Christian Rohlfs

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Self-Portrait (1918)
Photo portrait of Hugo Erfurth (1929)

Christian Rohlfs (* 22. December 1849 in Groß Niendorf , Kreis Segeberg , † 8. January 1938 in Hagen ) was a German painter of modernity .

Life

In 1851 Rohlfs moved with his parents to Fredesdorf . In 1864 he fell from a tree and sustained a serious leg injury. The attending physician, Dr. Ernst Stolle, a brother-in-law of Theodor Storm , gave him drawing material against boredom and shortly afterwards recognized the boy's artistic talent, whom he encouraged from then on. From 1866 Rohlfs attended the secondary school in Segeberg . On Storm's recommendation, Rohlfs met the painter and art writer Ludwig Pietsch in Berlin in 1870 , who in turn recommended him to the Grand Ducal Art School in Weimar , where he was given a job with Paul Thumann (history and figure painting). In this early phase he mainly created naturalistic works. Due to another leg disease (chronic bone marrow inflammation), one leg had to be amputated in 1873, and in 1874 Rohlfs resumed his studies.

From 1884 he was a freelance artist in Weimar and increasingly turned to Impressionism . In 1886, at the invitation of Therese Heydenreich , he spent a few months as a guest at the Hoof manor (Schauenburg) near Kassel, where he painted some portraits of the family and views of the manor house. In 1899 he went to Gothmund ; some pastels exist from this stay. In 1901 he moved to Hagen at the invitation of Karl Ernst Osthaus , where he was able to set up a studio at the Folkwang Museum. In 1904, 1905 and 1906 Rohlfs was in Soest for work stays, from 1910 to 1912 at the invitation of a patron in Munich and the surrounding area. The medieval churches and buildings of Soest were thematized in his work until the 1920s, as were views of the Bavarian Andechs monastery. In addition, nudes and abstract mountain landscapes were created in Upper Bavaria. From around 1910 Rohlfs can be assigned to the Expressionists, in that year he was elected a jury member of the German Association of Artists in Darmstadt . His marriage to Helene Vogt in 1919 and the public recognition that he received with a special exhibition in the National Gallery in Berlin gave the then 70-year-old new impetus. On his 75th birthday in 1924, he was honored in Berlin with membership in the Prussian Academy of the Arts . In his motifs, cityscapes and landscapes became the focus of attention during this time. From 1927 he was in Ascona every year - mostly from spring to December . In 1930 he met Helmuth Macke and Marianne von Werefkin there , "with whom he worked closely until the spring of 1931." In Ticino he mainly devoted himself to plant motifs.

Numerous Rohlfs works were confiscated for the “Degenerate Art” exhibition in Munich in 1937, including around 450 works from the Christian Rohlfs Museum in Hagen (now the Osthaus Museum Hagen ). On September 13, 1937 Joseph Goebbels noted in his diary: “ Art degenerate with Vetter Thema. He wanted to protect Rohlfs. But I will cure him. ”The artist was banned from painting and was expelled from the Prussian Academy of the Arts in Berlin on January 7, 1938, the day before his death.

Christian Rohlfs tomb

Christian Rohlfs was a board member of the German Association of Artists and of the Hagenring Artists' Association .

His tomb in Hagen is adorned with a cast of Ernst Barlach's 1931 sculpture The Teaching Christ .

Some of his works were shown posthumously at documenta 1 in Kassel in 1955 .

In the Haspe district of Hagen there is a school, the Christian-Rohlfs-Gymnasium, and the Christian-Rohlfs-Realschule in Soest is named after him.

plant

Several relevant contemporary trends are reflected in Christian Rohlfs' artistic work, starting with the naturalistic-historicistic academy painting of the 1870s. However, despite all his independence, he achieved prominence in the two important styles of his epoch, first Impressionism and later Expressionism, and thus became the "Nestor of German Modernism." With pictures between around 1885 and 1900, he is one of the great German Impressionists , two of his oil paintings were highlights of the representative exhibition of 2009, while his turn to pointilism in 1902/03 can probably be viewed as an experiment. Rather, he subsequently became one of the most important painters of Expressionism and developed this - working with Emil Nolde for a while - in an independent form from the beginning of the 20th century. After a transition period marked by restless searches and also by personal crises, in which he increasingly turned to figurative and biblical motifs as well as wood and linocut, he gained the serene serenity that led his late work to new heights over the past two decades. Color is the most important means of expression in his pictures, especially of landscapes flooded with light and still lifes with flowers, "whose materiality appears to be dissolved by an ethereal veil." Like Nolde, he also increasingly preferred working on paper, probably for practical reasons and mainly using tempera as color. This made him an unsurpassed master of expressive flower images.

