Alfons Epple

Alfons Epple (born October 16, 1899 in Fridingen an der Donau, † January 4, 1948 in Marquartstein ) was a landscape painter , portraitist and church painter .

Life

After a painter apprenticeship and military service in World War I , Alfons Epple studied at the Stuttgart School of Applied Arts with Bernhard Pankok and from 1923 at the Munich Academy with Karl Caspar . In 1927 he married the painter Louise Woringer . The family lived most of the time in Munich, but for Alfons Epple the painting stays in Königseggwald in Baden-Württemberg were of much more importance than city life. In 1943 the family fled to Piesenhausen in Chiemgau before the war . Alfons Epple died there of heart failure on January 4, 1948 and was buried in Marquartstein .

Youth years in Fridingen an der Donau and Tuttlingen

Alfons Epple was born on October 16, 1899 to Eduard and Pauline Epple. He came from a rural family. He always described his father as close to nature and strongly religious - which should also apply to his son throughout his life.

Although Epple felt comfortable in rural Fridingen and in the restaurant of his father, the "Löwen", he still wanted to study. However, his mother Pauline Epple's plans initially envisaged an apprenticeship as a painter for her son. He moved to Tuttlingen for his apprenticeship years . With the First World War he interrupted his apprenticeship and volunteered for military service. What seems more important, however, is that - despite his incomplete painting apprenticeship - he stated that his profession was a painter and draftsman, although the painting apprenticeship did not require any creative work or drawing work. In the course of the war he became a pacifist and later refused military service in World War II.

Years of study in Stuttgart

In 1919 Epple studied at the Stuttgart School of Applied Arts as a student with Bernhard Pankok . Epple probably learned the techniques of fresco painting there , the mastery of which gave him several commissions in later years. In fact, the painterly furnishings and wall paintings mostly in churches but also in military buildings later became the main source of income for the artist. Most of this work has not survived. Epple's main work, the wall paintings of the Fridingen village church from 1941, which had been painted over in 1971/72, were uncovered and restored in 2005, 2012 and 2013.

Munich academic years

In 1922 Epple moved to Munich and studied at the Munich Academy , from 1923 under Karl Caspar , who was considered a innovator of religious art and found as many supporters as critics on the part of the church. In him Epple found his mentor and the interest in Christian motifs developed into Epple's most serious subject. In Munich, Epple met his future wife, the young painter Louise Woringer. Louise was a native of England, grew up in Basel, then moved to Zurich with her family. She came from a good family and was fluent in English, German and French. In addition to music, drawing was one of her favorite activities. That united the unequal couple: Epple was shorter than she and wore her reddish hair in her head. His style of dress was bourgeois, while Louise, always elegant, seldom left the house without a hat and gloves. On April 21, 1927, Alfons Epple and Louise Woringer married in Zurich. The young couple moved to Trogerstrasse 23 in Munich.

Painting stays in Königseggwald

In Munich, Epple met Eduard Schaefer , an economist who was interested in art and with whom he had similar family relationships. In 1922, Epple accompanied Schaefers to Königseggwald for the first time . During his subsequent frequent trips to Königseggwald, he created not only impressionistic open-air studies of the rural landscape but also portraits of the Schaefer family, their mother and Edward's sister Maria. In 1926 Epple interrupted his studies in Munich to live with his wife in Königseggwald for a long time.

Artist existence in Munich

He finally finished his studies, which had been interrupted in 1926, in 1928. However, participation in exhibitions was recorded as early as 1925, and in 1926 and 1929 works by Epple were exhibited in the Gallery for Christian Art on Wittelsbacherplatz. When Epple entered the Munich art scene, he met the writer Georg Schwarz, who invited him to the "Rappenhof" in Ethlingen in Swabia in 1928. Schwarz became Epple's patron and tried to get him orders with which the artist should initially keep himself afloat until the sale of Epple's paintings would be profitable enough to make a living from the art. However, it was less about commissioned work in the narrower sense. Schwarz arranged for him orders for illustrations and publications. Attempts to sell Epple's drawings and lithographs to the political magazine " Simplicissimus " failed, but some image-text collaborations between Epple and Schwarz were sold to publishers, daily newspapers and Catholic Sunday papers.

Second World War

In 1937 the exhibition " Degenerate Art " presented what would henceforth no longer be accepted as art. Rural, folk and religious subjects, on the other hand, corresponded to the ideas of the National Socialists of a "people-oriented" art that strengthened national patriotism.

