Edgar John
Edgar John (born February 11, 1913 in Ramstein , † April 18, 1996 in Bad Friedrichshall ) was a German painter. He worked with a wide variety of techniques, from etching to linoleum and woodcuts , pencil, pen, red chalk and charcoal drawings , oil and watercolor paintings to mosaic work . The design of fountains, sculpting with clay and the artistic forging of metals were also part of his technical repertoire. His art was shaped by the people, the landscape, the cities and villages of his home region.
He also worked as a portrait and press illustrator and was a war correspondent in World War II .
Life
Edgar John was the son of the painter, technician and church restorer Hugo John (1874-1956). At the age of 18 he began studying with Albert E. Henselmann and Oertel at the Mannheim Art Academy. His sponsors included the then conductor of the Mannheim National Theater Karl Elmendorff and the concert pianist Otto Voss . During this time, Edgar John already had several exhibitions at the Kunsthalle Mannheim , which acquired works by the 20-year-old very early on. He described it as particularly lucky to be repeatedly invited to his Palatinate estate by the impressionist Max Slevogt . Slevogt valued the young artist's drawings and gave him valuable advice on his artistic path.
In the mid-1930s, Edgar John studied with the portrait painter Fritz Rhein in Berlin. During this time he maintained contacts with artists and art patrons. He was particularly impressed by the meetings with and with Max Liebermann . In Berlin, John expanded his skills as a student of the horse painter Adam, which was evident in his animal pictures and drawings.
As a fellow Edgar John came to Kassel to van Brackl and finally to Königsberg to Ernst Schaumann . There, on the Curonian Spit in Nida , an artist colony had settled, which placed the East Prussian landscape at the center of their work.
Until the outbreak of the Second World War, Edgar John worked as a freelance press illustrator for regional and national daily newspapers. Through this activity he came together as a portraitist with many writers, poets, actors and musicians. On the recommendation of the film actor Paul Kemp , he was commissioned on the occasion of the Heidelberg Castle Festival in 1935 to portray the state actor Heinrich George as "Götz" and the actor Werner Krauss in the role of "Mephisto". During this time he portrayed, among others, the famous clown Grock , the English conductor and founder of the London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham , the Austrian poet Josef Weinheber , the Norwegian novelist Trygve Gulbranssen and the Flemish poet Felix Thimmermans, the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler , the Actress Elisabeth Flickenschildt , the actor Viktor de Kowa and the actor and comedian Karl Valentin .
With the outbreak of the Second World War he volunteered to be a war correspondent. When he was deployed in the West and especially in the East, it was the war, the fate of the refugees and the orphaned children in the villages and towns of the vast Russian country that prompted him to capture these impressions in more than 1,000 drawings and pictures.
When he returned to Mannheim on leave in 1943, he found his apartment and studio with many of his own and acquired drawings destroyed by an aircraft bomb. Two complete exhibitions with his watercolors and drawings from the theaters of war, which had been organized by the Mannheim artist group "Porta" in the art gallery, had burned.
Edgar John had to leave Mannheim and was evacuated to the countryside in the village of Hüffenhardt in Kraichgau. There he met his wife Erika geb. Schmitt († March 28, 2006). The couple had one son and one adopted son from Mrs. Erika's first marriage, as well as two grandchildren.
When Edgar John returned from captivity, Haus John in Hüffenhardt developed into a cultural meeting place for journalists, writers, artists and film directors, who fled from the destroyed cities to the countryside and especially in the years of need 1946 to 1949 by Edgar John with the ( Most essentials of life were provided.
In this and the following years he worked as a press illustrator and freelance journalist for the Heidelberger Tageblatt, the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung , the Mannheimer Morgen and Die Rheinpfalz . The Burda publishing house commissioned him to illustrate the Baroque novel Simplicius Simplicissimus by Jakob Christoffel von Hans Grimmelshausen . In addition to many other books, John illustrated a work by the Alsatian writer Paul Bertololy about the Crusades, as well as collections of dialect poems by Hanns Glückstein and Kurt Kölsch and two new publications about the Mannheim original “ Blumepeter ”. He also took on the artistic design of many homeland, children's and youth books.
In his home parish he was a councilor for many years and temporarily appointed and deputy mayor. As a co-founder of the local sports and rifle clubs, he had a major impact on village life and campaigned for the integration of the evacuees and those who were displaced from their homeland.
From 1963 to 1997 the Edgar John art calendars were published with motifs from Kraichgau , the Odenwald and the picturesque Neckar Valley between Heidelberg and Heilbronn . In addition, there were illustrations from numerous home calendars (including the hunters from Kurpfalz) and the publication of several art portfolios. In addition to private domestic and foreign collectors and municipalities, the Neckar-Odenwald district, the Karlsruhe State Library and the State of Baden-Württemberg also own many typical works by the artist.
As part of the 900th anniversary of his home town of Hüffenhardt, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on June 16, 1983 . The Hüffenhardt municipal administration named a street in his honor.
He died on April 18, 1996 in the hospital in Bad Friedrichshall of the consequences of a serious fall that he suffered during his artistic work.
From April to June 2007, 11 years after Edgar John's death, his son Thomas curated a comprehensive "Edgar John Retrospective" with more than 220 exhibits, including many loans, in collaboration with the city of Bad Rappenau. This exhibition in the city hall was visited by more than 6,000 people.
Edgar John's older brother Walter John (1910–1974) also worked as a painter.
Web links
- Compact Edgar John biography with current information, pictures of his works of art and places of work on edgar-john.com
Individual evidence
- ^ Karlheinz Schauder: Heads of the region: Hugo John from Ramstein-Miesenbach. In: The Rhine Palatinate . August 2, 2019, accessed August 22, 2019 .
- ↑ Stefanie Pfäffle: As colorful as his life. Bad Rappenau Edgar John retrospective opened in the town hall. In: Stimme.de. April 24, 2007, accessed August 22, 2019 .
- ^ Vita Walter John, Galerie John, Rothenburg ob der Tauber , accessed on August 22, 2019.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | John, Edgar |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 11, 1913 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ramstein |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 18, 1996 |
| Place of death | Bad friedrichshall |