Fritz Zolnhofer

Fritz Zolnhofer (born January 13, 1896 in Wolfstein ; † February 12, 1965 in Saarbrücken ) was a German painter.

biography

Zolnhofer was born the son of a pit climber . After the early death of his parents (father: Friedrich Josef Zolnhofer, mother: Charlotta, née Ullrich), he came to Schnappach in Saarland (now part of the town of Sulzbach / Saar ), where he grew up with his grandmother. He often stayed in Sulzbach / Altenwald , where he met his wife Hedi, a Steiger daughter.

He discovered his artistic inclinations at a young age. After an apprenticeship as a painter, he went to the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart in 1913 . In 1918 he began studying with Otto Weil in Munich . After the First World War, which he experienced and survived as a soldier, and a longer stay in Switzerland, he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Karl Caspar in 1920 . Here he matured over the years to become a master student and later an academic painter. To deepen his studies, he also made numerous trips to Spain , Holland , France , Italy and Switzerland .

In 1931 Zolnhofer moved to Saarbrücken with his wife . There and in the nearby heavy industry , he found the templates for his paintings: mining and ironworks motifs, scenes from the everyday life of the "little people", including 1935 with a miner's cow . What is striking is the choice of dark, sinister colors when rendering industrial plants. In addition, Zolnhofer distinguished himself as a portrait painter and painter of landscape paintings. In the last phase of his life, the artist devoted himself to modern forms of painting with a penchant for expressionism and surrealism .

Zolnhofer's grave of honor in the forest cemetery in Burbach

In the more than 40 years of his artistic work, Fritz Zolnhofer has made a name for himself far beyond the borders of the Saarland . This is evidenced by the numerous solo exhibitions and exhibition participations in renowned national and international galleries. Furthermore, works in public space were created, u. a. the mosaics in the former Stadtbad St. Johann (Saarbrücken) and at the vocational school St. Ingbert . Zolnhofer also became known as a founding member of the Palatinate Secession .

Fritz Zolnhofer died on February 12, 1965 in Saarbrücken; he was buried in the Burbach forest cemetery. In September 2007 the council of the state capital Saarbrücken decided to set up a grave of honor for Zolnhofer in a prominent place in the forest cemetery as a posthumous honor.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions (selection)

• 1958 Saarland Museum , Saarbrücken
• 1961 Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken; St. Ingbert cultural center
• 1970 Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken
• 1978 Representation of the Saarland, Bonn
• 1980 Sulzbach town hall meeting room
• 2001 Sulzbach salt fountain house
• 2007 Sulzbach town hall meeting room

Participation in exhibitions (selection)

• 1933 “Art in the Saar area”, Saarbrücken local history museum
• 1934 “South German Art in Munich”, Neue Pinakothek Munich
• 1936 "Kunstschaffen der Westmark", Palatinate State Trade Institute, Kaiserslautern
• 1940 "German Watercolor Artists of the Present I", Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim
• 1941 “Between Westwall and Maginot Line”, Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken
• 1941 “Kunstschaffen der Westmark”, Folkwang Museum , Essen
• 1942 “Kunstschaffen der Westmark”, Saarbrücken exhibition center
• 1943 “German Pastels of the Present”, Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim
• 1943 “ Young Art in the German Reich ”, Künstlerhaus Vienna , shown: Saarland mining landscape , oil on canvas
• 1953 Autumn exhibition of the Saarland Artists Association, Saarland Museum Saarbrücken
• 1957 Saarländischer Künstlerbund 1922–1957, Saarlandmuseum Saarbrücken
• 1959 Autumn exhibition of the Saarland Artist Association, Saarland Museum Saarbrücken
• 1964 Annual exhibition of the Palatinate Artists Working Group, Palatinate Landesgewerbeanstalt

Awards, honors

• 1935 Albert Weisgerber Prize of the Westmark (after the Second World War, Albert Weisgerber Prize for Fine Arts of the City of St. Ingbert )
• 1961 Saarland Art Prize , the most important cultural award in Saarland.
• 2000 Naming of the festival area in Schnappach after Fritz Zolnhofer
• 2001 Foundation of a “Fritz Zolnhofer Prize” by the city of Sulzbach / Saar , which is awarded annually to regional painters.

bibliography

Monographs

• Fritz Zolnhofer. Four decades of graphic creation . [Exhibition catalog]. Arr .: Theo Siegle . Saarbrücken: Self-published Saarlandmuseum, 1958. 16 p. With ill.
• Fritz Zolnhofer. Oil painting . Saarland Museum Saarbrücken, Kulturhaus St. Ingbert, 1961
• Fritz Zolnhofer. Painting and graphics . Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken 1970
• Fritz Zolnhofer . Introduction by Walter Schmeer. Saarbrücken: Saarbrücker Druckerei & Verlag, 1978. 48 p., Ill. ISBN 3-921646-09-X
• Dieter Staerk: The painter Fritz Zollnhofer . In: Sulzbach / Saar. A city through the ages and Sulzbacher “treasures” . Saarbrücken 1993

items

• Erich Bourfeind: Fritz Zolnhofer. Exhibition in the Saarland Museum . In: Saarheimat. Vol. 5, 1961, H. 1/2, pp. 1-2
• Erich Bourfeind: Saarland Art Prize for Fritz Zolnhofer . In: Saarheimat. Vol. 5, 1961, no. 11, p. 23
• Walter Schmeer: Fritz Zolnhofer . In: Saarheimat. Vol. 9, 1965, pp. 145-149
• Werner Spilker: Memory of the painter Fritz Zolnhofer . In: Saarbrücker Bergmannskalender 1966, p. 83
• Walter Schmeer: Exhibition report Fritz Zolnhofer. Saarland Museum Saarbrücken . In: Saarheimat. Vol. 14, 1970, pp. 265-67
• Peter Riede: Zolnhofer mosaic saved from destruction . In: Arbeiter, Zeitschrift der Arbeitskammer des Saarlandes , vol. 38, issue 10, 1990

Web links

• Literature by and about Fritz Zolnhofer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature on Fritz Zolnhofer in the Saarland Bibliography
• Stadtbad St. Johann in Saarbrücken - current photographs , accessed on July 1, 2016
• Far more than the painter of the miners. In: Saarbrücker Zeitung . February 17, 2009, accessed November 24, 2019 .