Franz Kolbrand

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Franz Kolbrand (born April 20, 1892 in Eichstätt , † December 18, 1952 in Berlin-Zehlendorf ) was a German graphic artist , craftsman , poster artist and above all book illustrator .

Life

His parents were the weapons and mechanic master Franz Kolbrand (senior) and his wife Wilhelmine nee. Schwarzbeck; The father built the first pennywheel bike in Eichstätt in 1880 based on his own designs . After attending primary school and six classes in the humanistic grammar school in Eichstätt, he enrolled at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts in May 1912 , where he studied with Friedrich Wirnhier , Maximilian Dasio and Robert Engels . In the following year, 1913, he was allowed to create illustrations for a book for the first time.

After the outbreak of the First World War , Kolbrand was called up in November 1914 and came to the front, where he was shot in the lung and seriously wounded again in April 1916 in the Vosges . He was then used as a secret draftsman at the Army High Command (AOK) 6. After the war he quickly became an esteemed book illustrator, especially in the service of the renowned Munich publisher Hans von Weber . In addition, around 1921, he provided designs for toys that were implemented by the inmates in the Rebdorf workhouse, the former Augustinian canons near Eichstätt. Other works, most of which were originally destroyed in World War II , were, as far as his homeland was concerned, the design of a Eichstätter mint in 1922, the design for a war memorial in Mühlheim in 1924, the design of the coat of arms for the Eichstätter university professor Matthias Ehrenfried in 1924 and the production of the memorial plaque for the fallen of the former Eichstätt teacher training institute in 1926.

In 1925 he went to Weihenstephan , where he founded a technical school for flower art and from 1926 headed the advanced courses for flower art. In 1926 he was awarded first prize in a coin competition organized by the Reich Ministry of Finance. After 1928 he went to Berlin . Here he could fully develop artistically. Although he was never politically active, he was allowed to take over the artistic direction of international congresses and participated artistically in the 1936 Olympics . He was also a sought-after speaker and wrote in professional journals. His first larger work - adorned with his own drawings - was published in 1937 by the Reichsnährstand publishing house in Berlin under the title “Der Grün- und Blumenschmuck. Customs, festivities and festive decorations ”.

In 1940, Kolbrand was appointed organizer of the Wehrmacht's " Laienschaffen " work through the Deutsche Volksbildungswerk Berlin . He had to lay down the guidelines for appropriate courses for the German military stationed in Norway, to recruit suitable teachers and to procure study materials, among other things. a. in preparation for an exhibition "Laywork of German Soldiers" in Norway. During these years he came to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Lapland, Finland, Lithuania, Poland and Russia.

In post-war Berlin, he became a set designer at the “Little Theater” in Berlin-Zehlendorf and worked for an architecture firm, to which he provided hundreds of designs; This is probably the cause of the occasional incorrect statement that he was an architect. The latter larger undertaking was a study trip across France for him. In 1952, the year he died, his second and last major work was published, “Europa windet den Kranz”, a historical treatise on European floristry that has been reissued over and over again up to the present day.

His works from the 1930s / 1940s and thus most of his life's work were lost in the original versions in the chaos of war and the chaos of the immediate post-war era. His illustrated works fetch not inconsiderable prices in the antiquarian bookstore, which speaks for an appreciation of his graphic works up to the present day.

Franz Kolbrand's estate was donated to the Eichstätt Historical Society. V. handed over. The estate is kept under: “Smlg. Prof. Barth - Kolbrand estate "

