Richard Seewald

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Richard Seewald (born May 4, 1889 in Arnswalde / Neumark , † October 29, 1976 in Munich ) was a German painter and writer.

Life

Richard Josef Michael Seewald was born on May 4, 1889 in Arnswalde. In 1909 he began to study architecture in Munich at the request of his father , but soon turned to painting as an autodidact . After some of the drawings that were made while still in high school had been accepted by the weekly magazine “ Die Jugend ”, Seewald began to draw caricatures for the Munich “Meggendorfer Blätter” and the Berlin “ Lustige Blätter ” and earned his living from this. He traveled to London in 1911 to spontaneously marry his fiancée Uli.

The modern gallery Heinrich Thannhauser , which regularly presented works by young Munich artists, showed for the first time a selection of graphic works by Richard Seewald. Inspired by the painterly effects of drypoint etching, he created his first oil painting on the island of Rab in 1913 . The New Secession was founded in November of that year, and Richard Seewald was soon to become a member, and shortly afterwards the artist joined the German Association of Artists . Seewald illustrated the poetry collection "Snuffbox" by Hans Bötticher (pseudonym: Ringelnatz ) and became a coveted illustrator, for example for Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" and " Penthesilea " by Heinrich von Kleist . He also created the illustrations for his own first book “Animals and Landscapes”. An important solo exhibition was held in 1919 at the Munich art dealer Hans Goltz . Seewald traveled repeatedly to the Mediterranean and continued to illustrate his own books and those of other authors. During this time, his drawing style changed in favor of clay painting.

Richard Seewald was only thirty-five years old when he was appointed professor at the Cologne factory schools during a stay in Positano in 1924 . In 1929 he converted to the Catholic faith and subsequently also processed orders for murals in sacred spaces (e.g. he painted a choir mural in the Dominikus Böhm Church of Stella Maris on Norderney ). In 1931, under the impression of the new repressive cultural and political climate in Cologne, he finally decided to move to Ronco sopra Ascona, Switzerland , where he became an honorary citizen in 1939. From now on he painted and wrote with equal intensity.

For the first time after the end of the National Socialist dictatorship, Seewald set foot on German soil again in 1948, but it took another three years before he gained a foothold in the cultural life of the Federal Republic of Germany. Richard Seewald took part in the first exhibition of the previously re-established German Association of Artists in Berlin in 1951 with four gouaches showing Tuscan motifs. In 1954 he accepted the offer of a professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich , four years later Seewald resigned after disagreements with the Academy's executive committee. After the death of his wife, he burned around 150 of his pictures and hundreds of sketches, drafts and correspondence.

Richard Seewald died in Munich on October 29, 1976. He bequeathed his remaining sketchbooks to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum ( GNM ) in Nuremberg. He transferred all of the rest of his estate to a foundation called Fondazione Richard e Uli Seewald Ascona .

Richard Seewald's pupil at the Cologne factory schools

Illustrated books

  • Joachim Ringelnatz , d. i. Hans Bötticher : The snuff box, Pieper, Munich 1912.
  • Klabund : Small picture book from the war, Goltz, Munich 1914.
  • Heinrich von Kleist : Penthesilea, Goltz, Munich 1917.
  • Francis Jammes : The hare novel, Wolff, Berlin 1916.
  • Daniel Defoe : Robinson Crusoe, Goltz, Munich 1919.
  • Richard Seewald: Traumreise or Robinson the son of Robinsons or The four seasons or Orbis Pictus. Josef Kösel & Friedrich Pustet, Munich 1935.
  • Paul Gallico : The little miracle, Hamburg 1952.
  • Edzard Schaper : The Christ child from the great forests, Hegner, Cologne / Olten 1954.
  • Hans Christian Andersen : Märchen, Ueberreuter, Vienna, 1955.
  • Edzard Schaper : Stern over the border Cologne, Hegner, Cologne / Olten 1958.
  • Seewald Bilderbibel, one hundred pictures with texts from the Old and New Testament, Herder, Freiburg 1957.
  • Johannes Rüber : The valley of pigeons and olives, Herder, Freiburg 1979.
  • Gustav Schwab : The most beautiful sagas of classical antiquity, Herder, Freiburg 1983.
  • Erich Kästner : “ The 13 Months ”, Cecilie Dressler, Berlin.

literature

  • Eva Chrambach:  Seewald, Richard Josef Michael. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0 , p. 157 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Richard Seewald , Internationales Biographisches Archiv 03/1977 of January 10, 1977, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
  • New moon over my garden, by Richard Seewald. With 51 drawings by the author. Herder, Freiburg 1970. (In this book, the then almost 80-year-old artist takes stock of his professional and private life.)
  • Richard Seewald, 1989–1976, a selection of works. Edited by Anton Sailer. Karl Thiemig, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-521-04082-8 .
  • Richard Seewald, on his 100th birthday. With a foreword by Sigmund Widmer. Published by the Richard and Uli Seewald Foundation, Ascona 1989.
  • Richard Seewald, The Greek Island Book, A Painter's Notes. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich, 2nd edition 1967.
  • Richard Seewald, Easter on Poros. Jakob Hegner, Cologne 1958.
  • Richard Seewald, coincidences, parables of the visible. Jakob Hegner, Cologne.
  • Richard Seewald, The Man Who Was a Snob. Novel. Jakob Hegner, Cologne.
  • Richard Seewald, The discovery of the island of Elba. With 45 drawings by Richard Seewald. Jakob Hegner, Cologne.
  • Richard Seewald's correspondence with Walter Müller-Wulckow: "No one will let art dictate whether it should perish or not." In: Gloria Köpnick and Rainer Stamm (ed.): Low German Contributions to Art History, New Series, Volume 3, Petersberg 2018, pp. 18–50.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ kuenstlerbund.de: Full members of the Deutscher Künstlerbund since it was founded in 1903 / Seewald, Richard ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on February 15, 2016) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kuenstlerbund.de
  2. ^ Catalog of the Deutscher Künstlerbund 1950. First exhibition in Berlin 1951, in the rooms of the Bild University. Arts, Hardenbergstr. 33 , complete production: Brüder Hartmann, Berlin 1951. (without page number, catalog no. 190–193)
  3. ↑ Fondazione Richard e Uli Seewald Ascona (accessed on March 17, 2019).
personal data
SURNAME Seewald, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and writer
DATE OF BIRTH May 4, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Arnswalde , Neumark
DATE OF DEATH October 29, 1976
Place of death Munich