César Klein

César Klein , also known as Cesar Klein , (born September 14, 1876 in Hamburg , † March 13, 1954 in Pansdorf , Ostholstein district ) was a German painter , graphic artist , set designer and costume designer .

Life

He was the son of the carpenter Carl August (1850–1928) and his wife Johanna Catharina Margaretha Elsabe Klein from Elmshorn. After an apprenticeship as a painter, César Klein attended the Hamburg School of Applied Arts from 1894, then the Düsseldorf Art Academy and the teaching institute of the Berlin Museum of Applied Arts . At first he was influenced by Impressionism and then turned to Expressionism . In 1903 he married his first wife Martha, geb. Steffen (1879–1929) in Hamburg.

Inlays by César Klein in the Renaissance Theater , Berlin

In 1910, Klein co-founded the New Secession in Berlin. When painting the Marble House cinema in Berlin, he first used an expressionist design in the arts and crafts in 1913 . As a result of the November Revolution , he joined several avant-garde artist groups that were inspired by the revolutionary upheavals: in 1918 he was among the founders of the November Group , in 1919 he was appointed to the board of the German Work Federation elected, he has also acted in the direction of the Labor Council for Art . His main occupation was from 1919 to 1937 teaching at the teaching institute of the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin , although from 1933 he was no longer allowed to teach.

In the early 1920s he created expressionist film scenographies for Genuine (1920) and The Puppet Maker of Niang-King (1923) by Robert Wiene and in Austria for Sodom and Gomorrha by Mihály Kertész . At the same time he also worked as a set designer in Berlin.

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists , Klein was given leave of absence from teaching and was banned from painting; In 1937 his works were defamed at the Nazi exhibition " Degenerate Art " and 13 of his works were confiscated. From 1935 to 1945 he lived in seclusion in the country.

In 1932 he married his second wife, the violinist Paula Bock (* 1889) from Leer. His mother-in-law was the painter Marie Bock , who later spent her old age in his house.

His brother Bernhard Klein (* 1888 in Hamburg, † 1967 in Berlin) was also an artist.

Parts of his graphic estate are now in the theater studies collection of the University of Cologne.

Works

• 1913 Furnishing of the Marble House cinema on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin
• 1913 Mosaic floor in the vestibule of Siemens AG in Berlin-Siemensstadt
• 1917 Mosaic in the vestibule and colored lead glazing of the windows for the arched house of the brass works settlement in Eberswalde- Heegermühle
• 1919 Window glazing in the meeting room of the town hall of Berlin-Zehlendorf
• 1922 mosaics and ceiling paintings in the Theater am Kurfürstendamm (destroyed in World War II)
• 1923 ceiling painting of the New Opera on Königsplatz (destroyed in World War II)
• 1924 Conversion of the Thalia Theater
• 1926 Inlaid mural with scenes from the Commedia dell'arte in the balcony area of ​​the Renaissance theater
• Design of glass windows for the atrium of the Wertheim department store

Movies

• 1920: Genuine
• 1921: Hannerl and her lovers
• 1923: The Kiang-Ning puppet maker

Exhibitions

• 2014: César Klein - Life and Art, Ostholstein Museum , Eutin
• 2015: seven in one go. The painting by Cesar Klein around 1909, Ahrenshoop Art Museum , Ahrenshoop

Honors

• The César-Klein-Schule , the community school of the Ratekau community with upper secondary school in Ratekau , bears his name. Furthermore streets in Pansdorf and in Hamburg-Steilshoop were named after him.

literature

• Rolf Badenhausen :  Klein, Cesar. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , p. 734 ( digitized version ).
• Helmut Geisert, Elisabeth Moortgat (Red.): Walls made of colored glass. The archive of the United Workshops for Mosaic and Glass Painting Puhl & Wagner, Gottfried Heinersdorff . Berlinische Galerie, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-927873-01-2 (catalog for the exhibition from December 8, 1989– January 21, 1990 in the Martin-Gropius-Bau Berlin; Contemporary Museum . No. 9).
• Ruth Irmgard Dalinghaus, Cesar Klein (1876–1954), Applied Art - Work Monograph with Catalog, Vol. 1–3, Phil.-Diss. Berlin 1990
• Ruth Irmgard Dalinghaus, Cesar Klein, Applied Art, in: Yearbook of the Museum of Art and Industry Hamburg, Vol. 17/18/19, 1998–2000, pp. 177–198
• Theodor Däubler : César Klein. With a self-biography of the artist, a colored cover picture and 32 illustrations. Klinkhardt & Biermann publishing house, Leipzig 1919 (= Young Art 5).
• Uwe Haupenthal (Ed.): Cesar Klein 1876-1954. Metamorphoses. Verlag der Kunst, Husum 2004, ISBN 978-3-86530-063-8
• Joachim and Angelika Konietzny, Cesar Klein. Figurines for Orpheus and Eurydice, 1943. A documentation . Pansdorf 2019. ISBN 978-3-00-062619-7 .
• Hans Knudsen: The stage painter César Klein. Caesar Klein, Scenic Artist. In: Nutzgraphik, Vol. 3, 1926, No. 11, pp. 5–22 ( digitized version )
• Wulf Schadendorf : Museum Behnhaus . The house and its rooms. Painting, sculpture, handicrafts (= Lübeck museum catalogs 3). 2nd expanded and changed edition. Museum for Art a. Cultural history d. Hanseatic City, Lübeck 1976, pp. 75/76
• Kay Less : Between the stage and the barracks. Lexicon of persecuted theater, film and music artists from 1933 to 1945 . With a foreword by Paul Spiegel . Metropol, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-938690-10-9 , p. 206.
• Seven at one stroke: Cesar Klein's painting around 1909 , exhibition catalog at Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop , rev. by Julia Zietlow, Ahrenshoop 2015, ISBN 978-3-9816136-8-1
• Marcel Bois: Art and Architecture for a New Society. Russian avant-garde, labor council for art and the Viennese settler movement in the interwar period. In: Work - Movement - History , Volume III / 2017, pp. 12–34, here p. 23.

Web links

Commons : César Klein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about César Klein in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biography of César Klein
• Friends of Cesar Klein e. V.
• Cesar Klein on artnet

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rolf Badenhausen: Klein, Cesar. German biography [1]
2. ↑ Friends of Cesar Klein eV [2]
3. ^ The Renaissance Theater and César Klein , accessed April 30, 2018
4. ^ Marcel Bois: Art and Architecture for a New Society. Russian avant-garde, labor council for art and the Viennese settler movement in the interwar period. In: Work - Movement - History , Volume III / 2017, pp. 12–34, here p. 23.
5. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 310.
6. ↑ Siemensstadt Bio  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ^ Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke: Hamburgische Biographie-Personenlexikon. Vol. 2, Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-7672-1366-4 , p. 219
8. ↑ One who recorded the time . In: the daily newspaper , North edition from 8./9. March 2014, p. 46