Adolf Kessler

This article deals with the painter Adolf Kessler. For the banker, see Adolf Wilhelm Kessler .

Adolf Kessler (born May 16, 1890 in Godramstein ; † October 8, 1974 in Landau in the Palatinate ) was a German painter and graphic artist.

Life

Adolf Kessler completed an apprenticeship as a decorative painter in Landau from 1903 to 1906 . From 1907 to 1910 he studied at the Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich with Professors Julius Diez and Karl Wahler and from 1910 to 1914 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Angelo Jank . He was also supported by Max Slevogt .

From 1915 to 1918 Adolf Kessler took part in the 2nd Bavarian Ulan Regiment in the First World War. From 1920 to 1921 he completed his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1922 he married Lili Wackernagel, the daughter of the Basel historian Rudolf Wackernagel . In 1923 his son Rudolf was born and his wife died.

In 1922 he was a founding member of the Palatinate Art Working Group . From 1924 to 1926 he received commissions in Switzerland and went on study trips to Holland , France and Italy . In 1927 he married Madelon Schünemann, the daughter of a Bremen merchant family. In 1928 his daughter Anna Maria Elisabeth was born and in 1931 his son Karl Konrad Hans. One of Adolf Kessler's works was confiscated during the Nazi era .

In 1953 Adolf Kessler was a founding member of the Palatinate Artists' Cooperative. In 1955 he became an honorary citizen of Godramstein . In 1960 he became an honorary citizen of the city of Annweiler on the occasion of his 70th birthday . In 1967 his second wife, Madelon, dies. In 1973 he was awarded the Max Slevogt Medal by the then Prime Minister Helmut Kohl in Ludwigshafen .

Works

• 1913: Collaboration on the murals in Auerbach's cellar in Leipzig .
• 1922: Illustrations for the "Jäger aus Kurpfalz".
• 1925: Illustration of the book “Palatine Legends and Ballads” with Otto Dill and Albert Haueisen .
• 1926: Fresco at the post office in Bad Bergzabern .
• 1927: Fresco on the post office building in Neustadt an der Haardt .
• 1928: Frescoes in the Landau cemetery hall .
• 1929–1930: Two landscapes for the luxury passenger steamer Europa .
• 1930: Illustration of the book "Palatinate Legends" by Friedrich Wilhelm Hebel .
• 1931: Four frescoes in the Erlöserkirche in Ludwigshafen-Gartenstadt .
• 1932: Invited by Max Slevogt to work on the large fresco in the Friedenskirche in Ludwigshafen-Friesenheim . (Destroyed in the war in 1944).
• 1933: Altarpiece in the Evangelical Church in Gawaiten district of Goldap in East Prussia . Illustration of the annual edition “Workers - Farmers - Soldiers” for the members of the Notgemeinschaft Pfälzer Kunst with Otto Dill, Albert Haueisen and Hans Fay.
• 1933–1934: Two frescoes in the Protestant church in Godramstein .
• 1936: Fresco in the "Ritterkeller" in Burrweiler .
• 1937: Altarpiece in the Protestant church in Rhodt unter Rietburg .
• 1937–1938: Five frescoes in the Hohenstaufensaal in Annweiler .
• 1938: Fresco in the cemetery hall in Kandel . Three-part fresco in the Torfit factory in Hemelingen near Bremen .
• 1939: Three murals at the Pfalzwerke Ludwigshafen . Facade fresco Schwartz-Storchenbrauerei Speyer .
• 1946: Fresco in the Catholic emergency church (St. Ludwig) in Ludwigshafen .
• 1951: Mural measuring tool Gustav Ullrich KG, Annweiler . Mural match factory Richard Haupt, Albersweiler .
• 1951–1953: Two frescoes in the town hall of Annweiler .
• 1952 Restoration of the destroyed fresco ceiling painting in the Catholic town church in Volkach .
• 1955 mural on the " Leinsweiler-Hof " near Leinsweiler . Sgraffito at the agricultural school in Landau in the Palatinate .
• 1952–1953: Wall painting in the hall of the town hall of Annweiler .
• 1956: Fresco in the Catholic Church in Annweiler .
• 1958–1959: Four wall paintings in the “Securitas” office building in Bremen : The four continents.
• 1960: Fresco in the Catholic Church Offenbach an der Queich : Resurrection / Women at the grave.
• 1960–1961: Historical wall paintings in the town hall of Landau in the Palatinate .

Exhibitions (selection)

• 1926: International Exhibition in Brooklyn
• 1934: "South German Art in Munich", Neue Pinakothek Munich
• 1936: "Kunstschaffen der Westmark", Palatinate State Trade Institute, Kaiserslautern
• 1941: "Between Westwall and Maginot Line" in the Saarland Museum in Saarbrücken
• 1941: "Kunstschaffen der Westmark", Museum Folkwang , Essen
• 1941: "South Palatinate art exhibition in the soldier town of Landau"
• 1942: “Kunstschaffen der Westmark”, Saarbrücken exhibition center
• 1949: "Art and commercial art from the Palatinate", Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
• 1987: “Style dispute and the leadership principle. Artists and Works in Baden 1930–1945 ”, Badischer Kunstverein Karlsruhe

Awards / honors

• 1939: Westmark Prize for Fine Arts in Saarbrücken
• 1955: Honorary citizen of Godramstein
• 1960: Honorary citizen of the city of Annweiler
• 1973: Max Slevogt Medal

literature

• Kessler, Adolf . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 20 : Kaufmann – Knilling . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1927, p. 209 .
• Kessler, Adolf . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists of the XX. Century. tape 3 : K-P . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1956, p. 41 .
• Hans von Malottki: Adolf Kessler . Das Neue Kunstarchiv, No. 12, Verlag Karl Graf, Speyer 1961.
• Hans Blinn, Wilhelm Weber: Adolf Kessler. Life and work . Verlag Pfälzer Kunst, Landau 1990, ISBN 978-3-922580-27-0 .
• Daniela Christmann: "The Modern Age in the Palatinate. Artistic Contributions, Artist Associations and Art Funding in the Twenties". Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg 1999, ISBN 3-933257-06-9 .
• Daniela Christmann, Britta E. Buhlmann (eds.): "A new time is coming! Art and architecture of the twenties in the Palatinate". Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern 1999, ISBN 3-89422-102-X
• Ariane Fellbach-Stein: "Art politics in the Palatinate 1920–1945". District Association Palatinate Institute for Palatinate History Kaiserslautern 2001, ISBN 978-3927754386 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Adolf Kessler in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Martin Papenbrock : Kessler, Adolf . In: “Degenerate Art”, art in exile, resistance art in West German exhibitions after 1945: a commented bibliography . Publishing house and database for the humanities, Weimar 1996, ISBN 3-932124-09-X , p. 477 , doi : 10.1466 / 20061106.93 .
2. ^ Honorary citizen of the city of Landau