Curt Wittenbecher

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Curt Wittenbecher (born August 1, 1901 in Magdeburg , † January 2, 1978 in Bremen ) was a German painter , draftsman and graphic artist .

biography

After graduating from high school in Magdeburg in 1921, Wittenbecher first studied in Munich at the private school for fine arts with Moritz Heymann and Walter Thor , then at the Berlin- Charlottenburg School of Applied Arts with Harold Bengen and in Magdeburg with Ernst Hoffmann and Richard Winckel at the arts and crafts there Crafts school . In 1925 he became a member of the St. Lukas Artists' Association in Magdeburg, from which he soon left. He worked as a freelance painter and graphic artist in Magdeburg and was highly valued. In 1934 he was accepted into the Börde artists' association , of which he was deputy chairman from 1938 until it was dissolved in 1939. Wittenbechers was then taken over at the head of the “ synchronized ” artists' comradeship in Magdeburg. As such, he was responsible for the annual Magdeburg art exhibitions during the war years. In 1942 Curt Wittenbecher received the City of Magdeburg Art Prize.

After military service and service in hospitals in Holland, Wittenbecher came to Hindelang in the Allgäu in 1944 . Towards the end of the war, Wittenbecher suffered the total loss of the apartment with all of his artistic works during the air raid on Magdeburg on January 16, 1945 . In 1949 he moved to Worpswede , then in 1955 to Bremen, where he lived and worked as a freelance painter until his death.

During this time, Curt Wittenbecher took numerous trips, which always resulted in inspiration for his painting, to the Netherlands, England, Switzerland, Italy, Iceland and - especially formative for him - to Greece.

Wittenbecher was married to Hildegard Wittenbecher, b. Marquardt. As his widow and resident of the St. Remberti House, she bequeathed a large part of his artistic estate to the Bremer Heimstiftung in the form of watercolors and oil paintings .

Artistic focus

Wittenbecher's artistic activity can be described as originally influenced by Expressionism , then leading through naturalistic forms ( landscape painting ) and a strong component of abstraction to his very own style. In the beginning there was always the drawing, from which watercolor or oil painting often developed.

Wittenbecher always dealt with the theory of his profession . At a young age he held courses at the Volkshochschule Magdeburg, later also in Bremen, where lectures on art history were added.

He was also a music enthusiast and therefore liked to paint concert situations. His motto was: "To hear what I see - to see what I hear".

Over time, Wittenbecher devoted himself more and more to watercolors as his very own artistic form of expression.

Gerhard Gerkens , chief curator of the Bremen Kunsthalle , paid tribute to Wittenbechers in his funeral speech.

Works (selection)

Oil paintings:

  • Wounded Man, 1942, award-winning oil painting at the KHM Magdeburg
  • Worpsweder Elegie: Oil (shown in 1954 at the Kunstverein Hannover )
  • Concert, Finale: Oil, 1970/71

Landscapes (mainly watercolors), including: North Sea; Baltic Sea; Odenwald; Lake Constance; Cornwall (England); Greece; Netherlands; Italy

Portraits , including:

Folders:

Wall designs in Bremen, Bochum , Magdeburg, Barby , Elmshorn

Public locations: Athens: Goethe Institute; Bremen: city and art gallery; Chemnitz : Municipal art collection; Hanover: Lower Saxony State Gallery and City; Hamburg: city; Magdeburg: KHM; Münster: State Museum; Witten / Ruhr: Märkisches Museum; Wuppertal: von-der-Heydt-Museum .

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 1932 collective exhibition in the art dealer Heinrichshofen / Magdeburg
  • 1934 " Brücke " exhibition, together with Nolde , Kirchner , Heckel and Schmidt-Rottluff , in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Magdeburg (Museum of Cultural History)
  • 1939 Exhibition of paintings and sculptures by artists from the Gau Magdeburg-Anhalt
  • 1943 art exhibition in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum Magdeburg
  • 1948/1949 traveling exhibition, beginning in the Landesmuseum Münster and " Kleiner Raum Clasing ", continuing in Aachen ( Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum ), Bremen (Kunsthalle), Bielefeld (Kunstsalon Otto Fischer, title: A thinker in colors ), Witten / Ruhr ( Märkisches Museum )
  • 1954 autumn exhibition in the Municipal Museum in Mülheim an der Ruhr
  • 1958 collective exhibition at the Goethe Institute in Athens
  • 1959 collective exhibition in the Bremen art gallery
  • 1961 Collective exhibition with Hanna Bekker vom Rath , Frankfurt / M
  • 1969 Kunstverein Bremerhaven in the Kunsthalle Bremerhaven
  • 1976 watercolors and hand drawings in the Kupferstichkabinett of the Kunsthalle Bremen
  • 1964 to 1976 regular exhibitions every November in Wittenbecher's studio
  • 1979 Exhibition in the Bremen City Library
  • 1979 Gallery in Werkhof Bissendorf : watercolors, oil paintings and drawings

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Art for the Bremer Heimstiftung: Works by Curt Wittenbecher. Leaflet published in 1986 for this occasion, text: HGMatuschak
  2. ^ Curt Wittenbecher in: Catalog exhibition 1959/60 Bremen; Lecture style and modernity - Weser-Kurier, February 1, 1968
  3. ↑ Article in the Weser-Kurier, July 31 / April 1. August 1971 Bright color for Curt Wittenbecher's 70th birthday
  4. ↑ Article in the Weser-Kurier, January 4, 1978 Truth and Reality in Art
  5. ↑ http://WWW.uni-magdeburg.de/mbl/Biografien/1521.htm
  6. ^ Exhibition leaflet Goethe-Institut Athens 1958
personal data
SURNAME Wittenbecher, Curt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, draftsman and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH August 1, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Magdeburg
DATE OF DEATH 2nd January 1978
Place of death Bremen