Fritz Viegener

Fritz Viegener (born December 31, 1888 in Soest ; † October 16, 1976 in Möhnesee - Delecke ) was a German painter and sculptor .

life and work

Fritz (Friedrich Franz) Viegener was born as the first of six children in the house at Grüne Hecke 39 in Soest. After attending elementary school , he did an apprenticeship and training as a decorative painter in his father's painting business . After his military service, he resumed work in his parents' company, which he completed with the master's examination.

He was seriously wounded in the First World War . Back in Soest, he was self-taught in sculpture. His first work, a head, dates from 1919. In 1922, Fritz Viegener married the widow of Ernst August Rommel called Remmler, Martha Therese Nottrodt from Ruhla , who was baptized as a Protestant . Looking back on the marriage, Fritz Viegener wrote: “(...) there was a final break with his parents' house.” In 1923 he visited Munich. A study trip to Italy followed in 1924, and a study visit to Paris in 1925.

In addition to religious topics, including crucifixes for churches in Soest and the Börde , the focus of his work was on people and the Börde. In the mid-1920s, Viegener occupied himself with woodcuts for a short time. The themes of his woodcuts: Soest and its surroundings, Italian places and numerous heads. In addition, biblical motifs and a scene from mythology (Danae with the golden rain).

In 1932 he drew the "Idiot" and in 1933 he carved a "Christ's head" (oak). He created the “Head Study of a Blind Man” (1933, used clay) and “The One-Handed” (1934, glazed clay). In 1933 he designed a "crucifixion scene" for the outer wall of a private house in Bad Sassendorf . In the same year a crucifix followed for the mourning hall of the Osthofen cemetery, Soest. It was destroyed in the war. In 1951 he made a new body from oak in three weeks. In 1933 the artist designed the "Wild Man", the landmark of Soest's market square, as an outdoor sculpture. In 1935 the sculpture of “St. Georg ”, in the gable of Deutsche Bank, also located on the market square. Director Stratemeier from Deutsche Bank commissioned the sculpture. St. Georg was chosen because the Georgskirche used to stand near the bank building. In 1936 Fritz Viegener created the exterior sculpture of the "Hunter of Soest" at the Soest town hall . In 1934 Fritz Viegener and a colleague developed a model for the future parade ground and exhibition grounds at the Deutschlandhalle. The client was the NSDAP member of the Soest building council, Günter Schmidt. The design of the model came from Schmidt, and it was carried out "by Fritz Viegener and Kreutzer". There is no information about a relationship between Schmidt / Viegener. Only "Kreutzer NN (artist / model maker)" can be found about Kreutzer. 1937 recommended the Reich Chamber of Culture of the Municipal Art Collection Soest , the sculpture by Fritz Viegener no. 40 Hock woman not to show publicly. "In the Third Reich he withdrew." There were no orders from the authorities. But he took part in exhibitions: “6. Great Westphalian Art Exhibition in Münster ”-“ Young Religious Art ”(1932, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf) -“ Autumn Exhibition of Westphalian Artists ”(1932, Dortmund, in the old bank on the market) -“ Young Rhenish-Westphalian Artists ”(1935, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf) Dr . In his opening speech on the occasion of Fritz Viegener's 80th birthday on the occasion of his art exhibition, Heckmann pointed out that Fritz Viegener “(...) can only face a vile defamation through that fascist cultural policy through consistent work that has been fortunate enough to be recognized by a few friends can resist. "

In 1937/38 Fritz Viegener designed the country house of the textile industrialist Heinrich Pferdmenges "Haus Langmaar" in Rheydt-Giesenkirchen with sculptural, symbolic works. About the work on the house it was said: "Fritz Viegener has a natural tendency to symbolize and as an autodidact he interprets everything according to the ideas that emerged from the people without any problems."

In 1941, Viegener was commissioned to add beam carvings to the “Kuhfuß” house at Marktstrasse 7. This house was the first to be bombed in Soest in 1940. The rebuilding in the following year was used for propaganda. In 2004, a local discussion sparked off two carved swastikas on the listed building. The correspondence between the provincial curator Rave, the architect Kötter, the district builder Sievert and the district manager Ernst gives an insight into the situation at that time.

In 1942 his wife, who was considered a “ half-Jewish woman” during the Nazi era , died and his sister Maria was a victim of the euthanasia murders in Eichberg . A patient file is available in Münster. Warstein gives an insight into the special situation in Eichberg.

