Annedore Christians

Annedore Christians (born April 19, 1926 in Oldenburg (Oldenburg) ; † September 16, 2013 there ; born as Annedore von der Osten ) was a writer , painter and sculptor from the Oldenburg region who was not only known for her artistic work, but also became known through its commitment to the Low German language , its publications and translations.

Life

Annedore Christians grew up in Großenmeer in the Wesermarsch. Her talent was already evident at school, and at home she was drawn and modeled with clay from her parents' chicken farm. The art teacher suggested to her parents that she should do an apprenticeship as a fashion illustrator in order to do justice to the daughter's talent. She would have liked to go to an art college herself. However, she had to do labor for a year and a half .

Immediately after the war, artistic training was not possible and so in 1946 she came to the military government department of the city administration, where she did translation work. She married Fritz Christians in 1951. There is a son from marriage.

It was not until 1954 to 1958 that she took lessons from Heinz Liers . In the 1960s she tried again to be accepted at an art school, but it did not succeed. She regularly attended adult education courses and continued her self-education. During this time she also began to work with clay. Between 1970 and 1975 she occasionally worked as a consultant in an architecture firm .

In 1975 she began her career in the Oldenburg landscape , where she was in charge of the Low German Language and Literature Department and organized the Low German reading competitions in schools. In the course of this activity she was co-author of the two Low German books Snacken un Verstahn for schools.

She wrote three of her own books Freetiet un Hinnerk (1981), Leevde ahn Wöör (1986) and Ik sä to den Wind (2001) and in 2006 her CD Mit mien Spraak was released . She was also the translator and arranger of the plays The dirty hands by Jean-Paul Sartre (new title: Not to break ), The Visit of the Old Lady by Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Momo by Michael Ende . There are also numerous newspaper articles, readings and lectures and her own column Snacken un Verstahn in the Nordwest-Zeitung in Oldenburg.

After her retirement in 1986, she attended the factory school under the direction of the sculptors Renate Ackermann and Udo Reimann in Oldenburg. There she deepened her knowledge of stone carving and working with clay.

In 1989 she received the Oldenburg Landscape Medal in recognition of her services to the Low German language. From 1996 to 2007 she was a member of the advisory board of the Oldenburg landscape . On July 15, 2005, she was also awarded the Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Lower Saxony Order of Merit for her life's work.

painting

Their range of topics is broad and not limited to sections of the landscape. She abstracts her motifs and approaches non-representational in some works. She paints sea views and motifs of the north German coastal landscape.

Her primary concern is dealing with colors and shapes. At the beginning of her work everything is open, but after a few brush strokes she discovers content in the gestural forms, both figurative as well as landscape or symbolic forms, which are further processed. Sometimes she starts with the setting of colors or individual brush strokes, then the brush strokes become free of content and the landscape approaches become an abstract composition that can have expressionist traits or a form develops from the layers of brushes drawn freely from things.

She chooses bright, powerful colors that are not based on nature, but follow their own laws. A rhythmic structure emerges, which at times becomes independent into sequences of images. But there are also largely abstract paintings. She attaches great importance to color with its contrasts, correspondences and differentiations.

Despite the variety of stylistic and content-related possibilities, her works have their own note and great appeal.

sculpture

Her sculptural activity is inseparable from her painting, both are mutually beneficial.

She always worked with clay, this tactile work made her clearly aware of the shape. Clay demands the build-up of the form and thus invites the shape to grow, quite different from the stone, which gains shape when it is removed. Even when working with soapstone , the vegetative remains a constant element. She feels the stone and its grown structure and tries to expose its essence.

She creates sculptures that tell of the beginning of things, such as love, the relationship between man and woman, the unity of mother and child, the kiss. In her sculptural work there are no rough edges, no hard shapes or geometric rigor, all shapes are organically grown arcs and curves.

Exhibitions

• 1995 Solo exhibition of sculptures Idea and Form in the gallery of the Nordwest-Zeitung
• 1996 Solo exhibition of sculptures and pictures Magical Contours in the Galerie Bahnhof Neuchâtel
• 1996 Group exhibition in the Perspective Gallery in Wilhelmshaven
• 1998 Solo exhibition of sculptures and pictures Form and Color in the Heinrich-Kunst-Haus
• 1998 Solo exhibition stone and picture in the gallery Vierinzwanzig in Sandkrug
• 2000 Solo exhibition in the Nikolai community center in Oldenburg
• 2005 Solo exhibition of sculptures and pictures in the Heinrich-Kunst-Haus
• 2006 Double exhibition of pictures in the Elisabeth-Anna-Palais in Oldenburg
• 2007 Solo exhibition of pictures in the regional finance office in Oldenburg

Publications

• Freetiet and Hinnerk. Oldenburg 1981
• Leevde ahn Wöör. Oldenburg 1986
• I blow the wind. Oldenburg 2001
• CD With my Spraak. 2006
• with others: snacking and understanding. Volume 1 and 2, Oldenburg 1982 and 1984

literature

• Literature by and about Annedore Christians in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hans Friedl: The winners of the Oldenburg landscape 1961–1991. Oldenburg 1991, ISBN 3-87358-362-3 , p. 26.
2. ^ Obituary in the Nordwest-Zeitung Oldenburg from September 23, 2013, [1] , accessed on September 25, 2013.