Eduard Bargheer

Eduard Bargheer (born December 25, 1901 in Finkenwerder , Hamburg , † July 1, 1979 in Blankenese , Hamburg) was a German painter and graphic artist . In its early phase he was close to Expressionism .

Life

Eduard Bargheer was born as the son of the elementary school teacher Adolph Otto August Bargheer and grew up with the older brother Ernst Bargheer (educator and later folklorist) and five sisters. The father died in 1914 and the mother in 1919. Ernst Bargheer, then 24 years old and only just returned from the First World War, took over the guardianship of his younger siblings and pushed Eduard into training as a primary school teacher. During these years Eduard Bargheer began his artistic training at the Hamburg-Lerchenfeld School of Applied Arts , but also in self-study, which he continued for life. In 1924 the brothers Ernst and Eduard fell apart. Eduard achieved his career aspiration as a freelance painter.

to travel

In 1925 Eduard Bargheer traveled to Italy for the first time and stayed in Florence for a long time . The deep affection for Italy and its culture became a life-defining theme. Extensive trips to Paris followed in 1926 and 1927 . In 1928 Bargheer built a studio for himself on the Westerdeich in Finkenwerder. The friendship with the painter Gretchen Wohlwill (1878–1962) began in 1927 and led to a lifelong collegial exchange that was interrupted by Wohlwill's emigration . Until about the mid-1930s, they made joint study trips to Holland , Belgium , England , Italy and Paris, as well as Denmark . In 1928, through Wohlwill's advocacy, Bargheer became a member of the Hamburg Secession Artists' Association . Intensive contacts with the circles around the art historians Aby Warburg and Erwin Panofsky also fell during this time . In 1932/1933 Bargheer used a scholarship from the city of Hamburg for a stay of several months in Paris, during which he made friends with Panofsky's student Ludwig Heinrich Heydenreich .

Stay in Italy during the National Socialism

In 1933 the Hamburg Secession dissolved of its own accord because it did not want to exclude its Jewish members - as the National Socialists demanded. In 1935 Bargheer met Paul Klee in Switzerland . In the same year he bought a small fisherman's cottage on Süllberg in Hamburg, which still houses the Bargheer House to this day. In 1939 he went into exile. The head of the Art History Institute in Florence, Friedrich Kriegbaum, gave him the job of creating reconstruction drawings of Michelangelo's Medici graves . From 1942 to 1944 he was an interpreter at a German-Italian navy shipyard in La Spezia. In 1944 he received church asylum in the Boboli Gardens in Florence. After the liberation of Florence, the Americans granted him a residence permit.

Time after World War II

Bargheer's glass mosaic Sport was made in 1962 in the August Wagner workshops. It is located in Hanover next to the south entrance of the HDI-Arena .

In 1947 he moved to Forio d'Ischia in Ischia . In 1948 he became an honorary citizen of the place, in 1951 he received Italian citizenship in addition to his German. In 1954 he was able to move back into his house in Hamburg-Blankenese. He now spent spring, summer and autumn in Ischia and winter in Hamburg-Blankenese. In 1955 Eduard Bargheer participated in documenta 1 in Kassel , and in 1959 in documenta II . In 1962/1963 he created the large glass mosaic Sport in the August Wagner workshops in Berlin , which stands at the south entrance of the HDI Arena in Hanover.

In 1957 he became a visiting professor at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg , and in 1958 he became a member of the Accademia Tiberina in Rome. From 1963 to 1965 he was a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts .

In the 1960s he toured Africa: Tunisia in 1960, Morocco in 1961, Egypt 1961/1962 and Senegal in 1966, 1968. On July 1, 1979 Bargheer died at his home in Hamburg-Blankenese and was in Finkenwerder on the old cemetery on Norderkirchenweg buried .

Artistic classification

Eduard Bargheer is best known today for his light, often mosaic-like watercolors from the 1950s. In his abstract pictorial design, elementary shapes become symbols of a reality that is seen and reflected. The fabric-like structure of the works is intended to make the formal network of relationships of the world of objects visible. The space is no longer treated objectively as it was in Expressionism , but the impression of space is created by the effect of color and light on the picture surface. In his striving for harmony, linear and two-dimensional design are balanced in Bargheer's work.

Bargheer's early work in Hamburg was still characterized by a style influenced by Edvard Munch , which the artists' association Hamburgische Sezession had developed, to which he had belonged since 1929.

In his paintings from the 1930s, the artist increasingly reacted to the oppressive political conditions that prompted him to seek refuge in Italy in 1939. A time-related metaphor often determines his motifs in this work phase. These pictures are to be seen as important contemporary documents.

Compared to the liveliness of the watercolors, the oil paintings appear formally more strictly built and more monumental. Even in the less spontaneous oil painting, Bargheer succeeds in achieving a harmony of color and light. For himself, the oil paintings were the culmination of his work. He put it this way: "I have always used the watercolor, and I always respectfully said 'you' to the oil."