With the 1950s he received orders, for example for the city of Herne with a memorial ("Mourning Woman") in wood, for the dead of the city administration of both world wars. There followed larger orders for schools such as B. the Börsinghauser school in Herne, for the new Protestant elementary school in Warstein an exterior sculpture on the front of the building ("Mother accompanies her child to school") and inside two fountain basins, for the Neheim-Hüster elementary school in Bergheim the "Gänseliesel- Fountain ”, with fairy tale scenes on the edge of the fountain and the Gänseliesel, in bronze, on the fountain and for church institutions, so in 1956 in three rows of clay reliefs scenes from the vocation and life of the deaconesses for the Amalie Sieveking House in Hagen, at the time nursing care school for training nursing preschoolers and for churches, e.g. B. the large crucifixion group in the evangelical Pauluskirche in Hagen - Wehringhausen , the south portal of the Petrikirche , the portal of the Thomäkirche and works for the Johanneskirche (1964, altar retable, altar candlestick, side walls of the pulpit, bronze handles on the entrance door). After a waiting period of 20 years, Fritz Viegener exhibited in the Clasing Gallery in Münster in 1965.

Three sculptures by Fritz Viegener are in the spa gardens of Bad Sassendorf: "The Shepherd", "The Protector" and "The Water Carrier". Based on models made by Fritz Viegener years ago, the work was created in the stonemasonry of the Berghoff-Schulte company (Anröchte) under the supervision of the artist.

His brothers were the painter Eberhard Viegener and the photographer Josef Viegener, whose extensive photographic estate is now in the LWL media center for Westphalia .

Shortly before the age of 88, Fritz Viegener died of a heart attack. Representatives of the district, the city of Soest and the municipality of Körbecke came to his funeral. Walter Klemann, the former Mayor of Soest, emphasized that Fritz Viegener was inextricably linked to the city of Soest and had grown together with the people of the Börde.

reception

Girkon, long-time pastor at the Wiesenkirche, Soest, dealt in detail with the work of Fritz Viegener in the 1920s and judged: “Viegener's artistic power is entirely focused on the plastic and here too he is particularly attuned to the forms in which the three-dimensionality the spatial becomes most palpable. His three-dimensional feeling has something elementary, almost Cyclopean, which does not stop at the depiction of faces, but is most uninhibited where he wants to create the strongest impressions ... It is not surprising that Viegener with such a plastic disposition is sometimes cubistic slips out, but always only in experiments in which he wants to feel himself. "- Knapp formulated a criticism:" The wonderful sculptures of Fritz Viegener are outstanding. A wooden crucifix of monumentally powerful impression, reminiscent of Barlach's simplicity, the poignancy of a smaller sculpture " Pieta ". Portrait heads" workers "," old man "testimonies to a deep, great humanity and goodness." The art historian Ossenberg, active at the Gustav-Lübcke-Museum, Hamm, summed up Fritz Viegener in 1930: “The deeply serious intentions of this artist, his striving for a really strong, inner style of expression deserves all recognition. Memories of Rodin reverberate. At least one has the feeling that the artist has not yet been able to completely free himself from a final handicraft bias, and that his stylistic ideal - for example in religious sculpture - is even more thought out than seen. He has yet to complete his last self-liberation. ”In 1931, a review by the Kölnische Volkszeitung wrote about the artist :“ Viegener's accusations are predominantly religious in nature, or at least based on a religious attitude. The basic mood of his art is awe. The strict solemnity of the saints of the early medieval wall paintings of Soest churches, shown from the front, lives in his sculptures ”- Schmidt, head of the cultural office of the city of Herne, pointed out on the occasion of the exhibition in the public education center of the city of Herne that Fritz Viegener“ always experienced the stages of development with a keen sense so that he was always on the move to always be able to grasp the present ... Fritz Viegener always looked for a form that was appropriate to the meaning. ”- Friedrich W. Heckmanns, Münster, emphasized in his laudation on the occasion of the retrospective on Fritz's 80th birthday Viegeners said that he “was able to create so lively and freely that the cheerfulness of his work, the strong expressiveness, was so much more easily imprinted because he was able to experience an increase in its content.” The speaker reminded us that Fritz Viegener “only succeeded through consistent Work also opposed a fascist cultural policy ”and its“ cons quente view of life ”is expressed in“ its artistic design ”.

Typical for Fritz Viegener is the style reduced to the essentials, simplified in form. Fritz Viegener had also been open to abstract art since the 1950s. His numerous sculptural works include an extensive graphic work. Here, too, he has dealt with modernity. His works can be assigned to “ Informel ” and “ Surrealism ”, with absurd images of an unreal reality.

