Adolf Höfer

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Adolf Höfer

Adolf Höfer (born October 10, 1869 in Munich , † March 14, 1927 in Parsberg , Upper Palatinate ) was a German painter , illustrator and graphic artist .

Life

Adolf Höfer was the son of the Munich landscape painter Heinrich Höfer . He lost his birth parents early; at four the mother, at nine the father (from tuberculosis). He was raised by the second wife of his father Amalie, nee. Ruhwandl, from a middle-class Munich civil servant family. After graduating from high school at the noble Maximiliansgymnasium , he studied painting at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts , first with Ludwig Schmid-Reutte , then in the " nature class" of Ludwig von Herterich , and finally with Paul Hoecker , who gave his students "the highest degree of living nature." Teacher of all art ”. There he met most of those painters who came together in 1899 to form the “Scholle” artists' association in order to be able to exhibit in the Munich Glass Palace without a jury . In parallel, he did his military service up to reserve officer.

Although he had dealt specifically with contemporary open-air painting during his training , graphic works for the weekly Jugend, founded in Munich in 1896, were initially in the foreground. Later he mainly made commercial graphics without succeeding financially. He sent the “Scholle” painting exhibitions, but often with the same pictures. He received little attention from art critics.

It was not until 1906 that he returned completely to painting - "ruefully" as he said. He became a teacher at the women's academy of the Münchner Künstlerinnenverein eV

Adolf Höfer with his students from the women's academy

This offered him a structured environment and a regular income. He enjoyed teaching, was well received by the students and was now able to afford his own studio in Schwabing's avant-garde Giselastraße. He had an intimate liaison with Nadine von Enckevort , a noble student, which ultimately failed due to differences in class.

His best works were created during this happy time. He developed his own style of painting, moved to the country with his “Scholle” colleagues such as Leo Putz and Edward Cucuel to paint and exhibited regularly. An outward sign of recognition was an invitation to tea from Prince Regent Luitpold in 1910. The First World War ended this productive phase in 1914. Adolf Höfer volunteered for the military - in the hope that the war would end soon - and became a stage officer in Flanders.

Self-portrait around 1920

When he returned in 1918, his world was gone. His love was broken; his mother died; he now lived alone in his parents' apartment. The women's academy was closed in 1920. The "Scholle" had already disbanded in 1911. He exhibited twice (1919 and 1920) in the Munich Secession, but could not sell anything. The inflation destroyed his savings. He lost all buoyancy, became impoverished and lonely.

During these difficult times, his brother Wilhelm Höfer, district doctor in Parsberg, repeatedly invited him to longer stays. A number of landscapes and portraits were created there. In the spring of 1927 he shot himself there with his officer's pistol. His grave in Munich's Alten Nordfriedhof was destroyed by the bombs of World War II. (A more detailed biography can be found in: Simone Brehmer: Adolf Höfer - Aufbruch in die Moderne. Landsberg / Lech 2010.)

Works

His first notable works were not paintings, but around 30 lithographs for the weekly magazine Jugend , including full-page illustrations, Art Nouveau vignettes and title pages. Among other things, he produced commercial and advertising graphics for Stollwerck -chokolade and Henkell-Trocken-Sekt , for Pelikan -kunstlerfarben (with Walter Püttner ) and the Munich fur goods store Merzbacher, as well as event posters and book illustrations (e.g. with Max Feldbauer ) . In 1900 he was the winner of a competition by Ludwig Stollwerck for designs for a Stollwerck scrapbook .

As a painter, his most common subjects are: portraits of women, preferably outdoors, portraits, nudes, still lifes, views of gardens and parks as well as wide landscapes, especially in winter. In his paintings he always only depicts individuals; Group scenes with social references only exist in the graphics.

Back act around 1912

It took him a long time to develop his own style. In his early years he started with the Dachau painters like Wilhelm Leibl and Wilhelm Trübner and also took over their rural subjects. In his first portraits, he also used English models as a basis. Later the French impressionists , Max Liebermann and especially Paul Cézanne , became his guiding stars. He now painted impressionistically, with the broad Munich line. His palette lightened and became more and more colorful. Among the Scholle painters, his style ranks between Leo Putz and Max Feldbauer . "Höfer's painting rhythm is softer, more flowing than the field farmer's, his palette is milder and never as loud as that of Putz, his conception of the female nude, a focus in his work, is less delicate than that of Putz, and appears more immediate, more natural." After the First World War, his style lost this vitality and lightness and became more earthy again. He painted mainly in Parsberg; the Munich Belle Epoque was finally over.

So far, around 60 paintings are known and documented, all of them in private ownership, most of them from his family, some more have been lost. The assignment of his paintings is made more difficult by the fact that many are not signed. So far, hardly more than those 30 from the youth have been documented among the graphics .

The Simone Brehmers catalog from 2010 records the state of knowledge at the time. In the meantime, other works have become known. A special website (www.adolf-hoefer.de) is in preparation to complete the catalog of works.

Exhibitions

During his lifetime he took part in collective exhibitions, for the first time in 1896 with a painting ("Lily") in the Munich Secession . From 1899 he took part in the exhibitions in the Munich Glass Palace as part of the Scholle artists' association , and more intensively from 1906 to 1911. He was also represented at the Scholle exhibitions in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Vienna and Prague.

