Frido Witte

Friedrich Wilhelm (Frido) Witte (born February 22, 1881 in Schneverdingen ; † May 23, 1965 in Soltau ) was a German landscape painter, etcher, architect and craftsman of Art Nouveau and later poetic realism.

Life

Witte was born in Schneverdingen on a farm that also houses an inn and a shop. From 1893 he attended the Johanneum Lüneburg , the oldest grammar school in Lüneburg . Here he received his first private painting lessons and dealt with the art of painters in Worpswede . After graduating from high school in 1902, Witte first studied architecture in Munich , but broke off this course and then switched to the Munich Art Academy under Heinrich von Zügel in 1904 . In 1905, Witte went on a trip to Italy with his friend, art historian Ernst Kühnel . In the fall of 1906, his one-year military service ended . In 1907 he traveled to Paris with his friend, the painter Hugo Friedrich Hartmann and the architect Wilhelm Matthies. In 1908 he began studying graphic technology in Berlin, where he made the acquaintance of Hermann Hesse . In Lünzen near Schneverdingen around 1908 Witte met the artist, reform school teacher, photographer and author Otto Kofahl, a friend of the painter and illustrator Fidus (Hugo Höppener). Around 1910/11, Witte also made friends with Martha and Heinrich Vogeler in Worpswede , whom he often visited at the Barkenhoff in Worpswede. In the same period he made a trip to Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark . After 1910 he made the acquaintance of the painter Carl Coven Schirm . In 1912 Witte traveled with Ernst Kühnel to southern France, Tunisia and Italy and made the acquaintance of the painters Arthur Siebelist , Rudolf Fredderich and Josua Leander Gampp .

During the First World War , Witte did military service in Kiel and Flanders from 1914 to 1918 . In 1922 he moved from Lünzen to Soltau, to the house he designed himself at Harburger Straße 46. Between 1923 and 1926 he traveled to Switzerland, Holland (with the painter Ernst Müller-Scheessel ) and Sweden ( Gotland ). In 1937 he was the organizer of the art exhibition " 1000 Years of Soltau ". Witte was a member of the Hamburg Artists' Association from 1832 .

Witte had been married to Elisabeth Stuhlmacher since September 2, 1914. Together they had two sons who both died in World War II.

Witte was awarded the " Low German Painter's Prize " in Worpswede in 1939 together with Hugo Friedrich Hartmann , Arthur Illies , Fritz Mackensen and Otto Modersohn . In 1961 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit.

Witte died on May 23, 1965 and was buried in the Soltau cemetery on Bergstrasse. His estate has been handed over to the Museum for the Principality of Lüneburg .

plant

In addition to watercolors and oil paintings, Witte created lithographs (1903 and in the 1940s), etchings (since 1904) and woodcuts (since the 1920s), which he often colored . He designed illustrations for magazines (“ Die Jugend ”, “ Niedersachsen ”) and calendars and illustrated Ernst Kühnel's book “ Granada ” (1914), Hans Much's poetry book “ To Hus ” (1917) and his own book “ Plauderei aus einer Heidedorf ” ( 1956). In addition to his artistic work, Witte was also active as a commercial graphic artist, designer of rustic furniture and fine pewter dishes and as an architect.

Witte was particularly interested in the painter Giovanni Segantini and the painter , etcher and draftsman Rembrandt van Rijn . Witte's work has been exhibited at many exhibitions in Minden , Kiel, Soltau, Celle , Lüneburg, Bremen and Harburg. Witte's works - in pictures and words - mostly deal with his homeland, the Lüneburg Heath . Witte vigorously rejected modern art movements such as Expressionism and Cubism .

The Kunsthalle Bremen , the Kunsthalle Kiel , the Historical Museum am Hohen Ufer Hannover , the Bomann Museum Celle and the Albert König Museum Unterlüß are in possession of works by the artist.

Publications

• CC Schirm, a painter from the Lüneburg Heath . Museum Association for the Principality of Lüneburg, Lüneburg 1954.
• Memories of CC Schirm. In: The Lower Saxony , Sunday supplement of the Böhme newspaper , June 25, 1955.

literature

• Karl-Ludwig Barkhausen (Ed.): Frido Witte. A boat trip to Worpswede . Verlag Atelier im Bauernhaus, Fischerhude 1987, ISBN 3-88132-027-X .
• Karl Ludwig Barkhausen (Ed.): Frido Witte - Tunisian Diary 1912 . Wayasbah, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-925682-19-8 .
• Carsten Meyer-Tönnesmann u. a .: The painter and graphic artist Frido Witte. Life on the Heath 1881-1965 . Verl. Atelier im Bauernhaus, Fischerhude 1991, ISBN 3-88132-220-5 .
• Karl Ludwig Barkhausen. (Ed.): Frido Witte - Travels to Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark (1910) and to Fischland (1934) . Wayasbah, Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-925682-51-1 .
• Karl Ludwig Barkhausen (ed.): Friends and work. Essays on Frido Witte . Missionshandlung Hermannsburg, Soltau 1998, ISBN 3-87546-137-1 .
• Karl Ludwig Barkhausen. (Ed.): Letters from Flanders (1918) - The Wittes and the Kahlkes - Frido Witte to Elfriede Crome (1946-1964) . Soltau 2000.
• Karl Ludwig Barkhausen (Ed.): Artist letters to Frido Witte from Friedrich Freudenthal, Hermann Hesse, Arthur Siebelist, Prof. Wilhelm Otto, Fidus, Hugo Friedrich Hartmann, Rudolf Fredderich . Soltau 2001.
• Manfred Heinecker (ed.): Frido Witte - memories of my childhood and youth . Verl. Atelier im Bauernhaus, Fischerhude 2001, ISBN 3-88132-218-3 .
• Karl Ludwig Barkhausen (ed.): The Heidjer calendar with drawings by Frido Witte . Texts by Otto Kofahl and Frido Witte. Fischerhude 2003.
• Karl Ludwig Barkhausen: Frido Witte and Bertha Dörflein-Kahlke . An artist friendship . In: Nordelbingen 74, 2005, pp. 211-218.
• Karl Ludwig Barkhausen (ed.): Frido Witte - Journey south and north (1905-1951) . Wayasbah, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-925682-62-7 .
• Karl Ludwig Barkhausen: Frido Witte - life of an artist in letters and documents . Soltau 2008.
• Karl-Ludwig Barkhausen, Siegfried Ernst, Florin Matei, Volker Probst: Catalog raisonné of the Frido Witte etchings 1881-1965 . Soltau 2010.

Web links

• Literature by and about Frido Witte in the catalog of the German National Library
• Website of the Heimatbund Schneverdingen with information on the Frido Witte exhibition