Trivia

The Latvian writer Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš found connections in his new area of ​​life through Fritz Viegener. Fritz Viegener's “water carrier” from the spa gardens in Bad Sassendorf is cited as an example in a lesson plan for physics at a Berlin school.

Works

Working in public spaces in Soest

• 1926 Peter Cornelius bust
• 1927: Beam carvings on the Franz Kerstin house, Brüderstraße 8, destroyed in the war
• 1932: Beam carvings at the Nikolaus Müller house, Grandweg 16, destroyed in the war
• 1933: Wilder Mann outdoor sculpture and carvings in the taproom, Hotel-Restaurant Im Wilden Mann , Markt 11
• 1934: Soest feud (5 tiles) in Im Osterkamp
• 1934: Beam carvings for the Rombergsche Mühle, Jakobistraße 31
• 1935: St. George in the gable of the Deutsche Bank
• 1935: Relief for the Torley house, Jakobistraße 41–43
• 1936: Exterior sculptures for the district office, destroyed in the war
• 1936: Jäger von Soest exterior sculpture at the town hall
• 1936: Hans Sachs exterior sculpture at the Lange Schuhhaus, Brüderstraße 32, destroyed in the war
• 1940 wooden figures , drugstore zur Rose, Soest

Bar frieze with carvings on the Kuhfuß house in Soest

• 1941: Kuhfuss House Beam carvings on Marktstrasse 7
• 1949: Beam carvings on parental home, Jakobistraße 26
• 1951: Mayor Otto Gerhard Klotz outside sculpture on the town hall
• 1963: Will, strength, energy (plastic, bronze) Theodor-Heuss-Park
• 1969: Dancing bears (plastic, stone) Grandwegertorgrften

Working in public space in the Soester Börde

• 1937 Water woman (fountain figure) Körbecke , Brückenstrasse
• 1944 Wegkreuz Ense-Bilme , Stüttingshof
• 1953 Mother accompanies the child to school (outdoor sculpture), plus fountains in the building, Warstein, Johann Gutenberg School,
• 1974 Protective Bad Sassendorf , Kurpark
• 1974 water carrier Bad Sassendorf, spa gardens
• 1974 Schäfer Bad Sassendorf, spa gardens

Working in churches

• 1925 War honor (crucifixion group) Bad-Sassendorf-Neuengeseke, Ev. Church of St. John the Baptist
• 1926 crucifix for the Patroclidom in Soest
• 1928 War honor (crucifix) Bad Sassendorf-Lohne, Ev. St. Pantaleon Church
• 1958 Altar cross for the Stephanuskirche, Recklinghausen-Süd

Exhibitions

• 1925: Exhibition by the Kestner Society, Hanover
• 1927: Art exhibition in Münster
• 1931: Municipal Picture Gallery Bochum
• 1932: Young religious art, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
• 1967: Fritz Viegener Delecke / Möhnesee Exhibition of the Volksbildungswerk of the city of Herne in the home of the Emschertal Museum at Strünkede Castle April 28 to May 28, 1967
• 1969: Fritz Viegener, sculpture, graphics , Wilhelm-Morgner-Haus , Soest
• 1982: Fritz Viegener 1888–1976 woodcuts , Gustav-Lübcke-Museum , Hamm
• 2006: Eberhard and Fritz Viegener , Wilhelm-Morgner-Haus, Soest

swell

• Joseph Kleine: The "cow's foot". What is its real message? In: Heimatblätter Soest, episode 420-423 (2009)
• Joseph Kleine: Fritz Viegener. Humane and principled . In: Heimatblätter Soest, episode 410-411 (2009)
• Joseph Kleine: Against forgetting. Maria Viegener - victim of euthanasia . In: Heimatblätter Soest, episode 432 (2010)
• Joseph Kleine: The Soest artist Fritz Viegener (1888–1976). Uncompromising loyalty to his wife. He remained closely connected with her in the Third Reich , in: Heimatblätter Soest, No. 425, November 2009

