Fritz Modrow

Fritz Johannes Albert Modrow (born June 10, 1888 in Bartikow , Greifenhagen district ; † January 24, 1986 in Kippenheim / Black Forest ) was a German painter , architect and craftsman .

Life

Modrow was born in Bartikow in 1888 as the son of a large farmer. After leaving school, he studied architecture and building art at the building trade school in Stettin and already devoted himself intensively to painting. After his first work as a freelance artist, Modrow began studying at the Academy of the Arts in Berlin in 1909 . There he was influenced in particular by Max Liebermann and Lovis Corinth . After completing his studies, Modrow set up his first studio in Berlin-Moabit . Under the building directors Frey and Ötken, Modrow participated in numerous building designs and restoration projects.

In 1913, Modrow married Frieda Luise Brüger (1891–1968) who worked as a craftsperson herself and partly made tapestries based on her husband's designs. Modrow was called up in the First World War in 1914 and did not return to Berlin until the spring of 1919.

After the First World War, Modrow worked as a painter and set designer at various theaters in Berlin , including for productions by Max Reinhardt at the Deutsches Theater . In the 1920s and 1930s he was also active in the interior design of churches, public buildings and private homes. So he got u. a. the order for the interior design of St. Hedwig's Church, which was elevated to a cathedral in connection with the re-establishment of the diocese of Berlin and which was fundamentally rebuilt between 1930 and 1932 . He was also involved in the design of the Protestant church in Stargrad and the Ballhaus Resi near Alexanderplatz , which was popular during the 1930s . Due to the almost complete destruction of the buildings in question in Berlin during the war, nothing of these activities has survived. During this time Modrow also gained prestige as a designer of film sets, which helped him to get numerous orders from the film industry in the following decades.

In the late 1930s Modrow moved with his wife to Henningsholm in Pomerania . He was in charge of the expansion of the palace in Bodenhausen by the Baron von Bodenhausen and then took over the interior design of the newly created premises. Modrow acquired a plot of land on which he had a country villa and a studio built according to his own plans. The building has been preserved to this day. Approx. In 1944, when he was 56 years old, he was drafted into military service and soon fell into English captivity .

Luise Modrow fled to Wesermünde after the conquest of Henningsholm by the Soviet army . As a penniless man, Modrow came to Jesteburg south of Hamburg after being a prisoner of war in 1945 . Together with his wife, Modrow lived a life of extreme poverty after the war. In 1951 they were given an apartment in the former parsonage widow's house by the druggist Bonnes.

In the following years Modrow worked on the design of buildings in Jesteburg and as a craftsman. He also designed a memorial for the fallen soldiers of the First and Second World Wars on Niedersachsenplatz in the center of the village and continued to work as a painter. Modrow made several trips to Lucerne in Switzerland . Modrow also worked for the film studios in Bendestorf , for which he created sets and scenery.

After the death of his wife in 1968, he moved to live with his daughter in the Black Forest. His ability to work was limited by the onset of poor eyesight and even complete blindness. A public exhibition of his pictures in Jesteburg did not take place until after his death: from July 4 to 16, 1995, 31 of his works were shown in the Heimathaus. A collection of his works from various private donations is now in the possession of the Jesteburg municipality and is partially exhibited there in the town hall. Modrow is known to have had exhibitions during his lifetime in Freiburg im Breisgau , Karlsruhe , Wiesbaden and Hamburg .

plant

In the art trade Modrow is referred to as a "North German landscape painter". In addition to a large number of landscapes, port and town pictures, he also created numerous portraits and portrait studies as well as depictions of everyday life of various kinds.

literature

• Matthias Wolfes : Universal artistry between departure and homecoming. On the life of the Jesteburg painter Fritz Modrow . In: Landkreis Harburg (Ed.): District calendar '95 . Lühmanndruck Harburger Zeitungsgesellschaft, Hamburg-Harburg 1996, p. 152-158 .
• Matthias Wolfes: Fritz Modrow (1888-1986). On the biography of the Jesteburg artist . In: District Harburg (Ed.): District calendar '97 . Lühmanndruck Harburger Zeitungsgesellschaft, Hamburg-Harburg 1998, p. 69-74 .
• Karl-Hermann Meyer, Hans-Heinrich Wolfes (Ed.): Jesteburg 1202–2002. From a farming village to a large community . Jesteburg working group for home care, Jesteburg 2002, ISBN 3-00-009402-4 , p. 197-198, 253, 261-262 .
• John Castagno: Modrow, Fritz . In: European artists III. Signatures and monograms from 1800 . Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2009, ISBN 978-0-8108-6208-1 , pp. 145 .

Web links

• Fritz Modrow at www.artnet.de
• Fritz Modrow on Jesteburg.de (with portrait)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Matthias Wolfe: Fritz Modrow (1888-1986). On the biography of the Jesteburg artist . In: District Harburg (Ed.): District calendar '97 . Lühmanndruck Harburger Zeitungsgesellschaft, Hamburg-Harburg 1998, p. 69–74 (The place of birth was corrected in the district calendar '97. In the district calendar '95, Stettin is still given as the place of birth.).
2. ↑ Marriage register StA Berlin VIII, No. 1205/1913
3. ^ ^{A b} Hans-Heinrich Wolfes: Fritz Modrow , Jesteburg.de
4. ↑ Karl-Hermann Meyer, Hans-Heinrich Wolfes (Ed.): Jesteburg 1202–2002. From a farming village to a large community . Jesteburg working group for home care, Jesteburg 2002, ISBN 3-00-009402-4 , p. 261-262 .
5. ^ Adolf Brockmann: Jesteburg received Modrow paintings , Hamburger Abendblatt , September 28, 2004