Johann Georg Grimm

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Grimm 1879

Georg Grimm , also Johannes Georg Grimm or short Georg Grimm , Brazilian and Jorge Grimm (* 22. April 1846 in Lake in Buhl am Alpsee , today Immenstadt belonging; † 18th December 1887 in Palermo ) was a German landscape painter , taught at the Art Academy in Rio de Janeiro and introduced outdoor painting to Brazil.

Life

Youth, school and carpentry

Parents home and carpenter's workshop

Johann Georg Grimm was born as the son of the carpenter Johann Bernhard Grimm (* 1811; † 1881) and Maria Anna Herz (* 1814; † 1851) in Bühl am Alpsee ( location of the birthplace ). In the workshop building below the house where he was born, his father carried out a wide variety of carpentry work - from tables to wood paneling on walls and ceilings to boats for the Alpsee lake and altars for churches. The family also owned a large number of small plots of land that they leased (pp. 10, 11) . The statement from earlier sources that Grimm came from a poor background and had to work first as a shepherd, then a wheelwright and house painter, can therefore not be upheld.

Grimm lost his mother at the age of five. To the same extent that Grimm's ties to his homeland were loosened, the farming village oriented itself to the outside world with the opening of the railway in 1851 as a timber and cattle loading station and as a tourist destination, and also opened up the young Grimm's minds to the wider world.

Johann Georg received - like his two years younger brother Johann Franz (* 1849 - † 1933) - after attending the weekday school in See (May 1852 - April 1859) in the drawing school in Immenstadt, lessons in architectural drawing, calligraphy and ornament drawing . His diploma showed “excellent” in most subjects, the worst grade was “very good”.

Johann Georg learned the carpentry trade and initially lived with his father in Bühl am Alpsee. He is said to have received orders to build rowing boats not least because the son was able to draw them so beautifully . P. 10, 11

The library in Rauhenzell Castle sparked enthusiasm for painting

An order to renovate the library at Rauhenzell Castle near Immenstadt, which is still unchanged today, gave the decisive impetus for the young carpenter's life. According to his future Brazilian student, he found Parreira's art books there, which fascinated him so much that he decided to devote himself entirely to painting.

Then apprenticeship or employment relationships as a painter in Kempten (August 1865 - February 1866), Neustift and Munich (June 1867) are known.

Education

In July and November 1867 Grimm was as an apprentice in the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich recorded (page 12) , where he studied, despite considerable financial and material limitations to April 1870th

“From April 5, 1870, a certificate by Grimm signed by Wilhelm von Kaulbach dated that he had made very good progress with a great deal of diligence , that he had attended the class of antiquities and nature to this day and that the college had unanimously recognized his studies in nature. "

- W. Gunther le Maire : Grimm, artist career p. 13

According to the previous Grimm research, Grimm has not commented on his teachers. The Munich Academy had an outstanding reputation at that time, which Karl von Piloty , Wilhelm von Kaulbach and Moritz von Schwind established. Piloty in particular is said to have excellent pedagogical skills. Although he was a meticulous history painter, he painted with his students in the great outdoors. It would be unlikely if a young, eager to learn man like Grimm had not studied the art of these highly respected professors in detail.

His later favorite pupil Antonio Parreiras remembered reports from Grimm, according to which he was said to have lived in abject poverty in Munich. He said he ate bread that was used to clean pictures and had therefore turned black, and that he drank water with it. He was noticed at the academy because of his enormous diligence.

Brazilian sources report that Grimm interrupted his studies in 1870 to take part in the Franco-Prussian War . This is conceivable; however, there are no letters or other documents referring to this section.

In 1872 Grimm moved to the Berlin academy . Since he could not afford a train ride, he went there on foot (p. 15) . A benefactress let him enroll in the stucco courses at the Free School. Grimm left Berlin in October of the same year (1872). He wrote to his parents that he [...] wanted to go back to Munich and then to Italy , so that his studies should really start , he would n't let anything put him off his thorny path . (P. 12)

The academy in Rome is also named as a place of study for Grimms.

