XlZK1P9t2Wso9HEFVoHxgJCrTef5JES_OmaGBTbnbDQIXq5jS0qiOmvIHELixlNrH7kcJicSBpUrpcTb-9z57NN2cnZD-mjS4Z33NiT22AdqNW7vGwaU8d-e6PYe5TbLolF1N3IWzg4/s16000/School%20of%20Fish.jpg) |
School of Fish |