Friedel Jenny Konitzer

Friedel Jenny Konitzer (born November 12, 1915 in Cologne ; † September 20, 2013 in Neustadt am Rübenberge ) was a contemporary German painter and graphic artist.

Life

Friedel Jenny Konitzer finished high school in 1936 with the Abitur. Her artistic talent was already evident when she was still at school, which she developed through, among other things, painting courses at the Cologne School of Applied Arts . Through her sister, the art historian Anni Wagner, who was 16 years her senior , she came into contact with art history at an early age .

Friedel Jenny Konitzer wanted to pursue an artistic career and become a fashion designer. The marriage with the business graduate Dr. Clemens Paul Johannes Konitzer (1906–1978) in 1937 put an end to their plans in this regard. Both initially lived in Berlin . After the Second World War , the Konitzers moved to Goslar in 1945 . They traveled through Europe, which is also reflected in the painter's early landscapes and cityscapes.

In 1953 Konitzer turned to free artistic work. She set up a studio in Goslar and from 1954 took private lessons with the art professor Erich Rhein (1902–1956) in Hanover. From 1956 onwards Friedel Jenny Konitzer was represented with her works in group and solo exhibitions. During her lessons with Rhein she met the painter, graphic artist and draftsman Fred Jacobson (1922–2013). This introduced Konitzer to his former teacher, the Steinhude- based painter Harald Schaub . Konitzer and Schaub were a couple from 1967 until his death in 1991. All three artists have been friends for decades.

In the early 1970s Konitzer moved to Hanover , where she initially set up a small studio. In 1971 she started building her studio house in Hagenburg-Altenhagen on the south bank of the Steinhuder Meer . The Künstlerhaus was ceremoniously opened in May 1973 with an exhibition of Konitzer's works, the opening speech was given by the cultural advisor of the state capital of Hanover, Heinz Lauenroth . The regional and national press accompanied the establishment of the Künstlerhaus in detail.

Friedel Jenny Konitzer lived and worked in her studio house until 2008. Since then she has lived in a senior citizens' home in Neustadt am Rübenberge. There she died on September 20, 2013 at the age of 98.

plant

The oeuvre Friedel Jenny Konitzers consists of large-format abstract or abstract-figurative relief images , paintings, Monotypien and graphic work (drawings, Linolschnitt u. A.).

Konitzer began her artistic career as an autodidact . From 1954 on, she expanded her knowledge through professional lessons with Professor Erich Rhein from the Werkkunstschule Hannover . His classes included experimenting with different materials. He also taught his students, among other things, aleatoric , i.e. random, techniques for which the artistic result is not yet certain at the beginning of the work. These were an essential factor in informal painting , but they also exist in music and literature. The knowledge that the artist acquired through lessons with Erich Rhein as well as the artistic exchange with him and his other students such as Fred Jacobson had a decisive influence on her artistic development.

While her early work - mainly still lifes and stylized landscape impressions from her study trips through Europe - is still subject-related, from 1962 onwards Konitzer worked more expressively and abstractly. In this second creative phase of the 1960s and early 1970s, she combined informal techniques with sometimes bizarre, organic or geometric figurations. She experimented with techniques and materials such as synthetic resin, sand and paint and created large-format relief images.

In the 1970s, Konitzer increasingly turned to graphics. During this time she discovered the motif of the “infinite line”: parallel lines in her pictures connect to seemingly endless ribbons or spirals, some of which she highlighted in color. At the end of the 1970s, Konitzer turned again to representational motifs, which she alienated in a surreal way. Friedel Jenny Konitzer suffered from anxiety attacks at times, which are also reflected in her works. As motifs she preferred birds (including vultures), but also bizarre-looking trees in which there are human bones or on whose branches human bodies are hanging. Some of them are macabre visions. In her last creative period, Konitzer also painted flower pictures that filled the picture surface in expressive colors. There is no standstill in the works of Friedel Jenny Konitzer, every part of the picture surface is filled and often in excessive movement. This pronounced dynamic is characteristic of each of her works.