Therese Ravoth

A mysterious patron keeps appearing in Grimm's life data. The German Grimm researcher le Maire is now convinced that it was Therese Carolina Ravoth, wife of a surgery professor and painter from Berlin, whom Grimm probably met in Munich. After le Maire, the 19 years older art enthusiast probably became a kind of surrogate mother, with whom the half-orphan Grimm stayed in contact until his death. In 1872 she brought him to the academy in Berlin and possibly supported him financially for his study trips to Italy and around the western Mediterranean in the years from 1872 to 1875. In any case, Grimm met with Ravoth's son Max and his friends in Rome in 1873. A meeting with Therese Ravoth, who was then widowed in Italy, is also known from his second stay in the Mediterranean, which he began in Brazil in 1880.

First Mediterranean voyage 1872–1877

Thanks to the generous support of wealthy friends, Grimm left Germany at the end of 1872 and stayed almost exclusively in the Mediterranean area until 1877. Long journeys took him through Italy, where he visited Rome, Naples and Capri several times. After a short stay in Berlin, he returned to Italy in 1874 and came via Sicily (Trapani) to Tunisia and Algeria, then to Spain (Granada and Toledo), France, England and Portugal. There in Lisbon he surprisingly decided to cross to Brazil in 1877.

The approximately 200 drawings, watercolors and oil paintings with views, landscapes and costume pictures capture Grimm's travel impressions. The nude and costume studies in watercolors that were created in Rome are described by experts as outstanding. Regarding Grimm's passion for the Mediterranean, it should be noted that he shared this passion with many artists of his time. It also remains unclear for CR Maciel Levy which motives ultimately drew Grimm to South America, a large metropolis with a wonderfully tropical nature.

Georg Grimm: Vista do cavalão , headland in Niteroi

Brazil 1877–1879

Grimm arrived in Rio de Janeiro in August 1877 and initially worked for a German-born entrepreneur named Friedrich Anton Steckel, who had specialized in painting houses and ships, gilding, interior decoration, inscriptions, signs and selling painting supplies.

Grimm did not go on long journeys during this time. However, he often visited villages and small towns in the hinterland of Rio, so in the greater Vale do Paraíba ( Paraíba do Sul ) and Petrópolis , Valença and in the province of Minas Gerais . There he painted detailed pictures of coffee plantations and other estates for wealthy landowners. Although the origin cannot be assigned to landscape paintings, these commissioned works, executed with the greatest precision, are considered significant examples of this genre.

With the good wages, Grimm was able to lead a better life and compensate himself for the hungry years of study (p. 16) .

Second Mediterranean voyage 1880–1881

From the beginning of 1880 to July 1881, Grimm stayed again in Europe, nine months of which in his home in the Allgäu on the occasion of the death of his father. He then traveled again to the Mediterranean region (Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt). A longer stay in Corsica followed. He finally returned to Brazil via the Franco-Italian Riviera, Paris and Bordeaux. The trip can only be reconstructed using a small sketchbook.

Exhibition in 1882 and professorship

In March 1882, the Sociedade Propagadora das Belas Artes held a public art exhibition in the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios in Rio de Janeiro, at which 128 of the 418 works presented were by Grimm. The oil paintings and watercolors, most of which were made between 1873 and 1876 on his travels in Europe, were a huge success. Grimm received the gold medal and was unanimously praised by the press and critics. At the personal intervention of the Emperor of Brazil Pedro II , Grimm was offered the chair of landscape painting at the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes (AIBA for short, German: Imperial Academy of Fine Arts), which had been vacant since September 1881.

Grimm began teaching in June 1882. Later, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, his students were among the most brilliant generations of painters in Brazilian art.

In the short period of his activity, he fundamentally transformed the teaching methods at the academy by introducing open-air painting.

