Alfred Ahner

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Birth house of the painter
Memorial plaque for Alfred Ahner in Weimar, Thomas-Müntzer-Straße 22

Alfred Ahner (born August 13, 1890 in Wintersdorf ; † November 12, 1973 in Weimar ) was a German painter and draftsman .

Life

Alfred Ahner, born on August 13, 1890 in Wintersdorf in eastern Thuringia, completed an apprenticeship in lithography in Gera from 1905 to 1910 and worked there as a lithographer . Drawing lessons in the Sunday school in Gera brought the acquaintance of Otto Dix and Kurt Günther .

From 1911 to 1913 he studied in Munich at the Magidey private school and at the Academy of Fine Arts . During this time I met Erich Mühsam, Frank Wedekind and Roda Roda. In 1913 and 1914, Alfred Ahner continued his studies at the Kgl. Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart .

During the First World War (1914 to 1918) Ahner worked as a medical soldier, for example in medical company 10 in the training barracks in Hanover . Ahner captured what he saw and what moved him in an artistic way. Around 170 drawings and sketches were made between 1914 and 1919.

After the First War he worked as a pump attendant in the brown coal mine in his hometown Wintersdorf. From 1922 until his death on December 12, 1973 he lived and worked as a freelance artist in Weimar. After the Second World War he belonged to the close circle of friends around Dora Wentscher and Johannes Nohl in Weimar . Here his work radiated in an inspiring way to the painters and miniaturists Gerhard Bätz and Manfred Kiedorf, who made their debut in the mid-1950s . From 1922 he became close friends with the Gera painter Alexander Wolfgang .

Alfred Ahner is one of the most important Thuringian artists today, he was a chronicler of his time and drew everything that interested, enthused and touched him.

In dealing with war and fascism, harrowing and admonishing works were created. The subject of lignite opencast mining was dealt with in many plants. In addition to portraits , cityscapes , landscapes , but also still lifes , he loved to capture coffee house scenes , which Ahner sometimes liked to describe in poems and diary entries. Visiting coffee houses and pubs was a passionate profession for the artist and chronicler throughout his life. Again and again the excellent draftsman and observer was captivated by the special milieu of the cafés and pubs. Here at the scene of the encounters, a multitude of masterful sketches and drawings were created, permeated with joie de vivre, sometimes fine irony, but also open, socially critical protest. His portraits and milieu studies are valuable contemporary historical documents of great artistic importance. In Weimar he, who preferred motifs from everyday life, soon became known as a “street painter”. Whether as a watercolor , pastel , drawing, lithograph or oil painting - with his street and café house scenes, landscapes and portraits, he was always an incorruptible chronicler of the changing times and many socio-political events. He often added witty notes to his sketches, sometimes rhyming in Morgenstern's manner, which reinforces the reportage-like character of his work.

He also left extensive diary entries which, like his entire written estate, have been kept in the Saxon State Library - Dresden State and University Library since the 1980s .

The Alfred Ahner Foundation , based in Weimar, has existed since July 17, and includes around 4600 artistic works by Ahner, which are kept in the Weimar City Museum and the Hohenfelden Open-Air Museum in Thuringia . The foundation also includes loans from other museums and numerous sketchbooks by the artist.

The Alfred Ahner House in Wintersdorf is dedicated to the artist .

Public collections

Exhibitions

  • 2014, Hohenfelden Open Air Museum, Hohenfelden ("... that this killing will soon be over")
  • August 16–12. November 2013, Kirms-Krackow-Haus Weimar: "Alfred Ahner (1890–1973) - Pictures of Life" - cabinet exhibition on the 40th anniversary of the painter's death.
  • July 29 to August 23, 2013, Erfurt, Sparkasse am Fischmarkt: "Alfred Ahner - selected masterpieces in pastel"
  • 2010: "Alles Liebe", Weimar City Museum.
  • 2009: "Alles Liebe", Thuringian Open Air Museum Hohenfelden.
  • 2008–2009: “It's best in a café…!” Drawings and pastels. Harry Graf Kessler art gallery, Weimar. Exhibition on the occasion of the establishment of the Alfred Ahner Foundation.
  • 2008–2009: “Photo chronicler and contemporary witness - the written estate of the Weimar artist Alfred Ahner.” Saxon State Library, State and University Library Dresden.
  • 2008–2009: "Altenburger Pictures" by Alfred Ahner, H. Burkhardt, Erich Dietz. Lindenau Museum Altenburg
  • 2002: "Landtag drawings 1924–1933". Thuringian Parliament , Erfurt.
  • 2001/02: "Alfred Ahner - pastels, drawings, paintings". Kunsthaus Apolda; City Museum Groß-Gerau.
  • 1990/91: "Alfred Ahner - Drawings and Pastels". Galerie am Fischmarkt, Erfurt; Lindenau Museum Altenburg; Art gallery Gera.
  • July 12th-23rd August 1964, Thuringian Museum Eisenach: Alfred Ahner, Weimar - paintings and drawings.

literature

  • Ahner, Alfred . In: Dietmar Eisold (Hrsg.): Lexicon artists in the GDR . Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-355-01761-9 , pp. 161 .
  • Lothar Lang : Painting and graphics in the GDR. Verlag Philipp Reclam jun., Leipzig 1983, pp. 39, 262, 264.
  • Thuringian Landtag: Alfred Ahner - Landtag drawings 1924-1933. Brochure accompanying the exhibition of the same name in the Thuringian Parliament in 2002 in Erfurt. 68 pages, without ISBN.
  • Helmut Scherf: Alfred Ahner. Personality and work. Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1990, ISBN 3-364-00196-0 .
  • Alfred Ahner, Weimar - painting and drawings. Catalog for the exhibition, July 12 - August 23, 1964 in the Thuringian Museum in Eisenach.
  • Alfred Ahner (with introduction by Erhard Frommhold ): Drawings. VEB Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1962.
  • Jörg-Heiko Bruns and Helmar Penndorf:  Alfred Ahner 1890-1973. Drawings and pastels. Buchdruckerei F. Schroeter, Friedrichroda 1989.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christina Ada Anders (ed.): "For the time being I have to stay alive." Alfred Ahner - from the letters and diaries of the Weimar artist (1890 - 1973) , Hildesheim; Zurich; New York, NY: Olms, 2014, ISBN 978-3-487-08551-7 and ISBN 3-487-08551-8 , pp. 63ff .; limited preview in Google Book search
  2. ^ A b Special exhibition by Alfred Ahner in the Hohenfelden open-air museum. Thüringer Allgemeine Zeitung, Erfurt, February 28, 2014
  3. ^ Art collection Gera (ed.): Alexander Wolfgang: Zum 100th Birthday; Art collection Gera, Orangery, exhibition from April 10 to June 5, 1994 . Art collection Gera, Gera 1994 ISBN 3-910051-16-2 | Page = 82
  4. ↑ a b c d Image index of art & architecture
  5. ↑ https://sites.google.com/site/ahnerstiftung/austellungen
  6. ↑ DNB 571686265

Web links

Commons : Alfred Ahner  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Ahner, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and draftsman
DATE OF BIRTH August 13, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Winter village
DATE OF DEATH November 12, 1973
Place of death Weimar