Ernst Rötteken

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Ernst Rötteken (born March 2, 1882 in Detmold ; † April 2, 1945 there ) was a painter and graphic artist from Detmold.

Life

Ernst Rötteken was born on March 2, 1882 as the son of the veterinarian and stable master Fritz Rötteken and his wife Hermine in Detmold. The family initially lived in Freiligrathstrasse before moving to Villa Rötteken in Heiligenkirchen near Detmold. Ernst Rötteken attended high school in Detmold, was a good student and showed his special talent for painting at an early age. After the mother's death, the father married cousin Marie Clemen and the family moved to Marburg for a few years . Here Rötteken went on to high school and after graduating from high school he began studying botany at the Philipps University of Marburg . Following the family tradition, he wanted to become a forester , just like his uncle Otto Rötteken (1849–1915) in the Heidental near Detmold and his grandfather Ernst Rötteken (1795–1875), the hunting inspector and drawing teacher in Lemgo . His uncle Carl Rötteken (1831–1900) also lived in Lemgo , who was also a drawing teacher and had achieved national fame as a landscape painter from Lippe.

After completing their studies, the Rötteken family returned to Detmold. However, Ernst couldn't find a job in the forestry department and decided to study art. He attended the art academies in Düsseldorf and Karlsruhe and became a student of Peter Janssen (1844–1908), who is considered an exponent of the Düsseldorf school of painting . In Karlsruhe he studied with the painter Heinrich Wilhelm Trübner (1851-1917), who turned to Impressionism in his late work . His landscapes, painted with flat brushstrokes, influenced Rötteken's painting style. The artist's only known self-portrait was created in Karlsruhe in 1902. He traveled repeatedly to the Black Forest , as well as the Alps and Mecklenburg , to capture his visual impressions in oil paintings. In 1908 he finished his academic training and settled in Detmold as a freelance artist. In 1912 he married Margarethe Reye and moved with her to Hiddesen near Detmold. A year later Rötteken joined the Lippischer Künstlerbund , of which he became chairman in 1932. He took part in the First World War as a volunteer and came to the Western Front as an observer of Fliegerstaffel 207. He returned to Detmold a year before the end of the war, presumably due to an injury. His father died in July 1918.

The Rötteken family, meanwhile five, could not live from selling the oil paintings alone. That is why Ernst worked as a drawing teacher at the Detmold high school in the 1920s and also at the advanced school from 1927 to 1941. In addition, he painted flower pictures, which he reproduced as multi-colored linocut prints . These were hand-signed by him, were considered printed originals and were sold nationwide.

Ernst Rötteken died in Detmold on April 2, 1945 during the last days of the Second World War .

plant

The experiences of the First World War, the death of his father and the frequent lack of money led to violent mood swings in the artist's mood, which are reflected in his works. Dark colors are typical for many of his paintings from this period. Rötteken found his favorite motifs in the Lippe landscape, such as the Donoperteich near Hiddesen, the heathland of the Senne and numerous depictions of the Teutoburg Forest . In addition to landscapes, his artistic work also included buildings, views of places and portraits that have both naturalistic and impressionistic stylistic features. In works from the first two decades of the 20th century, he apparently also dealt with Expressionism . In addition to numerous oil paintings, there are also graphic prints by his hand, such as lithographs and colored linocuts.

Rötteken's large-format oil paintings could only be afforded by wealthy buyers. That's why he came up with the idea of ​​producing attractive pictures that many people could buy at affordable prices. He made colored, hand-signed linocut prints of 50 different flower motifs, which were successfully sold in over 450 art dealers in Germany in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The flower pictures were popularized by the fact that they were reproduced and sold as originals in several copies. Ernst Rötteken primarily wanted to make his art accessible to many layers. In Lippe, it can be stated that Rötteken is relatively well known due to its flower paintings. These were given their place in the living room, but also in many cases in the hallway or stairwell and at the same time represented something special as valuable originals.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death in the spring of 1995, the Lippisches Landesmuseum Detmold organized a special exhibition on Ernst Rötteken's life and work. The museum owns a large number of his works.

literature

  • Vera Scheef, Imke Tappe-Pollmann: Ernst Rötteken (1882–1945). Life and work of the artist from Lippe. (Catalog for the special exhibition in the Lippisches Landesmuseum Detmold from March 19 to May 14, 1995) Lippisches Landesmuseum, Detmold 1995, ISBN 3-9803614-0-3 .
  • Vera Scheef: Ernst Rötteken (1882–1945). Life and work of the artist from Lippe . In: Heimatland Lippe . Issue 3/1995, pp. 91-93 .
  • Imke Tappe-Pollmann: Ernst Rötteken (1882–1945). Life and work of the artist from Lippe . In: Heimatland Lippe . Issue 4/1995, pp. 122-125 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Vera Scheef: Ernst Rötteken 1882-1945 - Life and work of the artist from Lippe, in Heimatland Lippe, March 1995, pp. 91–93
  2. ↑ a b Imke Tappe-Pollmann: Ernst Rötteken 1882-1945 - Life and work of the artist from Lippe, in Heimatland Lippe, April 1995, pp. 122–125
personal data
SURNAME Rötteken, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German artist, landscape painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Detmold
DATE OF DEATH April 2, 1945
Place of death Detmold