In the more recent Scholle exhibitions from 1980 onwards, Adolf Höfer was initially little present. It was only at the exhibitions in Landsberg and Holzhausen that it emerged more strongly. His first major solo exhibition took place in 2011 in the gallery in the Ismaning Palace pavilion, which received a great deal of media and public response.

Collective exhibitions with the participation of Adolf Höfer:

  • 1896 secession, Munich
  • 1900 Fritz Gurlitt Gallery, Berlin
  • 1900 Annual exhibition Glaspalast, Munich
  • 1902 annual exhibition Glaspalast, Munich
  • 1902 German national art exhibition, Düsseldorf
  • 1902 large art exhibition, Berlin
  • 1903 Secession, Berlin
  • 1904 annual exhibition Glaspalast, Munich
  • 1905 IX. international art exhibition, Glaspalast, Munich
  • 1905 International portrait exhibition, Bremen
  • 1906 annual exhibition Glaspalast, Munich
  • 1906 Secession, Vienna
  • 1906 Rudolfinum, Prague
  • 1907 annual exhibition Glaspalast, Munich
  • 1909 annual exhibition Glaspalast, Munich
  • 1911 Annual exhibition Glaspalast, Munich
  • 1911 Large art exhibition, Düsseldorf
  • 1919 Secession, Munich
  • 1920 Secession, Munich

Recent Scholle exhibitions with works by Adolf Höfer

  • 1980 Bernd Dürr Gallery, Munich
  • 1995 Städt. Dachau Gallery
  • 2008 Georg Schäfer Museum, Schweinfurt
  • 2009 Hohenkarpfen Art Foundation
  • 2009 New City Museum Landsberg / Lech
  • 2010 BVS training center in Holzhausen
  • 2011 Gallery in the Ismaning Palace Pavilion. Solo exhibition "Adolf Höfer, SCHOLLE painter - YOUTH illustrator - graphic artist".

literature

  • Georg Biermann: The Scholle, a Munich artists' association . In: The Art of Our Time . Hanfstängl, Munich 1910, pp. 62-136.
  • Simone Brehmer: Adolf Höfer - Departure into the modern age. Retrospective of a Scholle painter . Landsberg am Lech (Neues Stadtmuseum), 2010, 72 pages with approx. 100 illustrations, detailed biographical notes by Frohmut Gerheuser, catalog of works (status 2010) and extensive bibliography.
  • Yvette Deseyve: The Munich Artists Association and its Ladies Academy. A study of the educational situation of women artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . With a list of all full members, students and teaching subjects in the years 1882-1920. Herbert Utz Verlag, Munich 2005.
  • Bernd Dürr: Leo Putz, Max Feldbauer and the circle of “Scholle” and “youth” in Dachau around 1900. Dachau, 1989.
  • Bernd Dürr: The artist community Scholle in the circle of youth and the Secession. Galerie Bernd Dürr, Munich, 1992.
  • Bernd Dürr: The Scholle artists' association. Neumeister auction house, reprint for the Neumeister Moderne auction, Munich, 2000.
  • Ruth Stein: The plaice. A Munich artists' association around the turn of the century. In: Weltkunst , Heft 13, 1992, pp. 1795–1799.
  • Siegfried Unterberger, Felix Billeter and Ute Strimmer (ed.): The plaice. An artist group between the Secession and the Blauer Reiter. Prestel, Munich a. a. 2007.
  • Georg Jakob Wolf (GJW): The Munich Glass Palace 1911 . In: Die Kunst , Vol. 23, 1911, pp. 523-526.

Art dictionaries (selection):

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biermann (1910), p. 134.
  2. ↑ Dr. Georg Habich: The youth group at the annual exhibition in the Munich Glass Palace. In: Die Kunst, monthly for free and applied arts, Munich (Bruckmann), vol. 1, 1900, p. 58. Hans Rosenhagen: The Munich artists' association "Scholle" . In: Die Kunst, monthly books for free and applied arts, Munich (Bruckmann), vol. 11, 1905, p. 406 + p. 439 f. Fritz von Ostini: The floe in the Munich Glass Palace, 1906 . In: The art. Volume 13, 1906, p. 516.
  3. ↑ Biermann (1910), p. 135.
  4. ↑ Deseyve (2005), p. 198
  5. ↑ See also Biermann (1910), p. 136, Wolf (1911), p. 524.
  6. ↑ Deseyve (2005), p. 84 f.
  7. ^ Poster drafts, in: Kunst und Handwerk, magazine of the Bavarian Arts and Crafts Association in Munich, 49th year 1898/99, p. 150.
  8. ↑ Neue Plakate, in: Kunst und Handwerk, magazine of the Bavarian Arts and Crafts Association in Munich, 58th year 1907/08, p. 131.
  9. ^ Prof. Karl Hofacker: Kunstgewerbeblatt 11th year, Leipzig, 1900.
  10. ↑ See Brehmer (2010).
  11. ↑ a b Dürr (2000)
  12. ↑ Bayerisches Fernsehen, Rundschau from August 3, 2011: "Adolf Höfer". Münchner Merkur from August 5th, 2011: "The forgotten painter Adolf Höfer in the Ismaning Palace pavilion: light and mood captured". Süddeutsche Zeitung of August 22, 2011: “Snow is not white. An exhibition in the Ismaninger Schloßpavillon is dedicated to the artist and Scholle member Adolf Höfer. "
  13. ↑ Unterberger et al. (2007), pp. 104, 191, 269.

Web links

Commons : Adolf Höfer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Höfer, Adolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH March 14, 1927
Place of death Parsberg