Epple, who, due to his origins and his interest in nature, homeland and piety, has used precisely these subjects since the beginning of his artistic activity, was therefore not threatened with disapproval by the National Socialists. He was able to pursue his artistic activity throughout the Second World War, in contrast to his former teacher Karl Caspar. Although Caspar, who had meanwhile become the leader of the avant-garde artist group “ Munich New Secession ” and who endeavored to renew religious art, was declared a “degenerate” by the National Socialists and lost his chair at the Munich Academy.

Despite the good relationship with Casper, Epple was able to avoid the " iconoclasm " of the National Socialists. When the National Socialists came to power, there was brisk construction activity and large sums of money were invested in the artistic equipment of the Wehrmacht buildings. Benefiting from the knowledge gained from studying fresco technology in Stuttgart, Epple and Günther Graßmann were able to carry out around 38 orders from the Nazi regime for the painting of Wehrmacht buildings and military barracks. Günther Graßmann employed several artists, especially artists who were banned from painting, who could work almost independently here, but were officially declared unskilled workers. Graßmann explains: "In my numerous assignments from this side, heroic symbols or even a swastika were never asked of me ...". Nevertheless, it is clear to what extent the work has a propaganda character and follows political goals.

For Epple, the outspoken pacifist, the execution of this work was not a political statement. His attitude to National Socialism was evident in the eight attempts to avoid being drafted again for military service. Epple accepted the equipment orders in order not to have to go back to the front. In 1943 the Epple family fled the air raids from Munich to Prienhausen im Chiemgau near Marquartstein.

Besides Epple, other artists had also fled to Prienhausen. After the end of the war, interest in art quickly returned. For Epple it meant another career boost. He exhibited in galleries for contemporary Christian art as well as in Munich, Konstanz, Basel, Ludwigshafen and in Prien itself. But his health deteriorated. On January 4th Alfons Epple died of heart failure in Marquartstein.

Works

The furnishings of the Fridinger parish church

During a visit to his hometown of Fridingen in 1933, Epple found out that an order for the picturesque redesign of the Fridingen village church had long been advertised, but that no one from the parish asked Epple, a son of the city, to carry out Christian subjects and use the fresco technique tried, thought. The contract was awarded to the painter August Blepp . The community also regretted ignoring Epple and tried to prevent Blepp from executing it. When Blepp himself resigned from the contract in 1941, Epple was commissioned to design the church.

Epple's design shows a three-part mural. The theme is the Last Judgment . The wall fresco can be seen as the highlight of Epple's artistic work. The decades-long commitment to be able to furnish the church in his home village testifies to the importance of Epple's receipt of the order. Epple's work was financed by donations from the community, all material costs and expenses were reimbursed. The Epplesche furnishings of the Fridinger Church, which had been painted over in the 1970s, have now been exposed again.

Landscapes and portraits

In addition to pictures with religious motifs, he painted portraits of friends and acquaintances (such as the portrait of his wife Louise Woringer from 1937 or the portrait of his friend Will Mauthe from 1935) and landscapes that focus on the idyll of the local nature or the interests of Epple reflect in the rural and popular way of life. During his nature studies in Königseggwald, Epple used a loose, quick brushwork to capture the constantly changing light situation. His oil paintings are characterized by the impasto application of paint and the influences of the Impressionists can be seen in the landscapes. Completely dispensing with outlines, Epple formed his compositions with broad dashed lines placed side by side. He didn't mix the colors on the palette, but placed them next to each other on the canvas. The colors only mix in the act of viewing and suggest the light reflections of the surfaces that change in the constant sunlight. Epple also dealt with the area of ​​tension between the 'vastness' of the landscape and the 'flatness' of painting. Works such as “Moorlandschaft” (around 1929) or “Plowed Fields” (around 1928) demonstrate how the depth of the landscape is compressed onto the two-dimensional canvas through the high horizon in the upper third of the canvas. The composition appears almost completely flat and composed only of geometrical colored areas.