Rohlfs' signature , initially mainly the name C. Rohlfs or Chr. Rohlfs, was subsequently reduced to the monogram CR, regularly accompanied by a two-digit year date.

The most extensive collection of his works, namely around 700 works of all kinds, is still in the Osthaus Museum Hagen today; there is a separate room dedicated to him. The Christian Rohlfs Archive, which is also held in this museum, has recorded a further 200 works since 2011.

Pictures (selection)

Essential works from his oeuvre

  • 1886: Apple tree in bloom (oil on canvas, 24.5 × 33.5 cm)
  • 1886: Gutshaus Hoof near Kassel - garden view (oil on canvas, 20 × 29 cm)
  • 1886: Gutshaus Hoof near Kassel - side view (oil on canvas, 30 × 29 cm)
  • 1886: Portrait of a gentleman - H. Becker sen. (Oil on canvas, 70 × 60 cm)
  • 1886: Children's picture - Portrait of Robert Heydenreich (oil on canvas, 70 × 60 cm)
  • 1886: Girl in the Grotto (oil on wood, 26.5 × 34.8 cm, Osthaus Museum Hagen)
  • 1887: Sternbrücke in Weimar
  • 1888: The Wilde Graben next to the Webicht road near Weimar (oil on canvas, 59 × 76.5 cm)
  • 1888: Ilmbrücke in Oberweimar (oil on canvas, 39.7 × 51.2 cm, Osthaus Museum Hagen)
  • 1889: Street in Weimar (oil on canvas, 40 × 50 cm, Kunsthalle zu Kiel)
  • 1889: Forest path in winter
  • 1889: Chaussee to Tiefurt im Webicht near Weimar
  • 1893: way to Gelmeroda
  • 1897: Meadow slope (oil on canvas, 65 cm × 85 cm)
  • 1898: Weimarer Graben (oil on burlap, 60.5 × 78.5 cm)
  • 1899: Tree landscape in front of the city silhouette (pastel on drawing paper, 23 × 29.4 cm)
  • 1899: Landscape on the Bay of Lübeck (pastel and chalk on cardboard, 31.3 × 34 cm)
  • 1899: Cemetery wall in Weimar (oil on canvas, 40.5 × 50.5 cm, Kunsthalle zu Kiel)
  • 1902: Wheatfield (oil on canvas, 50 × 78 cm)
  • 1903: Sunflowers (in the style of Vincent van Gogh)
  • 1904: Portrait of a Man (oil on canvas, 61 × 49 cm)
  • 1904: Group of pines (oil on canvas)
  • 1904: Summer landscape near Weimar
  • 1905: Farmhouse in Soest (sketchy watercolor)
  • 1906: St. Patrokli in Soest (oil / canvas, 115 × 75 cm, Folkwang Essen)
  • 1906: Male nude from the back (India ink brush and watercolor, 61.8 × 46.2 cm)
  • 1907: Birkenwald (oil on canvas, 110 × 75 cm)
  • 1907: Cornfield
  • 1910: The Three Kings (woodcut, 39.1 × 26.4 cm)
  • 1910: Autumn forest (oil on canvas, 60.8 × 98.8 cm)
  • 1910: grape eater (oil on canvas, 64.5 × 50.4 cm)
  • 1911: Street in Soest (linocut, 39.7 × 29.3 cm)
  • 1911: girl's head (woodcut, reworked in white and black, 31.8 × 26.0 cm)
  • 1911: Wetterstein Mountains (oil on canvas, 50 × 80 cm)
  • 1912: Amazon, riding with a scurrying dog
  • 1912: The blue mountain
  • 1912: Elias in the desert (woodcut, 14.4 × 11.8 cm)
  • 1912: Conversation between two clowns (tempera on paper, 61 × 80 cm)
  • 1912: Cat and Mouse (color linocut, 18 × 39.1 cm)
  • 1912: Red roofs (tempera, 48.0 × 64.0 cm)
  • 1912: House with a red roof (oil on canvas 80 × 100 cm)
  • 1912: Visionary landscape (oil on canvas, 60 × 105 cm)
  • 1913: Advice (watercolor woodcut, 58.3 × 48.0 cm)
  • 1913: The Frog Princess (oil on canvas), Lower Saxony State Museum for Art and Cultural History, Oldenburg
  • 1913: Two dancers or dancing couple (linocut on paper, 31.3 × 28.9 cm)
  • 1914: Return of the Prodigal Son (tempera on canvas)
  • 1914: Temptation of Christ (oil on canvas, 100.5 × 60.5 cm)
  • 1915: Expulsion from Paradise (color woodcut, 13 × 39.2 cm)
  • 1916: resurrection
  • 1916: The prodigal son with the prostitutes
  • 1916: The acrobats
  • 1916: Dancer (color woodcut, 22 × 37 cm)
  • 1916: Gethsemane (woodcut on linen, 32.0 × 26.8 cm)
  • 1916: Return of the Prodigal Son (woodcut, 50.2 × 36.4 cm)
