Ernst Moritz Engert

Ernst Moritz Engert (born February 24, 1892 in Yokohama , Japan ; † August 14, 1986 in Lich ) was a German silhouette artist , graphic artist and painter .

Life

Ernst Moritz Engert was born in Japan as the son of the businessman and banker Moritz Engert and the teacher and journalist Hedwig Engert, b. Schipplock was born. In 1900 he and his family moved to Germany. From 1902 he attended grammar school in Gera , later the Ernestinum in Rinteln on the Weser . In 1908 he moved to Munich , where he worked at the Städt. Studied trade school and from 1909 to 1911 at the art school of Wilhelm von Debschitz .

From 1911 to 1912, on the advice of Georg Heym, Engert lived in a studio in Berlin . There he performed a shadow play entitled Sansara in the Neopathetic Cabaret on the 6th and 7th evenings of the New Club . He was close friends with Georg Heym , who temporarily lived with him, Jakob van Hoddis and Karl Otten . After Heym's death, Engert commuted between Berlin, Leipzig , Munich and Bonn until the beginning of the First World War . Together with Ernst Rowohlt , Kurt Pinthus and Walter Hasenclever he was a member of the regular Wilhelms Weinstube in Leipzig. During his stays in Munich he lived in the Schwabing artist pension Fürmann; he appeared together with Emmy Hennings , Johannes R. Becher and his first publisher Heinrich FS Bachmair in the cabaret Die Mördergrube . In Bonn in 1913 he took part in the first exhibition of Rhenish Expressionism in the Cohen Art Salon with Franz Henseler , August Macke , Max Ernst and others . In 1914 he married the painter Alice Clara von Anders, called Alette, with whom he had three children: Ursula, called Uti (* March 2, 1915 - † March 31, 2017), Guntram (* March 30, 1918, died May 20 1941) and Erasmus (born December 7, 1921, fallen September 17, 1943).

Ernst Moritz Engert, ca.1910

After the First World War, he co-founded the Darmstadt Secession in 1919 . In the following years he lived alternately in Munich, Darmstadt , Burgthann , Bonn and Berlin before settling there in 1930. After separating from Alette from Anders, he married Anna Luise Fischer (called Libussa) in 1932, with whom he had a daughter Phoebe (* May 9, 1925 - † October 30, 2017). During this time they lived with his brother-in-law William Hunt Diederich (1884–1953), an American sculptor who was married to Alette's sister Mary, in Burgthann near Nuremberg. Diederich had made paper cuttings before, but they weren't precise enough for Engert. This created a strange working group, Diederich drew and Engert cut the silhouettes. Engert then moved to Bonn and later to Berlin. At that time he lived mainly from working for newspapers ( General-Anzeiger , DAZ, Deutsche Theaterzeitung), from book illustrations and portrait silhouettes. Lotte Pritzel , Hans Bellmer , Carl Georg von Maassen , John Höxter and Joachim Ringelnatz were among his close friends . He made it possible financially for the artist, poet and early dropout Gusto Gräser , who also belonged to this group, to avoid persecution during the Nazi era .

An eye disease meant that he could no longer see any colors; for him there were only shades of gray. But that did not prevent him from occasionally working in color, especially with advertising graphics. His enthusiasm for gardening was not restricted either; he knew the play of colors very well from his countless daylilies. But his ability to see sharply also decreased steadily, so that in the 1960s he only saw sharply with his left eye at a distance of a few centimeters. Of course, this hindered his work, and scissors-cutting became almost impossible. During this time he reissued some of his works, in particular paper cuts, but also a red chalk drawing and a woodcut (Asta Nielsen) using the technique of screen printing. Two eye operations in the late 1970s restored his color vision and sharpness. He reported that he had screamed loudly when he saw his Hadamar garden in color for the first time.

In the Second World War he was first drafted as a cartographer . In 1944 he left Berlin and moved to Hadamar, but was drafted and was briefly taken prisoner . After the end of the war he continued to live in Hadamar with his sister Dora Engert , a midwife, until they both moved to Lich in 1981 to live with his daughter Ursula Engert.