Publications illustrated by Kolbrand

  • Rudolf Hans Bartsch : The Schill officers. With 9 full pictures by Franz Kolbrand. 1st edition. Munich: Georg W. Dietrich Verlag, 1913, 134 pp.
  • Gottfried August Bürger : Ballads. With (52) original impressions by Franz Kolbrand. Munich: Hans von Weber Verlag, 1919. For some of these Kolbrand lithographs see gottfried-august-buerger-molmerswende.de
  • Eichstatt. (With the collaboration of Franz Kolbrand). The Bayerland . 13, Munich: Eder, 1920
  • Karl Gutzkow : Uriel Acosta. The Sadducees of Amsterdam. With (34) original zinc drawings by Franz Kolbrand. Munich: Hans von Weber Verlag, 1922.
  • Wilhelm Hauff : The caravan. Fairy tale almanac for the year 1826. Hans von Weber Verlag, Munich (1922). With numerous original original prints (lithographs) by Franz Kolbrand, 4 sheets, 167 p. - Printed in a small edition by Dietsch & Brückner, Weimar.
  • Adalbert Stifter : Abdias. A story. With 39 original zinc drawings by Franz Kolbrand. Munich: Hans von Weber Verlag, 1923, 2nd edition 1947.
  • Friedrich von Schiller : Wilhelm Tell. A play. Edited by Franz Kolbrand (who carried out the entire artistic and literary work). Bad Rothenfelde: Holzwarth-Verlag, 1923.
  • Heinrich Heine : Florentine Nights. Hans von Weber Verlag, Munich 1923, 112 pages with original zinc drawings by Franz Kolbrand.
  • Franz Ciesielski : We create toys. Suggestions for young and old. Alois Henn Verlag, Ratingen o. J. (approx. 1935), 71 pages, with many illustrations. With a foreword by Franz Kolbrand.
  • Josef Pertl : Flowers in front of the window. Drawings by Franz Kolbrand. German Society for Garden Culture, Berlin undated (1936), 32 pp.
  • Joy through lay work in the reserve hospital. Edited by Franz Kolbrand. Edited in cooperation with the Army Sanitary Inspection of the OKW from Dt. Volksbildungswerk in the Nazi community “Strength through Joy” of the German Labor Front. Verlag der Deutschen Arbeitsfront, Berlin [1940], 48 pages, illustrated.
  • Hermann Liese: German war Christmas 1941. Erasmusruck, Berlin 1941, 79 p. With drawings by Franz Kolbrand, Fritz Müller and Rudolf Teichmann.
  • Werner Lindner, Erich Kulke, Franz Gutsdmiedl (editors, in connection with Herbert Frank, Wilhelm Grebe, Heinrich Hartmann, Franz Kolbrand, Siegfried Nagel, Johann Rosenthal, Georg Wellhausen, Reinhard Wendehorst, Rudolf Westermeyer): The village. Its maintenance and design. 2nd edition, Callwey, Munich 1938; further edition 1943.
  • You and me. The youth almanac 1950. Berlin: Erich Schmidt-Verlag, 1949. 157 p. With numerous. Fig. (Stories from Erich Kloss and Peter Heemskerk to Oscar Wilde. Illustrations by Walter Bergmann , Werner Bürger , Magda Karlson , Ruth Käge , Walter Rudolf , Lotte Pfeil , Annemarie Schmidt and dragon drawings by Franz Kolbrand).

Own publications

  • Thoughts on coin design. Freising (1930)
  • Beauty in the workplace. A way into the future of garden design. In: The garden art. 48, 1935, pp. 173-179.
  • The green and floral decorations. Customs, festive arrangements and festive decorations. With drawings by the author on 34 plates. Berlin: Reichsnährstand Verlags-GmbH, 1937, 155 pp.
  • The green in the cityscape. In: Heimatleben. Born in 1939, pp. 104-115.
  • Against war kitsch and junk. In: Heimatleben. Born in 1939, p. 256.
  • Europe winds the wreath. Flower places and flower arrangements as part of European culture. 1st edition, Frisinga Verlag, Freising 1952; further edition 1984; last edition 2003 by Verlag Bund Weihenstephaner Blumenbinder, ISBN 3-00-010593-X .

literature

personal data
SURNAME Kolbrand, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German graphic artist, craftsman, poster artist and above all book illustrator
DATE OF BIRTH April 20, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Eichstatt
DATE OF DEATH 18th December 1952
Place of death Berlin-Zehlendorf