"... Here he rebelled against the previous practice of teaching within four walls, was the first to move the lessons outdoors, in the beautiful surroundings of Rio and let his students paint from nature"

- Karl H. Oberacker in New German Biography

However, over time, resistance to Grimm's teaching methodology, open-air painting and the sober, nature-related realism he represented, which contradicted the painting cultivated at the academy, formed in the academy's management and among colleagues. Due to constant differences of opinion, Grimm did not extend his contract in mid-1884 and left the AIBA.

Artist group "O grupo Grimm"

View from Rio to Niteroi today
the Museu de Arte Contemporanea on the left
Icaraí beach in the Niteroi district, view of Rio

He moved to Niteroi with his students and friends and took up studies in open-air painting. His most famous students were Antônio Parreiras and Giovanni Battista Castagneto . Together with Domingo García y Vásquez , Hipólito Boaventura Caron , Joaquim José da França Júnior , Francisco Joaquim Gomes Ribeiro , Estêvão Silva and Thomas Georg Driendl they were later called O grupo Grimm (also Escola da Boa Viagem ). This group of artists was soon opinion leaders in the Brazilian art scene and set important accents for future painting in Brazil. For numerous reasons the formation of the Grimm group became one of the most important events in the development of Brazilian art during the Second Empire.

Mount Dedo de Deus (The Finger of God) in Teresopolis

Shortly after their spectacular departure from AIBA, the Grimm group had a great success in August 1884 at the Exposição Geral de Belas Artes, the most important art exhibition during the time of the monarchy. Grimm and almost all members of the group received gold medals and honorable awards. After another six months of studies on the beaches in Niterói, the group worked one more time in January / February 1885 in the mountains of Teresópolis in the hinterland of the state of Rio de Janeiro and then disbanded. Grimm and his students went their own way.

Curtain of the Sabará Opera House

Provinces of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais

After the dissolution of the Grimm group, Grimm traveled again to the province of Minas Gerais until December 1886 to complete various assignments. In 1885 he painted the curtain for the Sabará Opera House and stayed for some time in Nova Lima , Sete Lagoas and Lagoa Santa . In 1886 he created a large number of paintings of coffee plantations in the plantation areas such as Paraíba do Sul as well as Valença , Bemposta and São José do Rio Pretoã from the Petrópolis and Três Rios districts, which were already visited from 1877 to 1879 . He painted life and work there and architectural features. His great paintings were often commissioned. During this time he hardly made any sketches or small watercolors. He completed a picture of the Fazenda Catangá, the largest of its size, in December 1886 after two months of work.

Drawn by death in 1887

Illness, return and end of life

During his last assignment, Grimm had contracted tuberculosis. In June 1887, severely affected by the illness, he visited Antônio Parreiras, said goodbye to his students and friends and returned to Germany (after Levy this happened in May of that year). He stayed with his brother in Wengen for a few weeks (p. 18) . On the advice of his doctor, he went to Meran to recover and in September / October traveled on to Sicily, which is climatically more favorable. However, he died shortly afterwards of tuberculosis in the Palermo hospital on December 18 and was buried in the small cemetery Cimitero degli Inglesi, at the foot of Monte Pellegrino.

meaning

Grimm describes the history of art in Brazil as a great master. He was regarded as the opinion leader of modernism in Brazil, reformer of Brazilian painting, founder of the open-air school and an important teacher.

Grimm research

Johann Georg Grimm achieved his fame in Brazil and, with his naturalistic landscape painting, had a significant influence on the development of modern painting in the country. Some of his larger-format works hang there in museums, but most of them are privately owned by clients and art collectors. Grimm remained largely unknown in Germany. Only the local researchers Rudolf Herz from Immenstadt and Ignaz Dornach from Weiler sensed the importance of Grimm. Herz authored two articles that appeared in 1934. Dornach was a successful snuff manufacturer and passionate art collector. He managed to collect a large number of over 60 Grimm works that his widow later donated to the Westallgäuer Heimatmuseum and that were sold to a Brazilian collector in an unfortunate, uncoordinated campaign.