From 1953 the former synagogue in Hadamar Engert served as a studio

Ernst Moritz Engert died in Lich ( Hessen ) and was buried in Hadamar.

plant

Engert began drawing and cutting silhouettes as a child. In addition to the sharply drawn portrait silhouettes, his first independent works included a series of cubist stylized woodcuts, including the dancer striding to the right (1913) or the portrait of Asta Nielsen (1914) printed in the action . During this time Engert also experimented with drypoint and ink drawings , but also with shadow games . So he developed a shadow play, which is shown in Arthur Robison's film Shadow (1923) . He managed to detach the silhouette from his Biedermeier image and to show that this technique can be a contemporary artistic means of expression. After the First World War, he focused almost exclusively on paper cutting . The stylistic radicalism of the early works was replaced by more naturalistic subjects and forms, which can be seen in the theater silhouettes, which were usually commissioned for newspapers. Much of the work since then has been characterized by a subtle sense of humor that has occasionally been increased into the grotesque. After 1945 more pleasing motifs were added. A total of several thousand silhouettes (portraits and other motifs) were created, some in different variants. A catalog of works does not yet exist. In the 30s and 40s he not only worked as a press illustrator, but also as a commercial artist and illustrator. He created title pages for the well-known magazines die neue linie and Die Dame , where he also illustrated articles, and has contributed silhouette illustrations for several books.

Engert's work is represented in numerous public and private collections. Permanent exhibitions can be seen in the Hadamar City Museum and in the art collections of the City of Limburg an der Lahn , while the August Macke House in Bonn houses an extensive collection of portrait silhouettes.

The Nassauische Neue Presse precedes the local section of its daily gloss with a silhouette by Engert.

Honors

• 1972: Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany

Individual evidence

1. ^ Kulturzentrum Gutshof Britz: Ernst Moritz Engert (1892−1986) and Berlin ( Memento from January 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive )

Publications

Individual publications

• Seven drawings. Munich, Bachmair, 1913.
• Konrad Weinmayer (ed.): EM Engert, directory of his graphic work. Munich, Franz Seybold's Verlagbuchhandlung, 1914.
• Silhouettes. With an introduction by Hans Schiebelhuth. Frankfurt, Zingler's Cabinet, 1919.
• Small portfolio. (Original woodcuts) Hanover, Paul Steegemann Verlag, 1919.
• Schwabing heads. Silhouettes by Ernst Moritz Engert with introductory prose by Hans Schiebelhuth. Hanover, Paul Steegemann Verlag, 1921. ( The Silver Column, Volume 80/82).
• Operas. Siluetas. Introduccion de Juan Gualterio. Limburg, Bensemann, ca.1960.

Contributions, illustrations

• The new art. Bimonthly. 1st year, 1st issue. Munich, Bachmair, 1913.
• Revolution. Biweekly. Born in 1913, nos. 1-4. Munich, Bachmair, 1913.
• The blessed Kintopp. Asta Nielsen owns. Sheet folded in two with title woodcut. New Year's gift from Bachmair Verlag, Munich, Bachmair, [1913]. (Title illustration by Engert)
• Martin Knapp: German shadow and scissors pictures from three centuries. Dachau near Munich, The Yellow Publishing House, 1914.
• The action . Weekly for politics, literature, art. 5th year, issue 31/32, 7th August 1915, Berlin-Wilmersdorf.
• German art and decoration. Vol. XX, Issue 7–8, April / May 1917, Darmstadt, Alexander Koch Verlag.
• Eos. Quarterly journal for art and poetry. 1st year, 1st issue. Berlin, Verlag Die Wende, 1918.
• The high bank . 1st year, issue 7, July 1919, Hanover, Verlag Ludwig Ey, 1919.
• The tribunal. Hessian radical sheets. 1st year 1919, 1st issue, January 1919. Darmstadt, Die Dachstube, 1919.
• The new book show. Born 1919, 6th issue. Munich, Albert Karl Lang publishing house, 1919.
• Kurt Martens: The emigrant. Hanover, Paul Steegemann, 1919. (Title illustration by Engert)
• Hans Schiebelhuth : The small calendar. (= The small republic. A series of pamphlets. Vol. 5). Darmstadt, The Attic Room, 1919. (Title illustration by Engert)
• The stables. Time and dispute writing. Issue 1/2. Hanover / Leipzig / Vienna / Zurich, Paul Steegemann, 1920.
• Paul von Keyserlingk: The gate. Munich, Musarion-Verlag, 1920 (cover by Engert)
• The Zweemann . Monthly pages for poetry and art. 1st year, 7th issue, special issue EM Engert. Hanover, The Zweemann Verlag, 1920.

