Fritz Kruspersky

Fritz Kruspersky (born December 28, 1911 , † October 29, 1996 in Passau ) was a German set designer and painter.

education

Fritz Kruspersky laid in 1930 at the state secondary school in Opava down its Abitur and studied in Prague architecture and natural sciences, as well as at the Academy of Fine Arts, with Professors Emil Pirchan (stage) and Karl Birk (director). In 1937 he began working as a set designer at the municipal theater in Opava. In 1939 he took over the practical training of stage designers for the German Academy for Performing Arts. In addition, he founded amateur play groups and cultivated amateur play.

Career as a painter

Many of his pictures were acquired by the museums in Troppau and Reichenberg , the “Modern Gallery” in Prague and, above all, by private individuals. When the Troppauer Theater closed during the war in 1944, Professor Kruspersky was hired to work as an ammunition worker in the Minerva, an armaments factory. In May 1945 he got caught in the cauldron of Prague and, while fleeing from the Russians and Czechs, finally came demolished, injured and half starved to Haidmühle in the Bavarian Forest , where his wife and daughter found accommodation. There, cut off from the world, people lived from collecting wood and looking for berries and mushrooms. He had neither paper, nor canvas, nor paint for a living or artistic work. Gradually farmers brought paper and pens and he painted fallen sons and fathers from photos. After an illness, Kruspersky had to limit himself to painting. The result was mostly religious motives, the search for the meaning of life. In 1979, Kruspersky created his last Way of the Cross in a small church in Hinterschmiding, north of Passau. Kruspersky painted "Ackermann and Death" twice. The second time in 1980 when he lost his wife Christiana.

Career as a set designer

In 1950 Fritz Kruspersky published a small brochure “Die Bühne des Laienspielers” in Verlag Höfling. In 1952 he was given the opportunity to work as an outfitter and set designer in Passau and Landshut . Thanks to the economical use of funds, his stage sets aroused a sensation and admiration. His work as a set designer was ended from 1958 to 1961 due to a serious illness.

Exhibitions

Large exhibitions of his paintings, graphics, drawings and stage sets took place in the "Deutscher Osten" house in Munich , in the "Veste Oberhaus" in Passau and in Freising .

Awards

In 1983 Fritz Kruspersky received a cultural letter of honor from the city of Passau.

Others

In 1974 a catalog was published for the exhibition of the House of German East in cooperation with the Ackermann community with support from the Sudeten German Foundation.