In keeping with its importance, all of the important and noted publications about Grimm and his group of artists until recently came from Brazil. Carlos Roberto Maciel Levy , who is considered to be the best expert on the subject , stood out in particular . His book O Grupo Grimm in 1980 summarized the state of knowledge at the time. His new work Johann Georg Grimm. Vida e obra from 2009 is dedicated to the painter and the person Grimm and takes into account the latest research results.

According to Levy's records, the bibliography on the life and work of Grimm includes at least 304 publications (118 books, 42 articles in specialist journals, 103 in newspapers and 41 in catalogs). Only 24 of them do not come from Brazil, but some are written in Portuguese. The general artist lexicon from 2009 with the 20 most important sources provides an introduction to the topic.

The European stages of Grimm's life were not the focus of interest for the Brazilian art historians, they were also poorly documented and accordingly uncertain. Grimm must have told his friends and followers from the O Grupo Grimm about his youth and academy times. Parreiras in particular gives some details about Grimm in his written legacy. However, this area was reserved for further research.

On the German side, Franz Braun, the landlord of the Gasthaus Alpsee in Bühl am Alpsee and himself an autodidactic painter, came across an old newspaper article by Herz and thus set the Grimm research in the Allgäu rolling. W. Gunther le Maire gradually determined a large number of details, adjusted uncertainties and closed information gaps. In the meantime, an art prize from the Kulturemeinschaft Oberallgäu eV bears the name Grimms and in 2008 the Friends of Johann Georg Grimm eV was founded to further research the history of Grimms.

On his travels in Europe, Grimm made mostly small-format paintings, watercolors and drawings, depending on the luggage. In addition to the artistic statement, in connection with Grimm's letters to his family and friends, they are also valuable for Grimm research, because they help in the reconstruction of the numerous and sometimes long journeys of the artist.

Works

Memorial plaque by Matthias Buchenberg from 2006 on his parents' house in Bühl

Memorabilia

Research has now recorded around 270 works, almost all of which are privately owned. A collection of 67 works that has been stored in a cupboard for 60 years is now in Brazil.

Occasional exhibitions (e.g. Immenstadt 2006 and 2013) and a plaque on the house where he was born in Bühl am Alpsee commemorate the person and artist Johann Georg Grimm.

Street sign of the village square in Bühl

"Birthplace of Johann Georg Grimm / b. April 22, 1846, See bei Bühl / died December 18, 1887, Palermo / Professor of the Art Academy Rio de Janeiro, / who significantly influenced landscape painting in Brazil "

- Memorial plaque at the birthplace in Bühl, Seestraße 36

Also in Bühl am Alpsee , in memory of Grimm, the new village square between Aach and Gasthof Alpsee was renamed Johann-Georg-Grimm-Platz .

The rediscoverer Franz Braun has set up a small, publicly accessible private museum with copies of some pictures in memory of the artist in his Gasthaus Alpsee in Bühl under the name "Johann-Georg-Grimm-Stube".

Tomb

The final resting place of Grimm was in 2007 by Dr. Meinhard Ditterich discovered at the foreigners cemetery in Palermo. The repair has already been approved by the authorities on the initiative of the Rotary Club of Palermo-Nord. It is planned to restore the tomb in 2010 and to provide it with a new tombstone (designed by the Oberallgäu artist Matthias Buchenberg [1] ).