literature

• Directory of modern original etchings, lithographs and woodcuts. Berlin, Naumann, 1913.
• Yearbook of Munich Art. 1st year 1917/1918. Munich, 1918.
• Catalog of the Darmstadt Secession. Darmstadt art gallery, 1919.
• German expressionism. Darmstadt, 1920.
• Joachim Heusinger von Waldegg (Ed.): EM Engert. Monograph with documentation. (Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, exhibition August 4 – September 6, 1977). Cologne, Rheinland-Verlag, 1977.
• The Rhenish Expressionists. August Macke and his painter friends. Recklinghausen, Bongers, 1979.
• Karl Wyrwoll (Ed.): EM Engert. Hadamar, 1980.
• Engert and the theater. Exhibition in the art collections of the city of Limburg August 31st - October 27th 1985. Limburg an der Lahn, 1985.
• Franz Josef Hamm: Engert and his artist friends. Expressionism in Bonn and Berlin. Exhibition in the art collections of the city of Limburg February 15 - March 15, 1987. Limburg an der Lahn, 1987.
• Franz Josef Hamm: Engert and his artist friends. Bohème in Munich and Berlin. Exhibition in the art collections of the city of Limburg December 3, 1989 - January 28, 1990. Limburg an der Lahn, 1989.
• Tom Lamberty (Ed.): Ernst Moritz Engert. A 20th century silhouettist. Exhibition catalog of the Berlin State Library / Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Exhibition from November 5 to December 19, 1992. Berlin, Edition Hentrich, 1992.
• Franz Josef Hamm: In the backlight - A silhouette. Exhibition in the art collections of the city of Limburg February 24 - April 5, 1992. Limburg an der Lahn, 1992, 2010 2nd edition. (The catalog is the most extensive work on Engert's life and work to date).
• August Macke House Association (Ed.): Ernst Moritz Engert. Bonn heads and theater. Silhouettes as contemporary witnesses. Exhibition in August Macke Haus December 6, 1992 - February 14, 1993. Bonn, 1992.
• Irene Rörig, Franz Josef Hamm: Ernst Moritz Engert - Theater silhouettes and portraits of actors Stock catalog of the Ernst Moritz Engert Foundation near the district town of Limburg ad Lahn. Limburg an der Lahn, 2000.
• Ackermann, Marion; Friedel, Helmut (Ed.): SchattenRisse. Silhouettes and cutouts. Exhibition catalog Kunstbau Lenbachhaus, Munich, 03.02. - May 27, 2001. Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit, 2001.
• Franz Josef Hamm, Irene Rörig: Ernst Moritz Engert - figurative silhouette - with a contribution about William Hunt Diederich and his silhouette created together with Ernst Moritz Engert. Inventory catalog of the Ernst Moritz Engert Foundation near the district town of Limburg ad Lahn. Limburg an der Lahn, 2002.
• Franz Josef Hamm, Irene Rörig: Letters from Pappi from the Tiech to Uti Letters and drawings by Ernst Moritz Engert from the 1st World War. Exhibition in the art collections of the City of Limburg May 16 - November 28, 2004 - also the inventory catalog. Limburg an der Lahn 2004. (Engert enclosed small drawings for his daughter Ursula, called Uti, with the letters to his wife Alette.)
• Otto Kirchner: The automobile at Ernst Moritz Engert. In: Ursula and Otto Kirchner (eds.): Unterwegs. How and where The motif of locomotion in the paper cut. Munich 2010. Pages 48–61. ISBN 978-3-940061-40-9 .
• Klara Drenker Nagels, Franz Josef Hamm: Ernst Moritz Engert (1892–1986). Bohemian, silhouettist and shadow player. Exhibition in the August Macke House Bonn January 31 – January 18. May 2014. August-Macke-Haus, Bonn 2014, ISBN 978-3-942423-03-8 .
• Franz Josef Hamm: Ernst Moritz Engert (1892–1986). Contours and silhouettes - a life's work. Exhibition in the art collections of the City of Limburg April 29–26. June 2016. Magistrate of the district town Limburg ad Lahn, Limburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-936162-11-0 .

Web link

• Literature by and about Ernst Moritz Engert in the catalog of the German National Library