Fritz Berberich

Fritz Berberich (born August 30, 1909 in Schnappach ; † July 14, 1990 there ) was a German painter .

Life

Origin and education

Berberich was born as the second youngest of four children to a family of miners in what was then St. Ingbert's district of Schnappach. He attended elementary school from 1916 to 1923. He came into contact with the painter Fritz Zolnhofer , who was living in Schnappach at the time and recognized Berberich's talent.

In the period from 1923 to 1929, Berberich first started a commercial apprenticeship in Sulzbach and then went to business school. The father showed willingness to promote the artistic talent of the son and gave his consent to attend the state school for arts and crafts in Saarbrücken . For economic reasons, however, Berberich had to enroll in the commercial graphics class .

From 1929 to 1936, Berberich's attempts to complete an apprenticeship failed. He was temporarily unemployed, but artistically very active. Through Zolnhofer's mediation, he took part in the exhibition of the Saarland Artists Association in Berlin . The Reich government bought a painting by Berberich for 200 Reichsmarks . With the money he enrolled again in 1934, after the death of his father, at the State School for Art and Applied Arts, this time in the class for free painting with Oskar Trepte. In 1936 the arts and crafts school was closed and Trepte was dismissed. Berberich went to the Academy in Munich on a scholarship and enrolled with Professor Karl Caspar , with whom Zolnhofer had been a master student in the 1920s . When Caspar was defamed as "degenerate" by the National Socialists in 1937 and dismissed from civil service, Berberich returned to Schnappach.

Artistic career

During the war, Berberich first served as a soldier in Russia. He was later transferred to the south of France, where he found the opportunity to work artistically. During this time a number of works in watercolor were created . While he was a prisoner of war, Berberich drew a cycle of ('Small Pictures') on military post paper, predominantly religious in content, which he later realized in larger formats after the war.

From 1946 to 1950 Berberich worked as a freelancer and exhibited in Sulzbach , Saarbrücken and Paris . With four other artists, Berberich founded the New Saarland Secession , the exhibition of which met with a positive response in the media. Berberich's formal language is referred to as realistic expressionism and post-expressionism. But it undoubtedly has its roots in Expressionism.

1950–1964 Berberich exhibited in Paris, Saarbrücken and Darmstadt. After his marriage in 1950 a scholarship from the High Commissioner and the Saar government enabled him to study for a longer period in Paris at the Grande Chaumière . In 1952 a daughter was born. In 1954 the Berberich family moved to St. Ingbert , where he had better working conditions (studio in the Albert Weisgerber School).

1964 was the high point in Berberich's life. As the third Saarlander, he was awarded the Albert Weisgerber Prize of the city of St. Ingbert. At the turn of the year 1964/65 the Berberich family moved into their own home in Schnappach . Berberich was very active and exhibited repeatedly. His formal language became more transparent, he increasingly turned to the watercolor technique. In 1989, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, Berberich was honored in two large exhibitions; in St. Ingbert and in Sulzbach / Saar. In 1990 Berberich died after a short, serious illness.

Solo exhibitions (selection)

• 1948 Adult Education Center Sulzbach
• 1965 St. Ingbert cultural center
• 1970 Elitzer Gallery, Saarbrücken
• 1974 Elitzer Gallery, Saarbrücken
• 1979 Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken
• 1980 Sulzbach cultural center
• 1989 St. Ingbert cultural center; Salt fountain house, Sulzbach
• 1991 Salzbrunnenhaus, Sulzbach
• 1994 Family House, Merzig (retrospective); Heiliggeistkirche, Speyer (The religious work)
• 1995 St. Wendel Museum; Gallery in the courtyard, St. Wendel
• 2005 home of the artist, Sulzbach-Schnappach (retrospective)
• 2009 “Nauwieser Nineteen - Culture & Werkhof”, Saarbrücken (Passion Pictures);
• 2010 House of the Union Foundation, Saarbrücken (retrospective)

literature

• Fritz Berberich - Albert Weisgerber Prize Winner 1964. Paintings, watercolors, pastels. [Exhibition cat.] Ed .: Stadt St. Ingbert. St. Ingbert: Katzsch & Hantschke, 1965. 26 p., Ill.
• Fritz Berberich - Colored compositions. Arr .: Michael Kühr. [Exhibition cat.] St. Ingbert: Stadt St. Ingbert, 1989. 57 p., Numerous. Ill.
• Fritz Berberich - Travel pictures and Saarland impressions. Ed .: Cornelieke Lagerwaard. [Exhibition cat.] St. Wendel: Museum St. Wendel, 1995. 60 p., Numerous. Ill. ISBN 3-928810-17-0
• Michael Kühr: Fritz Berberich, 1909–1990, works and time. Mandelbachtal 2005, ISBN 3-00-015897-9

Web links

• Literature by and about Fritz Berberich in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature on Fritz Berberich in the Saarland Bibliography
• Artist Lexicon Saar