swell

literature

Basic works on the lemma in chronological order
  • 1887/1888 - Angelo Agostini: Revista Ilustrada (Rio), 447: 1887.6; 483: 1888.6
  • 1888 - Luiz Gonzaga Duque Estrada: A Arte Brasileira. Kessinger Publishing, Rio de Janeiro 2010, ISBN 978-1-167-58247-9 .
  • 1909 - Luiz Gonzaga Duque Estrada: Cosmos. Rev. artist., Cientifica e lit., (Rio), 3: 1909
  • 1916 - L. Freire de Oliveira: To séc. de pint. Apontamentos para a hist. Da pint. no Brasil, Rio
  • 1926 - Antônio Parreiras: A história de um pintor (contada por ele mesmo). (German: The story of a painter (told by himself)), (Portuguese)
  • 1934 - Rudolf Herz: The painter Georg Grimm von See near Bühl. Hochvogel, Kempten 1934, pp. 33–35.
  • 1934 - Rudolf Herz: Georg Grimm von See near Bühl. In: Heimat, Oberallgäuer Heimatblätter. 4th year, No. 2, Kempten, pp. 5–7.
  • 1969 - Roberto Pontual: Dicionário das Artes Plásticas no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro, pp. 251-252.
  • 1974 - Carlos Cavalcanti: Grimm, Jorge. In: Dicionário Brasileiro de Artistas Plásticos. MEC / INL, pp. 283-284
  • 1980 - Carlos Roberto Maciel Levy: O Grupo Grimm: Paisagismo Brasileiro no Século XIX. (The Grimm group: Brazilian landscape painting in the 19th century), Análise critica e biografica de Johann Georg Grimm (1846–1887) e outros, Ed. Pinakotheke, Rio de Janeiro, October 1980, PPN 266955371 in the web link BAM (Portuguese)
  • 1981 - Carlos Roberto Maciel Levy: Antônio Parreiras. Pintor de paisagem, gênero e hist. , Rio (Portuguese)
  • 1982 - Carlos Roberto Maciel Levy: Giovanni Battista Castagneto. O Pintor do mar , Rio (Portuguese)
  • 1983 - Quirino Campofiorito: História da Pintura Brasileira no Século XIX
  • 1985 - Felix Fereirra: Belas artes. Est. e apreciações. Rio de Janeiro
  • 1988 - José Roberto Teixeira Leite: Dicionário crítico da pintura no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Artlivre, 1988.
  • 1989 - Maria Elizabete Santos Peixoto: Pintores Alemães no Brasil durante o século XIX (German: German painters in Brazil in the 19th century) , Rio de Janeiro (preface as pdf 3.24 MB; Portuguese)
  • 1996 - DA XIII
  • 1996 - Max Flad: in R. Vogel (Ed.) Immenstadt im Allgäu. Immenstadt, pp. 585-588.
  • 1997 - Gutierréz Viñuales / R. Gutierréz Viñuales (Ed.): Pint., Escult. e fotogr.en Iberoamérica. S. XIX u. XX, Ma.
  • 2000 - G. Ferrez: Iconogr. do Rio de Janeiro 1530-1890. Cat. analítico, I-II, Rio
  • 2002 - Jorge Roberto Silveira: Vistas e paisagens da enseada de Niterói. Rio
  • W. Gunther le Maire: Johann Georg Grimm (1846-1887). Artist career between Allgäu and Brazil . Biography and exhibition catalog. J. Eberl, Immenstadt im Allgäu 2006, ISBN 978-3-920269-33-7 .
  • 2009 - Carlos Roberto Maciel Levy: Johann Georg Grimm. Vida e obra (Life and work). Rio de Janeiro (Portuguese)
  • 2009 - Carlos Roberto Maciel Levy: Grimm, Johann Georg. Entry in the general artist lexicon (formerly Thieme-Becker artist lexicon) KG Saur-Verlag, Munich / Leipzig 2009, pp. 273–274 (German)
Sources of evidence for individual evidence
  • Isabel Sanson Portella: Landscapes: A Concept of Romanticism in Brazilian Painting . ( dezenovevinte.net - Portuguese: Paisagem: um conceito romântico na pintura brasileira - George Grimm .).
  • Vanda Arantes do Vale: Brazilian painting of the 19th century - Mariano Procópio Museum . ( dezenovevinte.net - Portuguese: A pintura Brasileira do Século XIX - Museu Mariano Procópio .).
  • Laudelino Freire: Jorge Grimm . In: To Século de Pintura . Röhe, 1916 (Portuguese, com.br ).
  • Ana MT Cavalcanti: Meetings of the academic corps of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts between 18883 and 1885 . In: Museu D. João VI da Escola de Belas Artes da UFRJ (Ed.): Arte Brasileira do Século XIX e Início do XX . Dezenove Vinte (Portuguese, dezenovevinte.net [PDF] Original title: Trechos das Atas das sessões do Corpo Acadêmico da Academia Imperial de Belas Artes entre 1883 e 1885. ).
  • Arthur Valle, Camila Dazzi: Illustrated catalog of the Exposição Geral de Belas Artes exhibition from 1884 . ( dezenovevinte.net [PDF; 6.7 MB ] Portuguese: Catálogo ilustrado da Exposição Geral de Belas Artes de 1884. ).