  • 1917: Sunset (Zarathustra) (oil on canvas), Lower Saxony State Museum for Art and Cultural History Oldenburg
  • 1917: The Prophet (oil on canvas, 100.5 × 61.5 cm)
  • 1918: Still life with flowers and blue bowl (water tempera, 55.7 × 38.4 cm)
  • 1918: The Prisoner (woodcut)
  • 1918: Crooks (tempera on canvas, 100 × 61 cm)
  • 1918: Thunderstorm (tempera and oil on canvas, 79.5 × 86.5 cm)
  • 1919: Azalea pot and vase (tempera and charcoal drawing, 52.4 × 42.5 cm)
  • 1919: Circus rider (tempera on paper, 67 × 49 cm)
  • 1920: Mountain with bushes (watercolor and pen and ink drawing, 35.8 × 49.7 cm)
  • 1920: Lady's slipper with red calla in a glass (tempera on structured cardboard. 50 × 67.5 cm)
  • 1920: Sunflowers (tempera, 56 × 39.5 cm)
  • 1920: Andechs (lithograph, 31.5 × 45 cm)
  • 1920: Potato Eaters (water tempera on paper, 65 × 48 cm), finished in 1921
  • 1921: Hagar in the desert (oil on canvas)
  • 1921: Autumn landscape (tempera on paper, 50 × 68 cm)
  • 1921: Soest towers
  • 1922: Portrait of the mother
  • 1922: Boxer (woodcut, 20.6 × 11.9 cm)
  • 1922: songbird (woodcut)
  • 1922: Summer freshness (oil painting)
  • 1923: gouache on paper (35.5 × 51 cm)
  • 1923: Prophet (tempera picture)
  • 1923: Roses in a vase (tempera on paper, 47.5 × 30 cm)
  • 1924: Amaryllis (water tempera, 70 × 51 cm)
  • 1924: Cathedral and Severikirche in Erfurt (tempera on paper, 51.8 × 72.3 cm)
  • 1925: Old woman with sticks (colored woodcut, 34.4 × 18.3 cm)
  • 1925: Chic couple (color linocut, 23.8 × 24.1 cm)
  • 1925: roses and carnations (tempera on canvas, 76 × 100 cm)
  • 1925: Dance attempt (oil on canvas), Lower Saxony State Museum for Art and Cultural History Oldenburg
  • 1926: Trees on the Baltic Sea (chalk on handmade paper, 12.3 × 17.5 cm)
  • 1926: Red tulips (opaque colors, 71.3 × 51.3 cm)
  • 1927: Caritas (water tempera, 66.5 × 51.0 cm)
  • 1927: Large magnolia (colored chalk on brown paper, 50 × 70 cm)
  • 1928: Colorful bouquet of tulips (tempera picture)
  • 1928: The Three Kings
  • 1929: The Prophet (oil on canvas)
  • 1929: Sunflowers in a blue vase
  • 1929: Poppies, oil on canvas, Osthaus Museum Hagen
  • 1931: The Yellow Mountain (water tempera on laid paper, 56.8 × 78.8 cm)
  • 1931: Russian folk song Elegy V of the Tatjana cycle (chalk)
  • 1931: Dance with Mask II Tatjana cycle (water tempera and chalk, 58.6 × 44.3 cm)
  • 1932: Fruits (tempera on paper, 54.4 × 74.8 cm)
  • 1932: House in Losone (tempera on grained watercolor paper, 66.0 × 48.0 cm)
  • 1933: Datura Japonica (water tempera and chalk on paper)
  • 1933: The Italian (watercolor and tempera on watercolor paper, 72 × 50.9 cm)
  • 1933: House in the Maggia Valley (water tempera on paper)
  • 1933: Irises (watercolor on watercolor paper, 56 × 78 cm)
  • 1933: Expulsion from Paradise (oil on canvas, 100 × 76 cm), Museum Folkwang , Helene Rohlfs Foundation (Essen)
  • 1934: Ascona See (tempera on paper, 97.0 × 74.0 cm)
  • 1934: Mountain in the snow near Lugano (tempera on paper, 51.5 × 65.5 cm)
  • 1934: Red Canna (tempera on paper)
  • 1935: man with a top hat
  • 1935: sunflowers
  • 1936: Evening light on Lake Maggiore
  • 1936: Castell von Locarno (tempera on canvas, 76 × 90 cm)
  • 1936: Funkia flowers against a dark background (watercolor, 54.5 × 76.8 cm)
  • 1936: White cloud over the lake (tempera on cardboard, 67 × 48 cm)
  • 1937: Anturie (water tempera, 67.5 × 48.7 cm)
  • 1937: Pale misty landscape (water tempera on paper, 39.2 × 57.8 cm)
  • 1937: Glowing thundercloud (tempera on laid paper, 78.5 × 57.8 cm)
  • 1937: Magnolia from San Materno (water tempera and chalk, 79.0 × 57.5 cm, Osthaus Museum Hagen)
  • 1937: Red amaryllis on blue
  • 1937: Sunflower with jug (water tempera and chalk on handmade paper, 61 × 50 cm)
  • 1938: last chrysanthemums (unfinished)