literature

• Tombrock, H. and van Heekern, J .: Artists of that time. 33 Painters and sculptors from the Ruhr area , Hamburg 1948, pp. 17–18.
• Home calendar of the Soest district in 1970 . With a cross-section through the sculptural work of Fritz Viegener / Delecke.
• Christian Asshoff: Fritz Viegener - art sculptor . In: Heimat-Zeitung, Ense 33 (2005), pp. 6-8.
• Gerhard Köhn: Reparation for those persecuted by National Socialism, shown with some examples from Soest . In: Ilse Maas-Steinhoff (Ed.): Post-war period in Soest . Soest 2011, pp. 227-267.
• Jochen Peters: Fritz Viegener. Rare stained glass . In: Heimat-Zeitung, Ense, 35 (2007), pp. 23-29.
• Bernhard Schulte-Drüggelte: The artist Fritz Viegener . In: 800 years Delecke . St. Hubertus Schützenbruderschaft, Delecke 1991, pp. 169–172.
• HagenKunst. Art in public space. Edited by Hans Friesen and Petra Holtmann, Hagen 2006, pp. 267–271.
• Joseph Kleine: A way to truth. Fritz Viegener 1888–1976. Sculptor Arnsberg 2014 ISBN 978-3-00-044720-4 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Fritz Viegener in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ebert, H .: Lexicon of visual and creative artists in Westphalia-Lippe, Münster 2001, p. 676
2. ↑ Verbatim excerpt from the baptism register of the Ev.-Luth.-Augustin / Süd-Kirche in Gotha, dated May 13, 2009
3. ^ Soester contributions Volume 60 "Post-war period in Soest" 2011 a contribution by city archivist ADG Köhn, page 245
4. ^ Artists of that time. 33 painters and sculptors from the Ruhr area. Published by Hans Tombrock and Josef van Heekern, Hamburg 1948, p. 18
5. ↑ Wortmann, A .: From the soul of wood. An introduction to Fritz Viegener's pictorial works, in: Soester Heimatkalender 1927, 6th year, pp. 63–65
6. ^ Fritz Viegener 1888–1976 woodcuts. Studio - Exhibition from November 15 to February 28, 1982 in the Gustav-Lübcke-Museum, Hamm.
7. ^ Fritz Viegener, Eberhard Viegener, Andreas Rosenthal: wood cuts. Exhibition in the Paradiese monastery, September 20 - November 15, 2003. Kettler, Bönen 2003.
8. ^ Observer at the Haar, June 9, 1951
9. ^ Soester Anzeiger, October 28, 1933
10. ^ Westfälischer Kurier, July 1935
11. ^ Westfälischer Kurier, May 1936
12. ↑ Gerhard Köhn: reparation for those persecuted by National Socialism, shown with some examples from Soest. In: Ilse Maas-Steinhoff (Ed.): Post-war period in Soest. Soest 2011, page 259
13. ↑ Köhn, G .: Soest in old pictures. Volume 4, 1919-1939, Part 1, Soest, 2003, pp. 319, 321
14. ↑ Köhn, G .: Soest in old pictures. Volume 4, 1919-1939, Part II, Soest 2006, p. 789
15. ↑ Soester Anzeiger, October 18, 1976
16. ^ Generalanzeiger Dortmund, June 15, 1932
17. ↑ Augsburger Postzeitung, 1932
18. ↑ Noon, 10./11. August 1935
19. ↑ Speech by Dr. Heckmanns for the 80th birthday of Fritz Viegener Soest / Delecke on the occasion of his art exhibition in the Wilhelm-Morgner-Haus in Soest from December 7, 1968 to January 6, 1969. The speech is available in duplicate.
20. ↑ Mönchengladbach City Archives, 29c 50/116
21. ↑ Westfälische Landeszeitung - Rote Erde, December 16, 1937
22. ↑ Soester Anzeiger of November 29, 1941: The new "Kuhfuß" is ( copy  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. / Original  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. )    
23. ↑ Soester Anzeiger from October 26, 2004: The matter with the swastika ( Memento of the original from November 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
24. ↑ District Archives Soest, stock: Altkrs. So / signature: 5937
25. ↑ Archive of the LWL (Best. Klinik Warstein)
26. ^ Psychiatry - Museum Warstein, LWL Clinic
27. ↑ Westfalenpost, November 15, 1952
28. ↑ Pillars of Education. Artistic jewelry for Börsinghaus school, in: Herner Stadtanzeiger. Official notice of the city of Herne, October 14, 1950
29. ^ Westfälische Rundschau, November 10, 1953
30. ↑ Westfalenpost, September 5, 1953
31. ↑ Our letter. Circular letter from the Sarepta motherhouse for nursing preschoolers, Bethel / April 1962 - community letter. Evangelical-Lutheran Pauluskirchengemeinde, Passion / Easter 2008, pp. 6–8
