Clemens Friday

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Clemens Freitag (born October 24, 1883 in Heisingen , † December 5, 1969 in Munich ) was a German painter. He lived as a freelance artist in Munich.

Life

Clemens Freitag received his artistic training at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf . The Düsseldorf university professor and seascape painter Johann Dietrich "Jean" Hendrichs (1882–1937), who was almost the same age, was of particular importance for the choice of his subject and style. Freitag continued his training in Berlin and Munich and lived in Munich since around 1912.

Clemens Freitag belonged to the artists' association “Der Bund” in Munich . During the First World War he stayed in Upper Bavaria and had contact with the landscape and hunting painter Josef Schmitzberger (1851-1936).

Exhibitions

In 1924 and 1925 Clemens Freitag was represented in the annual sales exhibition in Munich's Glaspalast ; In 1938 he exhibited in the art show in the Haus der Kunst , where he was able to sell the work entitled Sommer for the decoration of the “ New Reich Chancellery ” in Berlin. Further sales exhibitions have certainly taken place, but have not (yet) been verified.

Works

  • At the beach. (lost), 1925, dimensions unknown, oil on canvas
  • In the dunes. (lost), 1925, dimensions unknown, oil on canvas
  • Summer. (formerly New Reich Chancellery Berlin, lost), 1938, dimensions unknown, oil on canvas
  • Birches on the oxbow lake. (Hansmann Collection), undated, signed, 80 × 100 cm oil on canvas

The subject of the landscape painting in Freitag includes alpine winter landscapes with and without deer as well as river landscapes with trees (mainly birches ) on the bank edge and varying (mountain) background. There are also motifs of roaring deer in a forest clearing, often positioned by a mountain stream.

rating

The works of Clemens Freitag stand for the longing of the people of the 20th century to beautify the dreary everyday living environment. With such living room pictures the viewer could leave the real world as if looking out of a window and enjoy the untouched nature, the divine creation. Art connoisseurs refer to this genre from landscape painting as “kitsch”. Artists have met this need with their work, but - despite their craftsmanship - are not assessed as such. Clemens Freitag 'produced' and 'reproduced' independently of the changeable political conditions (Weimar period, Nazi dictatorship, post-war period in Germany) for the market that was opening up for him. However, his traditionalist style of painting should not be dismissed as 'Nazi art'. The Nazi regime was less interested in idealized nature motifs than in programmatic visual art that could "glorify the 'higher goals' of fascism".

Even more important for an understanding of "Nazi art" are the cultural enemy images that were fought. In 1937 the rulers presented in the exhibition “ Degenerate Art ” who and what they were persecuting and all Jewish artists. Friday was neither one of the persecuted nor one of the emerging artists of the time. He exemplified those artists who adapted to the “taste” of the art buying class in order to live from it.

literature

  • Friday, Clemens . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists of the XX. Century. tape 2 : E-J . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1955, p. 154 .
  • Walter Grasskamp : The unaesthetic democracy: Art in the market society. (= Beck series. 475). CH Beck, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-406-34067-9 , p.
  • Dieter Hansmann: Clemens Friday paraphrases. A late approach to the living room image of my childhood. Self-published, Nordhorn 2014.
  • Karin Hartewig: Art for everyone! Hitler's aesthetic dictatorship. BoD, Norderstedt 2017, ISBN 978-3-7431-8900-3 , p.?.
  • Carsten Roth: Friday, Clemens . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 44, Saur, Munich a. a. 2005, ISBN 3-598-22784-1 , p. 367.
  • Reinhard Merker: The fine arts in National Socialism. Cultural ideology, cultural policy, cultural production. Du Mont Verlag, Cologne 1983, p.?.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Torsten Kaufmann: Approaching a Phantom . In: Dieter Hansmann (Ed.): Clemens-Freitag-Paraphrasen. A late approach to the living room image of my childhood . Self-published, Nordhorn 2014, p. 54 .
  2. ↑ Torsten Kaufmann: Approaching a Phantom . In: Dieter Hansmann (Ed.): Clemens-Freitag-Paraphrasen. A late approach to the living room image of my childhood . S. 63 .
  3. ^ Joachim Putsch: Art in the Third Reich. Architecture - sculpture - painting - everyday aesthetics . 2nd, modified and expanded edition. Vista Point Verlag, Cologne 1987, p. 56-60 .
  4. ↑ Reinhard Merker: The fine arts in National Socialism. Cultural ideology, cultural policy, cultural production . Du Mont Verlag, Cologne 1987, ISBN 3-7701-1336-5 , p. 32-35 .
personal data
SURNAME Friday, Clemens
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH October 24, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Heisingen
DATE OF DEATH 5th December 1969
Place of death Munich