Exhibitions (in the past decade)

literature

Catalog of works:

Exhibition catalogs:

  • Birgit Schulte (Ed.): Christian Rohlfs, Music of Colors: Collection catalog of the works in the Osthaus Museum Hagen . New Folkwang Verlag, Hagen 2009, ISBN 978-3-926242-59-0 .
  • Anette Hüsch, Annette Weisner and Peter Thurmann (eds.): Overwhelmingly bold: The whole of Rohlfs in Kiel . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-7774-5881-6 .
  • Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung Munich and Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal (ed.): Christian Rohlfs, Hirmer Verlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-7774-7020-1 .

Monographs:

  • Paul Vogt: Christian Rohlfs: watercolors and water tempera . Verlag Aurel Bongers, Recklinghausen 1988, ISBN 3-7647-0391-1 .
  • Rowena Fuß: Christian Rohlfs in Weimar: the early work 1870 to 1901 , Verlag VDG, Weimar 2013, ISBN 978-3-89739-791-0

Lexicon article:

Web links

Commons : Christian Rohlfs  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://kuenstlerkolonie-gothmund.de/ Heiko Jäckstein: Künstlerkolonie Gothmund, research - sources
  2. ^ Exhibition catalog Deutscher Künstlerbund: 34th annual exhibition Bonn - 1936 forbidden pictures , Berlin 1986. Rohlfs was represented in Hamburg in 1936 with the works Schloßbrücke in Weimar and Birken . (P. 78/79)
  3. ↑ Burkhard Leismann, Helmuth Macke - a painter of Rhenish Expressionism, exh. Cat .: Helmuth Macke 1891–1936, Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld 1991, p. 24
  4. ^ Christian Rohlfs: Leaves from Ascona. With a foreword by Helene Rohlfs. Piper Verl. Munich 1955.
  5. ^ Date according to Ernst Klee : Das Kulturlexikon zum Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 494.
  6. ↑ kuenstlerbund.de: Full members of the Deutscher Künstlerbund since it was founded in 1903 / Rohlfs, Christian ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on December 22, 2015) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kuenstlerbund.de
  7. ^ Art gallery of the Hypo-Kulturstiftung Munich and Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal, Christian Rohlfs, Hirmer Verlag Munich 1996, foreword p. 9.
  8. ^ Paul Vogt, Christian Rohlfs (previous footnote), introduction p. 17.
  9. ^ The German Impressionism , Bielefeld 2009/10, exhibition catalog by Jutta Hülsewig-Johnen and Thomas Kellein.
  10. ^ The large lexicon of painting , Zweiburgen Verlag, Weinheim 1982, Stw.Rohfs Christian, p. 557.
  11. ↑ in large format available from Norbert Berghof (Red.): Picture folder Art in the persecution: Degenerate Art (exhibition) 1937 in Munich. 18 examples, also supplement: life data and personal testimonials, both Neckar, Villingen 1998, without ISBN
  12. ↑ FAZ from November 19, 2010, page 46: Luminous landscapes
personal data
SURNAME Rohlfs, Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German expressionist painter
DATE OF BIRTH December 22, 1849
PLACE OF BIRTH Groß Niendorf , Segeberg district
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 1938
Place of death Hagen in Westphalia