Konitzer presented her work at solo and group exhibitions, including in Goslar , Braunschweig , Hanover , Hildesheim , Oldenburg , Salzgitter , Wolfsburg , Mainz and Frankfurt am Main . Since the mid-1950s, newspaper and magazine features have reported on her work and provided information about her changing working methods / techniques.

A large part of Konitzer's life's work is in a private art collection, but also in public collections (municipalities, museums) and in private ownership.

Exhibitions (selection)

• 1956 Goslar, Goslar Museum , anniversary exhibition of the Association of Visual Artists
• 1962 Goslar, foyer of the Odeon Theater, first solo exhibition
• 1966 Münster, Bernd Clasing Gallery; Opening speech: Walter Junge
• 1966 Hanover, Kunstkabinett am Steintor; Opening speech: Head of Culture Heinz Lauenroth
• 1967 Mainz, Gallery Winfried Gurlitt
• 1967 Wiesbaden, Atelier Christa Moering (together with Romane Holderried Kaesdorf )
• 1969 Goslar, Goslar Museum
• 1969 Salzgitter, Kunstverein (together with Fred Jacobson )
• 1971 Münster, Bernd Clasing Gallery; Opening speech: Dr. Hermann Lober
• 1973 Hagenburg, opening exhibition of the residential and studio house, opening speech: Heinz Lauenroth
• 1975/1976 Hanover district: traveling exhibition with works by the painter Friedel Jenny Konitzer; Opening speech: Dr. Rudolf Lange
• 2000 Neustadt am Rübenberge, Rosenkrug (together with works by Harald Schaub )
• 2009 Neustadt am Rübenberge, Gallery B³ for contemporary art in the Leinepark: "Landscapes (t) dreams, views from the 20th and 21st centuries" (group exhibition, including works by Harald Schaub, Fred Jacobson, Bernd Otto Schiffering, Paul Smalian )

literature

• Karl Fellbach: Friedel Jenny Konitzer . Exhibition Atelier Moering, Wiesbaden (November 4th - November 24th) and Auto-Union Frankfurt Gallery (December 1st - December 31st). In: Art. Magazine for modern painting, graphics, plastic , 7th year, 1967, issue 28, pp. 612–613.
• Anni Wagner: Friedel Jenny Konitzer and her studio house , in: The art and the beautiful home , 1977, issue 11, p.
• Anni Wagner: Friedel Jenny Konitzer , in: Karl Heinz Leidreiter et al .: Association of visual artists for Lower Saxony. 35 Years of the Harz Group - A Documentation 1981 , Goslar 1981, pp. 64–65
• Helga Welker-Schwab, Friedel Jenny Konitzer , in: Helg Welker Schwab: Profiles from the District of Hanover - Citizens of Our Time , Volume III, Hanover 1997. P. 191.

Web links

• Pictures by Friedel Jenny Konitzer as well as further information

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Helga Welker-Schwab, Friedel Jenny Konitzer, in: Helga Welker Schwab: Profiles from the District of Hanover - Citizens of Our Time, Volume III, Hanover 1997, p. 191.
2. ↑ See Bernd-Ingo Friedrich, Prof. Erich Rhein. Painter and graphic artist. The man from school made (from the series: Muskauer, from whom something has become) ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
3. ↑ See Helga Welker-Schwab, Friedel Jenny Konitzer, in: Helga Welker Schwab: Profiles from the District of Hanover - Citizens of Our Time, Volume III, Hanover 1997, p. 191.
4. ^ Cf. Theo Oppermann, Künstlerhaus extends to the sea meadows. FJ Konitzer built an interesting studio . In: Wunstorfer Zeitung, 21./22. April 1973.
5. ↑ On informal art, cf. Keyword Informel on the homepage of Ketterer Kunst .