Friedrich von Bömches

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Friedrich Ritter Bömches von Boor (born December 27, 1916 in Brașov , Transylvania , Austria-Hungary ; † May 2, 2010 in Wiehl ) was a Romanian-German painter, graphic artist and photographer.

Life

Friedrich von Bömches was born in 1916 to a Transylvanian-Saxon family during the First World War . In 1938 he was called up for military service and advanced to Stalingrad with the Romanian army . In the early forties, von Bömches returned to Kronstadt, but shortly afterwards he was deported as a Romanian German to the Soviet Union , where he worked as a quarry worker in the Donets Basin until 1950 . On June 26, 1943, he married his wife Erna, who gave birth to their son Bernd von Bömches in Kronstadt in 1944.

In 1978 (or 1979) von Bömches moved to the Federal Republic of Germany and found a new home in Wiehl in Oberberg . The artist lived here with his wife Erna.

In March 2011, allegations were raised about a collaboration between Bömches' and the Romanian secret police Securitate, according to which von Bömches is said to have spied on the philosopher Walter Biemel under the code name Gert Grundich .

He was the cousin of the opera singer Helge von Bömches (1933-2014).

plant

Friedrich von Bömches succeeded like hardly anyone else in working through his experiences in war and as a prisoner of war in his art. His artistic implementation began with photography; von Bömches was able to make a number of valuable documentary photos during the Stalingrad campaign. As a substitute for photography, which was no longer possible, he switched to drawing in the forced labor camp. Von Bömches, who characterized himself as “obsessed with a hysterical addiction to signs”, repeatedly made his “second sketches”. Only long after his return home did a large number of his artistic creations deal with the tragedy of human existence, death including its harbingers of old age and decay, with hunger and persecution - partly in a biblical or mythological setting. With the "capture" of the living in the picture, however, the apparent opposites of life and death stood side by side as groups of motifs: Thanks to his unusual gift of observation, von Bömches created remarkable portraits as well as many "small" pictures, mostly impromptu drawings, with animal and other motifs.

Bömches' work is extensive. Between 1950 and 1974 he created around fifteen thousand oil paintings and drawings. Only a few of these works were transferred from Romania, most of these specimens are with friends of the Bömches family. In Germany he is likely to have completed almost the same number of works, including a total of well over five hundred portraits of mostly prominent people.

Paintings and drawings (selection from the late work)

  • Tell me where the flowers are , acrylic, 1990
  • The ferryman , mid-1990s
  • The unpleasant guest , mid-1990s
  • End of the line , mid-1990s
  • There's no going back , the mid-1990s
  • The Neverending Way , mid-1990s
  • Pietà , mid-1990s
  • Crucifixion , mid-1990s
  • Funeral procession in Romania , mid-1990s
  • The Left Behind , Coal, 1994
  • Retirement home , 1995
  • Behind barbed wire , mixed media, 1999
  • Journey into the Unknown (trilogy: day / night / the door opens ), mixed media, 2001

Celebrity portraits (selection)

Exhibitions (selection)

Honors

Friedrich von Bömches was honored for his life's work in:

rating

The art patron Peter Ludwig described von Bömches as “probably the most important contemporary portraitist”.

The head of the Literaturhaus Berlin Ernest Wichner stated that von Bömches' "reports to the Romanian secret service" were "common - unscrupulous betrayal of friends", not knowing "whether this painter was in a similarly threatening situation as Oskar Pastior ".

literature

  • Claus Stephani : color and passion. Friedrich Bömches exhibition in Bucharest. In: Neuer Weg (Bucharest), 17/5112, October 7, 1965, p. 2.
  • Hans Bergel : Mythical Images as Present: Friedrich Bömches turns 90. In: Siebenbürgische Zeitung (Munich), Volume 19, November 30, 2006, p. 5.
  • Raoul Sorban: Friedrich von Bömches , 1975, Meridiane Verlag (Romania)
  • Brigitte Stephani: Impressive credo. To the retrospective exhibition of Friedrich Bömches in Brașov. In: Volk und Kultur (Bucharest), 29/4, Apr. 1977, p. 14 and 43.
  • Friedrich von Bömches: Painting and Graphics , 1992, ISBN 3-88265-168-7
  • Friedrich von Bömches: Life and Destiny , 1996, ISBN 3-88265-199-7
  • Publications of the Südostdeutschen Kulturwerk: Series A, Culture and Poetry; Vol. 52, 1997, ISBN 3-88356-121-5

Further illustrated books:

  • Friedrich von Bömches: Some previously unpublished paintings, watercolors, graphics and drawings , Martin Weigert Verlag, 1987
  • Friedrich von Bömches: Biblical motifs, paintings, drawings , exhibition catalog "Art Cabinet Hespert", 1991
  • Friedrich von Bömches: Drawings , 1998
  • Friedrich von Bömches: Sketchbook

Individual evidence

  1. a b Hans Bergel : Obituary for Friedrich von Bömches: The unmistakable work awaits decryption. In: Siebenbürgische Zeitung, May 14, 2010
  2. Reiner Thies: Friedrich von Bömches: Passionate Creation , In: Oberbergische Volkszeitung , May 5, 2010
  3. Anni-Lorei Mainka: A încetat din viaţă pictorul Friedrich von Bömches , Deutsche Welle of May 28, 2010
  4. a b Ernest Wichner : “The same is not the same”. In: Der Tagesspiegel , March 4, 2011
  5. Friedrich von Bömches (1916-2010). In: invaluable.com
  6. ^ Paintings and graphics from the work of Friedrich von Bömche. December 21, 2016 - May 7, 2017. in the Museum and Forum of Homburg Castle (Nümbrecht) .
  7. in decree no. 640/1968 privind conferirea de ordine şi medalii unor membri ai Uniunii artiştilor plastici din Republica Socialistă România
  8. Hannes Schuster: Friedrich von Bömches: To be without ceasing in search of meaning. In: Siebenbürgische Zeitung, April 30, 2006

Web links