The basis for his watercolors and oils are sketches and hand drawings in various techniques, especially reed pen drawings . This complex of works has hardly been systematically edited and published so far.

In parallel to the other techniques, an extensive graphic work documented in Detlev Rosenbach's catalog raisonné was created. Especially in the combination of drypoint and aquatint technique , Bargheer achieved a high level of mastery. He created works that come very close to watercolors in their effect.

The artist has also created large commissioned works for public spaces, especially glass mosaics, which are featured in Roland Jaeger's publication Painting in Glass and Stone - The Mosaic Creation by Eduard Bargheer. Building-related works of art in Hamburg, Hanover and Forio d'Ischia. be appreciated.

Works (selection)

The estate includes around 200 oil paintings, 1,000 watercolors, 400 graphics and drawings.

1932: The Arrival of Harmony , oil on canvas. Eduard Bargheer's estate, Hamburg
1936: Winter landscape , oil on canvas. Eduard Bargheer's estate, Hamburg
1939: rowers. Eduard Bargheer's estate, Hamburg

Exhibitions (selection)

September 30, 2017–3. April 2018: Eduard Bargheer, The Arrival of Harmony. Bargheer Museum Hamburg, Jenischpark
1995 Roswitha Haftmann Modern Art Gallery , Zurich
1988 Roswitha Haftmann Modern Art Gallery, Zurich

Eduard Bargheer Museum in Jenischpark

After ten years of planning, Hamburg's Mayor Olaf Scholz (SPD) opened the new Bargheer Museum in Hamburg's Jenischpark on September 29, 2017, in the immediate vicinity of the Jenisch House and the Ernst Barlach House . During his eventful life between Hamburg and Italy, Eduard Bargheer created numerous watercolors, oil paintings as well as drawings, prints, wall paintings and glass mosaics. A private foundation collected 1.2 million euros in donations for the new museum, which is housed in the redesigned horticultural office in Jenischpark. The opening exhibition was "Eduard Bargheer, The Arrival of Harmony".

In an initial overview with oil paintings, watercolors and graphics, the exhibition presents the various creative phases of Eduard Bargheer, from his early work, which was shaped by the Elbe landscape, to the more abstract works of the post-war period, which were mainly created in southern Italy. The rich oeuvre of the artist, who was already successful during his lifetime, is revealed in a chronologically structured tour.

The extensive collection and the artist's estate are available to the museum and form the basis for future exhibitions with works by Bargheer, his artist friends and contemporaries. In addition, the grant recipients of the Eduard Bargheer Foundation for the promotion of young artists will be presented.

reception

Marion Countess Dönhoff wrote on January 1st, 1972 in the weekly newspaper Die Zeit :

“Anyone who has followed Eduard Bargheer's oeuvre over the past few years has been amazed again and again at the unbroken power of transformation that characterizes this master of watercolor and etching. It seems to me that there are three qualities that have enabled him to do this: his great intelligence, his poetic sensitivity and the never-ending diligence with which he studies the world of forms in nature. "

The art historian Paul Vogt assessed Eduard Bargheer as follows in 1972:

"In the works of Bargheer one side of German painting is reflected which, in addition to the usually dominating depth of meaning, has a seductive sound: a bright overtone, the justification of which does not require any explicit legitimation."

Former Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt wrote on February 3, 2011:

“I have always valued Eduard Bargheer. On the occasion of his death in 1979, I wrote to his family: '… I have always been fascinated by his artistic work, especially his way of conveying landscapes with enchanting ease. We were therefore delighted to include an example of his feelings and skills here in the Federal Chancellery in the selection of works by the important German painters of his generation. '"

literature

Catalog raisonné

Detlev Rosenbach: Eduard Bargheer: Catalog raisonné of printmaking 1930 to 1974. Edition Rosenbach, Hanover 1974.
Dirk Justus: From the eye experience to artistic design - drawings by Eduard Bargheer . Hamburg 1979.
Wolfgang Henze: Eduard Bargheer. Life and work with a directory of the paintings. Campione d'Italia 1979.
Dirk Justus (Ed.): Eduard Bargheer. Portraits and self-portraits. Pro-Arte-Edition Volume 2, Hamburg 1989.
Sabine Fehlemann (Ed.): Eduard Bargheer (1901–1979): Aquarelle. Exhibition catalog with contributions by Antje Birthälmer and Günter Aust . From the Heydt Museum Wuppertal. 1st edition 2005, 3rd edition 2008. ISBN 3-89202-059-0
Roland Jaeger: Painting in glass and stone - Eduard Bargheer's mosaic work. Building-related works of art in Hamburg, Hanover and Forio d'Ischia. ConferencePoint Verlag, Hamburg 2007.