32. ↑ Coronation of the previous complete works. Fritz Viegener created a crucifixion group for the Pauluskirche (hj.), In <. Westfalenpost , No. 212, September 11, 1954
33. ↑ New art for the old church. Fritz Viegener created a new portal / window design in the Petrikirche, in: Westfalenpost, No. 142, June 24, 1958
34. ↑ St. Thomae Soest. Festschrift of the Protestant St. Thomae parish for the inauguration of the church on October 2, 1966, Wiesbaden 1966
35. ↑ Vielhaber, R .: “One should make something out of it!” First exhibition after 20 years, in: Soester Anzeiger, No. 236, October 1965
36. ↑ Westfalenpost, April 1975
37. ↑ in: “Der Freimütige”, end of June 1923
38. ^ Dortmunder Zeitung, May 5, 1930
39. ^ Bramkamp, ​​H .: Friedrich Viegener - a Westphalian sculptor, in: In the step of time. Sunday supplement of the Kölnische Volkszeitung, January 4, 1931
40. ↑ Viegener's comprehensive design. Extensive exhibition by the Deleck artist in the public education center of the city of Herne, in: Herne Stadtanzeiger, May 1, 1967
41. ↑ Diversity of expression, in: Soester Anzeiger, December 9, 1968
42. ^ Schlegel, R .: The graphic work of Viegener. Versatile and trend-setting - an artist traces the content of ideas, in: Soester Anzeiger, December 21, 1968
43. ^ Lauska, L .: Peteris Ermanis and Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš: The social and cultural integration of Latvian writers in Latvia and in German exile, Frankfurt am Main, 2011
44. ↑ Physics in Context. Secondary level 1. Mechanics. www.de-motu.net/Material/Statistik_Bückenbau_Tei_2.pdf
45. ^ Celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Liedertafel Soest, in: Der Freimütige an der Haar, February 9, 1926
46. ↑ The good old - the functional new. The renovation of the Kerstin office building is completed, in: Observer an der Haar, October 1, 1927
47. ↑ A new sculpture by Fritz Viegener. St. George figure for the gable niche of the Deutsche Bank building in Soest (r), in: Westfälischer Kurier, July 1935
48. ^ The "hero" of the Soest Festival, in: Westfälischer Kurier, May 1936
49. ^ A Hans Sachs sculpture, in: Westfälischer Kurier, May 22, 1936
50. ↑ Schmuck im Freigrathhaus, in: Soester Anzeiger, December 3, 1940 - Schmoeckel, H .: Die Holzfiguren in the drugstore zur Rose, in: Heimatkalender des Kreis Soest 1953, pp. 90–91
51. ^ Sylvanus, E .: Topping-out ceremony at the Kuhfußhaus in Soest. The latest work by the Soest sculptor Fritz Viegener, in: Westfälische Landeszeitung - Rote Erde, May 19, 1941 - Original Soester house jewelry. The beam carving on the restored cow foot, in: Westfälische Landeszeitung - Rote Erde, July 27, 1941
52. ↑ Something is missing here. Patrons and partners wanted for the hunter's business, in: Westfalenpost, No. 259, November 4th 1950 to February 22nd: “Klotz” day in Soest. Establishment of the still picture on the birthday of the old mayor (own report), in: Westfalenpost, No. 16, 1951
53. ↑ "Becoming and Growing". Bronze sculpture in Theodor-Heuss-Park, in: Werler Anzeiger, September 19, 1964
54. ↑ Viegener plastic for graves. "Playing animals" should be three meters high, in: Westfalenpost, May 21, 1969
55. ↑ Jewelry for Warstein's ev. School, in: Westfälische Rundschau, November 10, 1953
56. ↑ Fritz Viegener: My last large sculpture. “Water carrier” comes from the Brunnenhaus, in: Soester Anzeiger, April 1975
57. ^ Girkon, P .: The crucifixion group by Fritz Viegener. A contribution to the problem of honoring warriors, in: Soester Kreisblatt, December 7, 1925
58. ^ Girkon, P .: A new crucifix in St. Patrokli in Soest, in: Der Freimütige an der Haar, September 10, 1926 - New precious interior sculpture for the Soest Cathedral, in: New Yorker Staats-Zeitung , volume 92, no . 255, New York, Monday, October 25, 1926
59. ^ The new work of Fritz Viegener. The honor of warrior in Lohne, in: Observer at the Haar, August 7, 1928
60. ↑ Festschrift inauguration of the Stephanuskirche, July 13, 1958, published by the Evgl. Parish Hochlarmark
61. ^ The latest sculptures by Fritz Viegener, Soest (KM), in: Soester Anzeiger, February 1927
62. ↑ Westfälische Volkszeitung, No. 59, March 12, 1931