Arnold Topp

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Exhibition poster about Arnold Tapp at his former studio at Am Marienberg 10/11 in Brandenburg an der Havel

Arnold Topp (born March 8, 1887 in Soest (Westphalia); lost in 1945 and declared dead in 1961) was a German expressionist and cubist painter .

Life

As early as 1904, Arnold Topp was on friendly terms with the Soest artists Wilhelm Morgner , Wilhelm Wulff and Eberhard Viegener . In 1910 Topp began an artistic training at the Düsseldorf School of Applied Arts , where he studied at the seminar for drawing teachers with Lothar von Kunowski . During this time he came into contact with the Rhenish Expressionists . After attending and completing the Soest teachers' seminar, he began in 1913 as a sports teacher and later as a drawing teacher at the Saldern Realgymnasium in Brandenburg an der Havel .

It was from here that Topp maintained the contact he had made with Herwarth Walden's gallery “ Der Sturm ”. During the regular stays in Berlin friendships arose with artist colleagues like Bruno Taut and Georg Muche . The artistic success soon came. Topp's work was exhibited in 1915 in the “ Der Sturm ” gallery . However, in the same year, his artistic creativity was interrupted due to his drafting into the war . He suffered wounds during the Battle of Verdun and returned to Brandenburg in 1918 after hospital stays , where he continued to work as a teacher. In 1927 he had the title of teacher .

In 1914 the painter married Else Hollerbaum (* 1891) and in the following year his first son Helmut was born, and in 1921 his second son Franz-Georg. His marriage was not a lucky star. In addition to numerous infidelities, he often treated his wife badly, which alienated his friends. On the other hand, his wife had little understanding of his art.

Arnold Topp is one of the founding members of the 1919 art work council . In 1926 he exhibited with Kurt Schwitters and Lajos d'Ebneth in “Der Sturm”. By 1929 he participated in numerous exhibitions in Germany , but also in the United States of America , the Soviet Union , Japan and France . He also designed Das Hohe Ufer in the course of his career as an illustrator .

In response to the law to restore the civil service , he joined the Nazi teachers' association in 1933 . Nevertheless, the National Socialists branded his work as degenerate and he was therefore exhibited with at least five of his works in the 1937 exhibition Degenerate Art .

Although Topp married his wife again in 1934, his way of life continued unchanged. When one of his lovers took her own life, Lord Mayor Wilhelm Sievers demanded that he be punished. The school office, which continued to appreciate him as a teacher, took him out of the line of fire and in 1940 transferred him to Meseritz in the east of Brandenburg . In the last year of the war he was drafted into the Volkssturm and then transferred to the Wehrmacht . Since a combat mission in the same year, he has been considered missing, presumably he was captured by the Soviets .

Due to the flight from the Red Army , his wife was forced to leave her husband's house, studio and thus also work behind. In 1961 she applied for a declaration of death of her husband by the District Court Soest .

Works

Arnold Topp is known for his colorful, cubist paintings, which often contain figurative, scenic, and architectural elements. The compositional internal dynamics are characteristic of his work, his oil paintings are characterized by glowing colors.

  • Adolf Behne ; Return of art. [Colored cover illustration by Arnold Topp]. Leipzig, Kurt Wolff, 1919.

Works in collections (selection)

literature

Web links