Alfons Lütkoff

Alfons Lütkoff (born October 17, 1905 in Iserlohn , † January 16, 1987 in Kotzenbüll , Eiderstedt ) was a German painter.

Life

Alfons Lütkoff was born in Iserlohn in 1905 and grew up there. At the age of 20 he began studying painting at the University of Münster (M. Wackernagel), then went to the Kassel Art Academy (master class with Kay H. Nebel) and the State Art School Berlin (B. Hasler, GW Rössner, H. Siegel) In 1930 he completed his studies with the state examination. In addition to studying painting, he was also trained in graphic techniques, works, marionette making and art history for higher education.

Important painter friends since studying were:

• Kurt Prechtl (1906–1993), pseudonym Eugen Flagol
• Werner Herzbruch (1906–1947), pseudonym Georg Berken

Professionally he was employed in school in Dortmund from 1930 and in Lüdinghausen (Higher Agricultural School) from 1934 . From 1938 to 1945 he worked as a teacher for art education at the high school for boys in Herten , where he set up the first puppet stage.

1943–1945 sent to Kinderland with Herten school classes to Berchtesgaden .

After the war he lived as a freelance artist and restorer in his home town of Iserlohn until he was fully rehabilitated. Had testimony about him a. dropped out Martin Wackernagel , Münster ; the art historian and painter Franz Große-Perdekamp , Recklinghausen ; the painter Eberhard Viegener , President of the West German Artists Association, who had already come to appreciate him in 1932 on the occasion of the 6th Great Westphalian Art Exhibition in Münster.

From 1948 he resumed teaching at the grammar school in Herten in his old position, was involved with art history and puppet courses in the adult education center in Herten and organized exhibitions. After retiring in 1968, he moved to Kotzenbüll , Eiderstedt , where he bought the old part of a bargain at the Schwarzhof. He lived and worked there until his death in 1987.

Services

After a new objective beginning (master class with Kay H. Nebel in Kassel ), Alfons Lütkoff oriented his painting on the French painting of synthetic cubism , then on surrealism . Since he lived cut off from the important art centers, he mainly obtained information from the French art magazine Cahiers d'Art ( Georges Braque , Pablo Picasso ).

From 1932 he tried to make himself known through exhibitions and took part in the 6th Great Art Exhibition in Münster and the autumn exhibition of Westphalian artists in Dortmund . In order to avoid any confrontation with his nationalist teacher colleagues, he signed with his pseudonym ´ Stefan Lagher ´.

After 1933, however, a public presentation of his work was no longer possible. Lütkoff continued to paint in secret, in constant fear that his ´forbidden pictures´ would be discovered. From 1935 he even encrypted the dates.

In 1937 he received an official request to join the NSDAP. He barely escaped a search of his studio. The effort to accommodate his pictures in France failed. That made the pressure on him and his wife unbearable.

Nevertheless, until 1940 he painted his most important system-critical pictures, which represent his main work:

• 1938: flower eater;
• 1939: threat; The beast; Decay; Leftover;
• 1940: starvation cloth; To survive; Dead tree;

However, the ´Stefan Lagher´ pictures from the pre-war period did not find any particular resonance at exhibitions after the war.

In 1939 Lütkoff became a member of the Reich Chamber of Culture with the condition to take part in the relevant exhibitions. From now on he had to paint in accordance with the system, which was not easy for him as an avant-garde painter. So he repeatedly received clear criticism of his painting style. As he reported in his letters to his wife in 1943/44, he found it difficult to find an expression that completely satisfied him.

After the war and in the 1950s, he experimented with various techniques (wax blasting technique) in abstract images.

His late work is shaped by life on the Eiderstedt peninsula. Landscapes and still lifes of great calm emerge.

Publicly owned work

City of Iserlohn (estate); LWL Westf. Landesmuseum in Münster ; North Sea Museum Nissenhaus in Husum ; City of Herten ; City of Recklinghausen ; City of Marl ; Peters Tetenbüll House , Eiderstedt ; Municipality of Kotzenbüll , Eiderstedt.

Member of artists' associations

Ruhr-Lenne, Iserlohn (1945–1950); Hagenring , Hagen (1946-1950); Vestischer Künstlerbund, Recklinghausen (1953–1968, founding member); Art Association Heide (- 1987)

Solo exhibitions by Alfons Lütkoff (selection from 1945)

• Galerie Hegemann-Raederscheidt Iserlohn, 1947 and 1950
• "Insel" Bildungswerk der Stadt Marl, 1955, New Technology - New Topics
• Town hall of the city of Herten, 1968, Alfons Lütkoff-Lagher
• City of Herten, high school, 1985, picture exhibition on the occasion of his 80th birthday
• Kunstverein Heide, Heide, 1986, retrospective
• Peters House, Tetenbüll, 2004, Eiderstedter work
• Schloss vor Husum, Husum 2005, retrospective for the 100th birthday
• Städtische Galerie Iserlohn, 2006, retrospective for the 100th birthday

Participation in exhibitions (selection)

• Münster Stadthalle, 1932, 6th Great Westphalian Art Exhibition (Stefan Lagher)
• Dortmund, 1932, autumn exhibition of Westphalian artists (Stefan Lagher)
• From 1945 participation in various exhibitions in the Rhenish-Westphalian region
• Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum Hagen, 1945, 1946
• Landesmuseum Münster, 1946
• Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1949
• Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, 1952–1953, West German contemporary graphics; also Münster, Mülheim / Ruhr
• City Museums Recklinghausen 1958, German artist from the Ruhr area
• Town hall Herten 1964, painting - graphics Herzbruch, Lütkoff, Prechtl 1926–1964
• Haus der Heimat Iserlohn, 1966, 20 years ago (painting and graphics from 1945 to 1950)
• From 1978 participation in the art exhibitions: Art and Crafts in Schleswig-Holstein and the Heider Art and Culture Weeks
• LWL - Museum Office and State Museum Münster, 2012, Adaptation, Survival, Resistance - Artists under National Socialism (also Detmold, 2013; Wewelsburg Memorial and Memorial, 2013; Städtische Galerie Iserlohn, 2013; Museums of the City of Lüdenscheid, 2014; Art Museum Wilhelm Morgner-Haus Soest, 2014)

literature

• Elisabeth Laur: Alfons Lütkoff's paintings from 1930 to 1945 - a previously unknown example of “degenerate” art in the Third Reich. Master thesis. Christian Albrechts University Kiel 1992.
• Uwe Hauptenthal, Rainer Danne (ed.): Alfons Lütkoff (1905–1987) - paintings and graphic works. With contributions by Ulrich Steden, Elisabeth Laur and Katrin Schäfer. Verlag der Kunst Dresden Ingwert Paulsen jr. Husum 2005. ISBN 3-86530-072-3 .
• Klaus Kösters: Alfons Lütkoff: Threat, 1939 in: Klaus Kösters: 100 masterpieces of Westphalian art (p. 182 f), Aschendorff Verlag Münster 2011. ISBN 978-3-402-12858-9
• Rainer Danne: Alfons Lütkoff (1905–1987) in: Klaus Kösters (Hg): Adaptation - Survival - Resistance, Artists under National Socialism, (p. 126–132) Catalog for the exhibition, Aschendorff Verlag Münster 2012. ISBN 978-3-402 -12924-1
• Klaus Kösters: History images, German history in the mirror of art, (p. 78, ill. P. 76), Aschendorff Verlag Münster 2014. ISBN 978-3-402-13047-6

Web links

• Literature by and about Alfons Lütkoff in the catalog of the German National Library
• official homepage