Christian art

Jesus on the Mount of Olives

Epple's passion was the representation of religious subjects. In addition to his main work, the furnishing of the Fridingen village church, it was the exhibitions in galleries for contemporary, religious art that made Epple appear on the market as a serious artist. Although Epple already used an expressive brushwork for his portrait painting, he developed a specific, individual style for the religious themes: he gave the facial expressions of the mostly suffering figures something mask-like - almost caricature - which perhaps also comes from his work as a lithographer of illustrations can be derived (cf. “Kreuzweg I”, 14th station, around 1923). Curling on the ground and torn by pain and suffering - Epple drew the Man of Sorrows again and again in an exaggerated and highly expressive manner (cf. “Jesus on the Mount of Olives”, around 1924) - the Passion of Christ became Epple's most popular religious motif. He developed two cycles of the Way of the Cross , both of which were exhibited.

Exhibitions

• The Fridingen painter Alfons Epple (1899–1949) . Exhibition in the Upper Danube Valley Museum in Ifflinger Schloss , Fridingen an der Donau 2011.

Epple has been represented at numerous group exhibitions in southern Germany since 1929.

• 1929 Exhibition of Christian Art, Gallery for Christian Art, Munich
• 1935 Large Munich Art Exhibition, Neue Pinakothek, Munich
• 1936 50 years of Munich landscape painting, Neue Pinakothek, Munich
• 1936 Large Munich Art Exhibition, Neue Pinakothek, Munich
• 1937 Figure and composition in the picture and on the wall, Neue Pinakothek, Munich
• 1939, 1940 Munich art exhibition, Maximilianeum
• 1946 u. 1947 Chiemgau art exhibition, Prien
• 1947 Contemporary Christian Art, German Society for Christian Art , Munich
• 1947 Exhibition of the Munich Artists' Cooperative, Munich Municipal Gallery
• 1947 "Bavarian Art of Today", Kunsthalle Basel,
• 1948 Contemporary Christian Art, in the Kunstverein Konstanz, German Society for Christian Art, Munich
• 1948 Kulturkreis Chiemgau, Kunstverein Ludwigshafen am Rhein
• 1948 Exhibition Munich Artists' Cooperative, Municipal Gallery Munich
• 1949 Participation in an exhibition at the Kunstverein, Munich
• 1950 large art exhibition in Munich, House of Art, Munich
• 1952 Participation in an exhibition in Plettenberg
• 1961 “Way of the Cross and Resurrection”, German Society for Christian Art, Munich
• 1967 Murnau Memorial Exhibition
• 1972 Exhibition for the 600th anniversary of the city of Fridingen on the Danube
• 1976 Hiendlmeier Gallery, Rosenheim

literature

• Gabriele Frommer, Hans Bucher (ed.): Alfons Epple 1899–1948. Traces of an artist's life. Fridingen 1993.
• Othmar Franz Lang: The painter Alfons Epple. In: Fridingen, city on the upper Danube. Ostfildern 1972, pp. 130-132.
• Exhibition cat. of the city of Fridingen for the 600th anniversary, 1972 with an article about Alfons Epple.
• Festschrift of the Marquartstein parish on the 50th anniversary of its existence, 1988 with a biographical note about Alfons Epple.

Web links

Commons : Alfons Epple  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Works by Alfons Epple on http://prometheus-bildarchiv.de (after registration)
• Auction results from Alfons Epple on www.artnet.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ For all biographical data cf. Gabriele Frommer: "Alfons Epple, sketches for a life picture". In: Gabriele Frommer / Hans Bucher (eds.): Alfons Epple 1899-1948. Traces of an artist's life. Fridingen 1993, pp. 6-60, here p. 7
2. ↑ See ibid., P. 8.
3. ↑ See ibid., P. 9.
4. ↑ Assumption expressed by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kremer; See letter from Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kremer (Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart) from April 7, 1992.
5. ↑ Epple's Fresken  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Online at www.schwaebische.de from March 10, 2003.  
6. ↑ Stephan Bussmann references ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). Private website. Online at www.dipl-restaurator.de.
7. ↑ See Frommer 1993 (see note 1), p. 23.
8. ↑ See ibid., P. 22.
9. ↑ See ibid., P. 17.
10. ↑ See ibid.
11. ↑ See ibid., P. 27.
12. ↑ See ibid., P. 39.
13. ↑ See ibid., P. 37.
14. ↑ Quoted from Günther Graßmann, from: ibid., P. 37.
15. ↑ See ibid., P. 55f.
16. ↑ See ibid., P. 56.
17. ↑ See ibid., Pp. 34f and 46ff.
18. ↑ Frommer 1993 (see note 1), p. 47 f.