Alban Spitz

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Alban Spitz (born April 6, 1906 in Minseln ; † January 20, 1996 in Rheinfelden (Baden) ) was a German painter , draftsman , wood cutter , glass painter , author of art-philosophical writings and Alemannic dialect texts .

life and work

Alban Spitz was the son of the farmer and blacksmith Hermann Spitz (1863-1948) and his wife Anna, born in Lützelschwab (1871-1942). He was born and grew up in the small village of Minseln on the Dinkelberg , a mountain range on the southern edge of the Black Forest that directly adjoins the Upper Rhine .

During his primary school days in Minseln from 1912 to 1920, during which he was encouraged to draw by his teacher Heinrich Eckert, he made the decision to become a painter . However, his father wanted him to learn a job, so he began an apprenticeship as a painter in 1921 at the August Kempf company in Waldshut , which he completed in 1924. In 1925 he stayed in Minseln due to illness. The following year he worked as a journeyman in Waldshut with the church painter Carl Bertsche (1885–1942), where he was employed, among others, in Todtnau , Wiechs (district of Schopfheim ) and on the Notschrei (on the pass road from Kirchzarten to Todtnau).

From November 2, 1926, he began studying drawing at the Karlsruhe Art School , first with Georg Scholz , where he made several smaller oil paintings, then in 1927 with Ernst Würtenberger (woodcuts) and Karl Hubbuch (drawing).

From 1928 Spitz worked as a freelance artist. His diverse work can be divided into several creative periods. At first he mainly dealt with woodcuts, but also helped on the father's farm. In 1930, works by Spitz were exhibited for the first time at the Kunstverein Freiburg im Breisgau . From 1940 to 1945 he served as an anti-aircraft soldier in Germany, from 1945 to 1946 he was a prisoner of war in Hungary and Romania.

Returning to Minseln, he initially devoted himself to watercolor painting in the post-war years around 1950 . In 1948 he married Antonie Hirtle (born September 2, 1923), then Tina Forkel from Sonneberg (Thuringia) on August 18, 1953 (1908–1978). In 1954 he made some reverse glass pictures , from 1956 his main focus was oil painting . In 1959 he made some monotypes (one-off prints) and drawings, and from 1980 onwards also some smaller abstract oil paintings. Particularly well-known typical motifs of Spitz 'paintings are his Black Forest landscapes and views, often twilight, moonlight and foggy scenes, which are kept in gloomy brown and green tones. The Black Forest painter Hans Thoma was a role model for Alban Spitz .

In 1978, Spitz was awarded the Johann Peter Hebel badge . In his home village Minseln the Alban-Spitz-Halle was posthumously named after him. Several larger exhibitions have honored his work so far, most recently on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birthday in Lörrach ("Alban Spitz - Oil Paintings and Woodcuts", Museum am Burghof, Hebelsaal), Minseln ("Alban Spitz and his versatile artistic work", Dinkelberg Museum) and Rheinfelden ("Alban Spitz - Home and Modernity. His Apprenticeship Years in Karlsruhe", September 17, 2006– April 29, 2007, Stadtmuseum im Haus Salmegg). A complete review of his extensive work is still pending. His posthumous work (including several hundred paintings, drawings and woodcuts, extensive diary volumes and photographs) is now largely taken care of by the Dreiländermuseum in Lörrach, whose collection of regional art Spitz had already dealt intensively with during his lifetime. A smaller part of his works is in scattered private ownership.

Fonts

(sorted chronologically according to the year of first publication, no claim to completeness)

  • Mi Heimet: woodcuts and verses in Alemannic dialect. Self-published, Minseln 1933 (reprint: 1990).
  • D'r Wald: woodcuts and verses in Alemannic dialect. Self-published, Minseln 1934 (reprint: around 1990).
  • S 'riich Läebe from Johannes Thoma . Alban Spitz, Rheinfelden 1974.
  • Man going on: poems. Self-published, Minseln 1979.
  • Oh, that night is falling: all kinds of haiku and senryu addressed. Self-published, Minseln 1979.
  • The earthly life of Jesus: woodcuts and verses. Private printing d. Ev. Johannesgemeinde, Minseln 1983.
  • S Chatzeschtriiche wants to vrschtande si: woodcuts and verses in Alemannic dialect. Self-published, Minseln around 1990.
  • Personalities and originals in Minseln. Förderverein Heimatmuseum Dinkelberg, Rheinfelden-Minseln 1999, ISBN 3-00-005485-5
  • My life - a risk.

literature

  • Elmar Vogt: In memory of Alban Spitz, the painter-poet from Dinkelberg. In: Das Markgräflerland, Heft 2, 1996, pp. 184–186.
  • Museum am Burghof, City of Lörrach (ed.), Gerhard Moehring (arrangement), Alban Spitz (text and illustrations): Alban Spitz. Museum am Burghof, Loerrach 1986.
  • E. Müller-Ettikon: Alban Spitz - painter, poet and thinker from Dinkelberg on his 75th birthday. In: Ekkhart. Yearbook for the Upper Rhine , 1982 edition, pp. 125-136.
  • Ernst I. Müller: "I am Fründ" - The meeting of the painters Hermann Strübe-Burte and Alban Spitz. In: On the history of the Johanniter-Großpriorat Heitersheim. 10., In: Das Markgräflerland, 41st year, 1979, issue 3/4, p. 261 ff.
  • Willi Ferdinand Fischer: Alban Spitz, the painter and poet of the Dinkelberg. In: D'r Wald, 1972, p. 99 ff.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Spitz, Alban
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, draftsman, wood cutter, glass painter, writer of art-philosophical writings and Alemannic dialect texts
DATE OF BIRTH April 6, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Minseln
DATE OF DEATH January 20, 1996
Place of death Rheinfelden (Baden)