Arno Henschel

Arno Henschel, Still Life with a Pumpkin

Arno Henschel (born January 14, 1897 in Görlitz , † March 1945 near Posen ) was a German painter of the " New Objectivity " and graphic artist and is now one of the most recognized artists in Upper Lusatia . His works have been shown in international exhibitions and have a national impact. The Kulturhistorisches Museum Görlitz has an extensive collection of the painter.

life and work

In his place of birth, Görlitz , Henschel also spent his childhood and youth, attended secondary school and was one of the “ young wanderers ”, an apolitical youth community. At the age of seventeen he registered as a war volunteer and was recruited into the 19th Infantry Regiment in Görlitz. From 1915 to 1918 Henschel fought on the eastern and western fronts, where he suffered several wounds. He was awarded the Iron Cross . After the First World War he married Anna Wolff (1898–1991). His son Hans-Jochen was born in 1919 and often served as a model.

In the 1920s he devoted himself intensively to his artistic training. For two and a half years he spent his free time in the studio of the painter Edmund Bautz studying portraits and nudes. He developed graphic techniques alongside drawing skills. With his expressionist woodcuts and linocuts he achieved initial successes in Dresden , Munich and Hamburg from 1922 . In the next few years drypoint etchings , lithographs , wood engravings and stone etchings were created .

At the Breslau Art Academy , Henschel studied in 1925/26 in the master class of Carlo Mense and Alexander Kanoldt, the "New Objectivity". In contrast to many other artists, Henschel did not paint in a social and time-critical manner, but rather tended in the 1930s to a poetic view of landscape, people and plants.

In 1931 he spent three months in Paris. In the same year he participated with Johannes Wüsten in the international graphic exhibitions in Padua and Chicago .

In Görlitz he received restoration commissions, for example in 1936 in the Frauenkirche and in 1937 on the Reichenbacher Turm . There he painted the coats of arms of the Upper Lusatian Six Cities as cover shields for the anchors freshly drawn in for static security. In 1937 Henschel received the Silesian Art Prize. At the same time, the exhibition “ Degenerate Art ” took place, which also showed Henschel's picture “Flute Player”, created in 1932 and purchased by the Reich Propaganda Ministry.

In 1938, the monumental painting created by Henschel was unveiled in the large conference room of the Görlitz town hall , which does not depict the city's synagogue.

From 1939 he completed his military service as a first lieutenant and flight manager in the Sprottau air base (Silesia).

In 1943 he was to be given leave of absence from military service for a professorship in Breslau . Henschel was to be the head of the graphics class. Propaganda and Culture Minister Goebbels rejected this. On the one hand, he disliked Henschel's works, on the other hand, Henschel had vehemently refused to join the NSDAP since 1934 .

When the municipal museums in Görlitz closed in 1943 and the collection was largely relocated to the surrounding manor houses, Henschel sent 25 private paintings that were lost with the other works.

In March 1945, Henschel had a fatal accident on a reconnaissance flight near Posen .

His wife Anne and his son Hans-Jochen gave most of his artistic estate to the Görlitz City Art Collection, which is now the Görlitz Museum of Cultural History .

literature

• Inga Arnold: Arno Henschel 1897–1945, Pictures of the New Objectivity (=  series of publications of the municipal art collections . NF 26). Städtische Kunstsammlungen, Görlitz 1997, ISBN 3-932693-00-0 (special exhibition for the 100th birthday of the artist from April 27 to June 29, 1997).

Web links

• Literature by and about Arno Henschel in the catalog of the German National Library