Friedrich Unger

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

August Friedrich Unger (born April 11, 1811 in Hof , † December 16, 1858 in Nuremberg ) was a German painter and draftsman.

Live and act

The artistic talent of the clothmaker's son was already evident in very early childhood. After attending the grammar school in his hometown, he attended from 1825 to 1827, at the expense of Freiin von Reitzenstein auf Konradsreuth, the educational institution in Keilhau , which was founded and directed by Friedrich Fröbel . He then studied in Munich in the history painting class at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, whose director at that time was Peter von Cornelius .

After completing his studies, he stayed in Hof for a short time and then went to see Friedrich Fröbel in Blankenburg (today Bad Blankenburg , where he had set up his institute for the care of the occupation of childhood and adolescence , in order to use his art to serve Fröbel's great educational ideas to provide (examiner 1919 p X). There he produced drawings on for Fröbels 'Sunday paper' and the 'shares' he lithographed and printed even in the 'Verlagsbuchhandlung children employment institution'. in addition, it gave two weekly twice per hour Drawing lessons in Keilhau (Prüfer 1911, p. 128).

When Friedrich Fröbel designed his mother and koselieder , Friedrich Unger, along with Robert Kohl , was one of the designers of this family book. He was responsible for the illustrations, in the style of the romantic painting school and for the production of which he chose lithography:

You always discover new beauties, always new sensible motifs, the longer you look. To single out just one thing! The charming surroundings of Blankenburg are inconspicuously woven into many of the pictures (Prüfer 1919, p. XI).

The friendship between Friedrich Froebel and Friedrich Unger broke up. Thereupon the artist got into an existential crisis and bitter need. He went to Nuremberg, where a brother and a sister of his lived. There he found employment as a caretaker at the Germanic Museum . This position ensured him a regular income, even if the job did not fulfill him. He applied in vain for a vacancy as a museum draftsman. Friedrich Unger found himself in a hopeless situation and the many disappointments he had experienced had broken his spirit, and in an attack of hypochondria he put an end to his life on December 16, 1858 (Prüfer 1919, p. X).

Friedrich Unger's artistic legacy is not very large. It is believed that he might have helped paint the murals with scenes from Bavarian history in the Hofgarten arcades of the Munich residence (cf. Konrad 2006, p. 32). For the church in Keilhau he drew an altarpiece, in the style of the Nazarenes and based on Johann Friedrich Overbeck's painting Christ blesses the children . The Bavarian Vogtland Museum has a few portraits and lithographs by the artist.

swell

  • Mother and Kose songs. Poetry and pictures for the noble care of childhood life. A family book by Friedrich Froebel, Blankenburg 1844

literature

  • Johannes Prüfer : Friedrich Unger , in: Kindergarten. Journal for developing education in the family, kindergarten and school 1911 , 52nd year, pp. 126-134
  • Johannes Prüfer: The spirit from which the work was born , in: Johannes Prüfer: Friedrich Fröbels Mutter = and Kose = Lieder , Leipzig 1919, pp. I-XII
  • Susanne von Ramin: On romantic early childhood education - demonstrated using the example of Froebel's "Mutter- und Kose-Lieder" , Berlin 1998 (unpublished diploma thesis)
  • Christine Konrad: The mother and Koselieder by Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel. Investigation into the history of its origins and effects , Würzburg 2006 (unpublished dissertation), pp. 31–45

Web link

personal data
SURNAME Unger, Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Unger, August Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and draftsman
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1811
PLACE OF BIRTH court
DATE OF DEATH December 16, 1858
Place of death Nuremberg