Web links

Commons : Johann Georg Grimm  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
  • Editing (bes): Rudolph Trimbach at the top; Heimatverein New board of directors and new statutes . Allgäuer Zeitung, Weiler June 12, 2007 ( all-in.de - article about the sale of the Grimm works).
  • Gunther le Maire: A copper relief with the master's features; Monument preservation; Rotary clubs want to repair the grave of the Bühler painter Johann Georg Grimm in Palermo . Allgäuer Zeitung, Palermo / Bühl June 21, 2008 ( kultur-oa.de ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The NDB and also Brazilian sources state Kempten as the place of birth, but rightly question the statement again. According to cultural researcher le Maire , Johann Georg Grimm himself caused the uncertainty, who, when asked about this in Brazil, simply named a larger place at Kempten that could be better assigned overseas.
  2. ↑ a b c d see web link NDB Neue Deutsche Bibliothek
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p see literature Carlos Roberto Maciel Levy: Grimm, Johann Georg. Entry in the general artist lexicon
  4. ↑ a b c d see web link matriculation database of the Academy of Fine Arts Munich
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g see literature W. Gunter le Maire Grimm, artist career
  6. ↑ a b c see web link Gunther le Maire: A complete work is reevaluated. Gunther le Maire reports on the traces of the Bühler painter Johann Georg Grimm
  7. ↑ a b c see literature Antônio Parreiras: A história de um pintor (contada por ele mesmo)
  8. ↑ whether in Freising, Vilshofen, in Austria or in South Tyrol is not known; Le Maire Grimm, artist career p. 12.
  9. ↑ a b c d see web link Art Encyclopedia: (Johann) Georg Grimm
  10. ↑ What exactly this reference in the NDB was about has not yet been clarified.
  11. ↑ a b c d e see web link LeMaire2006.
  12. ↑ The academy was founded in 1816, towards the end of the colonial period, by the Portuguese King D. João VI (1816–1826) and is now part of the University of Rio de Janeiro as Escola de Belas Artes (see article in the Portuguese-language Wikipedia)
  13. ↑ Since Grimm was a foreigner, the professorship had to be renewed annually (Le Maire Grimm, artist career p. 17)
  14. ↑ see section literature
  15. ↑ see web link to article in Westallgäuer Zeitung
  16. ↑ CR Maciel Levy: Notes and advice on the article Johann Georg Grimm in an e-mail message from December 13, 2012
  17. ↑ Managing director of the Kulturgemeinschaft Oberallgäu eV and former chairman of the Professional Association of Visual Artists Schwaben Süd eV, lives in Bühl am Alpsee, Grimm's birthplace
  18. ^ The Freundeskreis Johann Georg Grimm eV
  19. ↑ Article in the Allgäu announcement sheet about the naming of the place (Johann-Georg-Grimm-Platz) in Bühl am Alpsee
  20. ^ Photos from the grave in Palermo
personal data
SURNAME Grimm, Johann Georg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grimm, Johannes Georg (full name); Grimm, Georg; Grimm, Jorge
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German landscape painter
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1846
PLACE OF BIRTH Lake near Bühl am Alpsee , today Immenstadt in the Allgäu
DATE OF DEATH December 18, 1887
Place of death Palermo