Erich Spießbach

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Erich Kurt Rudolf Spießbach (born November 30, 1901 in Gotha ; † October 12, 1956 in Münster ) was a German painter, draftsman, sculptor, restorer and author.

Life

He was born as the fifth son of the glazier Heinrich Spießbach and his wife Johanna Berger. From 1906 to 1916 he attended elementary school in Gera. This was followed by an apprenticeship as a draftsman at the  Gothaer Waggonfabrik  . He worked there as a technical draftsman until he quit in 1923 and then went to the arts and crafts schools in Flensburg and Erfurt until 1925 .

From 1924 to 1925 he worked as a wood sculptor in Gustav Heinze's studio in Gotha. From 1925 to 1928 he worked in the former local history museum in Gotha and was mainly involved in excavations and the preparation of finds in Gotha.

In 1928 Spießbach joined the archaeological department of the State Museum for the Province of Westphalia, today's LWL Museum for Archeology in Münster. Due to his special talent in drawing and preparatory work, he was appointed head of the excavation and was entrusted with the preparation of documentation. However, it was at this time that the first symptoms of his mental illness appeared. He  soon got into conflict with his superior  August Stieren .

Typical of Spießbach's later life were friction and massive conflicts with superiors and authorities, which resulted in extensive legal processes. He saw himself as a misunderstood "scientist" and got entangled in ideological disputes about the interpretation of Germanic finds during the Nazi era. Spießbach's persistent trials led to psychiatric reports that described him as a "troubled paranoid". He was admitted to the Münster-Marienthal Provincial Sanatorium, fell ill with tuberculosis and increasingly withdrew into his own world of thought.

In the early 1950s, Spießbach met the psychiatrist  Manfred in der Beeck in the Westphalian Clinic Marsberg, today's LWL Clinic Marsberg , who dealt with images of patients and art therapy . He encouraged Spießbach to take an artistic approach.

Spießbach made several attempts to escape from the clinics to which he had been admitted. In 1956 he fell so badly while abseiling out of a window that he died as a result of his injuries.

plant

In the period from 1952 to 1953, 300 drawings, sculptures, book drafts and essays on archaeological, linguistic and art-related topics were created in a creative outbreak: "Art and madness", "Cleverness and stupidity" or the "Foreshortening of the English language" . Spießbach, whose work is meticulously executed and characterized by his training as a technical draftsman and commercial artist, worked ironically, provocatively and with bizarre humor. He understood his work as an "institutional intelligence test"; he made fun of the political situation and authorities - including the director of the psychiatric facility ("wooden head").

His work is in the possession of the Prinzhorn Collection .

Exhibitions

literature

  • "The three-time graduate idiot". The Erich Spießbach phenomenon.  Exhibition catalog. Friedenstein Castle Foundation Gotha, Gotha 2012,  ISBN 978-3-940998-15-6

Web links

Wikiquote: Erich Spießbach  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Erich Spießbach - MünsterWiki. Retrieved December 17, 2017 .
  2. ^ Cabinet exhibition - Erich Spießbach "the three-time graduate idiot". (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; accessed on December 17, 2017 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.prinzhorn.ukl-hd.de  
  3. ↑ Schloss Friedenstein shows an exhibition about Erich Spießbach. Thüringer Allgemeine, April 11, 2012, accessed December 17, 2017 .
  4. ↑ "The three-time graduate idiot" The Erich Spießbach phenomenon. Kunsthaus Kannen, 2014, accessed December 17, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Special exhibition "The three-time graduate idiot" The Erich Spießbach phenomenon. Saxon Psychiatry Museum, 2014, accessed on December 17, 2017 .
  6. ↑ "The three-time graduate idiot" The Erich Spießbach phenomenon. KulturAmbulanz, accessed on December 17, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Spießbach, Erich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Spießbach, Erich Kurt Rudolf (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, draftsman, sculptor, restorer and author
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Gotha
DATE OF DEATH October 12, 1956
Place of death Muenster