Secondary literature

Walter Koch: Eduard Bargheer. A monograph. Hanover 1973.
Dieter Honisch (Vorw.): 1945 1985. Art in the Federal Republic of Germany. (National Gallery, State Museums, Prussian Cultural Heritage, Berlin), Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-87584-158-1 .
Volker Plagemann : Eduard Bargheer. Series: Hamburg Heads, ed. from the ZEIT Foundation Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius. Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-8319-0324-5 .

Web links

Commons : Eduard Bargheer - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Eduard Bargheer. A Hamburg artist biography in the 20th century. Published and printed résumé from around 2017.
↑ Eduard Bargheer. A Hamburg artist biography in the 20th century. Published and printed résumé from around 2017.
↑ Eduard Bargheer. A Hamburg artist biography in the 20th century. Published and printed résumé from around 2017.
↑ Opening exhibition: Eduard Bargheer, The Arrival of Harmony, September 30, 2017– April 3, 2018. Accompanying information for visitors, 2017.
^ Katja Engler: Museum for a great painter. In: Hamburger Abendblatt , September 28, 2017, p. 19.
^ Gottfried Sello: Catalog Hamburgische Secession 1919–1933. Galerie Pro Arte, Hamburg 1982. Friederike Weimar: The Hamburg Secession 1919–1933 . Fischerhude 2003.
↑ The quotation comes from tape recordings made by Wolfgang Henze in an interview with Bargheer in 1976; he also quoted it in shortened form in his Bargheer biography (Wolfgang Henze: Eduard Bargheer, Leben und Werk. Campione d'Italia 1979, p. 93 ). The quote is fully and correctly reproduced as follows: "I have always used the watercolor and always respectfully said 'you' to the oil."
^ Detlev Rosenbach: Eduard Bargheer: Catalog raisonné of printmaking 1930 to 1974. Edition Rosenbach, Hannover 1974.
↑ Roland Jaeger: Painting in Glass and Stone - Eduard Bargheer's mosaic work. Building-related works of art in Hamburg, Hanover and Forio d'Ischia. ConferencePoint Verlag, Hamburg 2007.
^ Works by Eduard Bargheer
^ Katja Engler: Museum for a great painter. In: "Hamburger Abendblatt", September 28, 2017, p. 19.
↑ Ludmila Vachtova. Roswitha Haftmann . P. 107
↑ Ludmila Vachtova. Roswitha Haftmann . P. 104
^ Bargheer Museum in Jenischpark , eduard-bargheer-museum.de
^ Marion Countess Dönhoff in "Die Zeit" from January 1, 1972.
^ Paul Vogt: History of German Painting in the 20th Century. Cologne 1972.
↑ See web link Bargheer Museum

personal data
SURNAME	Bargheer, Eduard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH	December 25, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH	Finkenwärder , Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH	July 1, 1979
Place of death	Blankenese , Hamburg

[1] Eduard Bargheer. A Hamburg artist biography in the 20th century. Published and printed résumé from around 2017.

[2] Eduard Bargheer. A Hamburg artist biography in the 20th century. Published and printed résumé from around 2017.

[3] Eduard Bargheer. A Hamburg artist biography in the 20th century. Published and printed résumé from around 2017.

[4] Opening exhibition: Eduard Bargheer, The Arrival of Harmony, September 30, 2017– April 3, 2018. Accompanying information for visitors, 2017.

[5] Katja Engler: Museum for a great painter. In: Hamburger Abendblatt , September 28, 2017, p. 19.

[6] Gottfried Sello: Catalog Hamburgische Secession 1919–1933. Galerie Pro Arte, Hamburg 1982. Friederike Weimar: The Hamburg Secession 1919–1933 . Fischerhude 2003.

[7] The quotation comes from tape recordings made by Wolfgang Henze in an interview with Bargheer in 1976; he also quoted it in shortened form in his Bargheer biography (Wolfgang Henze: Eduard Bargheer, Leben und Werk. Campione d'Italia 1979, p. 93 ). The quote is fully and correctly reproduced as follows: "I have always used the watercolor and always respectfully said 'you' to the oil."

[8] Detlev Rosenbach: Eduard Bargheer: Catalog raisonné of printmaking 1930 to 1974. Edition Rosenbach, Hannover 1974.

[9] Roland Jaeger: Painting in Glass and Stone - Eduard Bargheer's mosaic work. Building-related works of art in Hamburg, Hanover and Forio d'Ischia. ConferencePoint Verlag, Hamburg 2007.

[10] Works by Eduard Bargheer

[11] Katja Engler: Museum for a great painter. In: "Hamburger Abendblatt", September 28, 2017, p. 19.

[12] Ludmila Vachtova. Roswitha Haftmann . P. 107

[13] Ludmila Vachtova. Roswitha Haftmann . P. 104

[14] Bargheer Museum in Jenischpark , eduard-bargheer-museum.de

[15] Marion Countess Dönhoff in "Die Zeit" from January 1, 1972.

[16] Paul Vogt: History of German Painting in the 20th Century. Cologne 1972.

[17] See web link Bargheer Museum