Friedrich Arthur Wittig

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Friedrich Arthur Wittig (born June 18, 1894 in Düsseldorf , † March 26, 1962 in Konstanz ) was a German painter and graphic artist.

Life

Friedrich Arthur Wittig was born in Düsseldorf as the sixth child of the blacksmith Friedrich August Wittig and his wife Amalie, née Sauer. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to an architect , where he stayed for four years (1908–1912). After a short stay abroad, he attended the arts and crafts school in Düsseldorf . In 1914 he was drafted into military service. After 1918 he resumed his artistic work and continued his autodidactic training . For the first time he exhibited at the 1st International Art Exhibition in Düsseldorf in 1921 . Some of his works were bought by the Städtische Galerie in Düsseldorf , but were confiscated in 1937 as part of the “ degenerate art ” campaign and have since been considered lost.

Wittig was a member of the artist group Das Junge Rheinland . Between 1919 and 1933 he took part in the exhibitions of the “Young Rhineland”, the “Rhine Group” and the “Rhenish Secession”. The “Young Rhineland” group was founded in Düsseldorf after the First World War in order to secure the place they deserved in German modernism for young Rhenish artists without striving for a common style. In addition to painters and sculptors, architects and craftsmen were also represented. The diverse network of relationships in the group was documented among other things. a. in contact with artists such as Wassily Kandinsky , Paul Klee , Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso .

In 1922 Wittig moved to Berlin . There he worked as a graphic artist and painter. He was buried in a bomb attack in 1943, his studio and almost all works were destroyed. Since there was no longer any possibility of artistic activity in Berlin, he moved to Untermünstertal in the Black Forest . Since 1946 he exhibited new works in exhibitions in Freiburg , Düsseldorf, Baden-Baden , Munich , also in Amsterdam , The Hague and Utrecht . In 1951 he moved to Konstanz (registered December 11, 1951). He pursued his artistic work in his studio on the Untere Laube. In addition to features illustrations and theater sketches, he wrote short stories and poems and made music on the lute. He took part in numerous exhibitions in the Lake Constance region. He participated ten times in the Singen art exhibitions with over 40 works. In 1962 he joined the artists' association “ Der kleine Kreis ”, which was founded in the same year ; the name alludes to the lake-spanning artists' association “ Der Kreis ”, founded in Lindau in 1925 .

Wittig was married five times, including the painter and writer Daisy Rittershaus (November 16, 1901 Rheydt - January 11, 1987 Konstanz). They married on December 6, 1951 in Konstanz and were divorced on December 13, 1955. From June 4 to 23, 1966, Rittershaus posthumously organized an exhibition of his early watercolors for her ex-husband at the Bürdeke Gallery in Zurich.

Work and style

Little is known about Friedrich Arthur Wittig's early work, as most of his work was destroyed during World War II. His art only became tangible when he moved to Constance in 1951. The painting View of Konstanz from Seestrasse , which is in the Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz , was created as early as 1946 . It shows that Wittig knew Konstanz even before he moved to Lake Constance. The picture is painted in a soft-focus style and testifies to Wittig's engagement with Impressionism . Since the 1950s, the preoccupation with the model Pablo Picasso can be seen in his drawings . In the mid-1950s, his work turned to figurative abstraction .

Illustrations

Wittig's drawings are said to have appeared in Jugend and Simplicissimus , but have not yet been proven. After he moved to Constance, von Wittig regularly published drawings for the premieres of the theater and illustrations for narrative contributions on the entertainment page in the Südkurier .

Works in museums

The following museums own works by Friedrich Arthur Wittig:

literature

  • Friedrich Arthur Wittig. Paintings, watercolors, drawings. Exhibition cat. Kunstverein Konstanz (October 14, 1962 to November 18, 1962) Buchdruckerei Friedrich Romer, Konstanz 1962.
  • Ludwig Emanuel Reindl: painter's studio with lute and poetry. For the memorial exhibition for FA Wittig in the Wessenberghaus in Constance. In: Südkurier , October 16, 1962.
  • Carlo Karrenbauer: Painters see Lake Constance. 200 years of privately owned landscape painting. Verlag Stadler, Konstanz 1991, p. 124 f.
  • Lake view. German artists on Lake Constance in the 20th century. Exhibition catalog. Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie, Konstanz 1998. P. 81 f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The biographical information is based on: exhib.-cat. Friedrich Arthur Wittig. Paintings, watercolors, drawings, Kunstverein Konstanz (October 14, 1962 to November 18, 1962) Friedrich Romer printing works, Konstanz, 1962.
  2. ^ Eifel and Art: The Young Rhineland , accessed on October 16, 2018
  3. ^ The Young Rhineland - forerunners, friends, successors, Hatje Cantz Verlag 2008, see Das Junge Rheinland
  4. ↑ See-Blick exhibition catalog. German artists on Lake Constance in the 20th century, Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz 1998. P. 81 f.
  5. ↑ Jugend Wochenschrift
personal data
SURNAME Wittig, Friedrich Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH March 26, 1962
Place of death Constancy