Fritz von Wille

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Fritz von Wille, 1892

Friedrich (Fritz) Gustav August Julius Philipp Rudolf von Wille (born April 21, 1860 in Weimar ; † February 16, 1941 in Düsseldorf ), professor, was a German landscape painter and owner of Kerpen Castle (1911–1941).

Portrait of Fritz von Wille, 1909, painting by Wilhelm Schneider-Didam

family

Von Wille came from a Hessian family that was ennobled in 1780. He was the son of the artist couple August von Wille (1828–1887) and their wife Clara (born von Böttcher, 1837–1883). His father, a late Romantic landscape and genre painter , was appointed to the Weimar School of Art in 1859 by Grand Duke Karl-Alexander of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach . His mother, a student of the French painter Rosa Bonheur , was an animal painter .

Von Wille grew up in Düsseldorf since 1863. He married Auguste Schneider, called "Gustl", on August 20, 1892 in Neuwied (born September 13, 1872 in Neuwied, † May 28, 1941 in Düsseldorf), the daughter of the tobacco manufacturer Otto Schneider and Maria vom Rath . The couple then moved to Rosenstrasse 54 in Düsseldorf.

The couple had two sons: Otto (* 1901; † 1977) and Fritz jr. (* 1903; † 1972). Otto von Wille became an academically trained painter like his father and grandfather. He specialized in portraits and landscapes.

Career and artistic development

Surf on Sylt, 1894
Winter in Bewingen , 1914

Wille was one of the landscape painters at the Düsseldorf School of Painting . From 1879 to 1882 he studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy . In 1880 he attended the elementary class there with Andreas Müller and Heinrich Lauenstein , then the ancient and natural class of Peter Janssen the Elder. Ä. Early studies show that Wille was already painting sketches in front of nature in 1879; as a landscape painter he developed himself as a self-taught .

In the 1880s he made numerous trips through Germany (including Hesse , Harz , Black Forest , Thuringia , Middle Rhine , Lahn and Sieg ). In 1885, 1886 and 1891 he visited the Italian Riviera . He stayed in Norway in 1904 and 1925. These trips are documented on site by sketches that are often dated to the day .

At the beginning of his career, Wille was stylistically influenced by his father August. Until his death in 1887 he signed with "Fritz von Wille jr." More often to avoid confusion with the work of his father, who also worked in Düsseldorf. From 1886 he was a member of the Düsseldorf artists' association Malkasten .

In the 1880s, Wille oriented himself on the detailed realism of the Düsseldorf School of Painting. He painted romantic, meticulously executed pictures. Especially in his studies, he quickly moved from a linear painting to a loose, impressionistic brushstroke and from a close-up view of nature to a spacious landscape panorama. Willes' landscape paintings show characteristic elements of the Düsseldorf landscape painting of the 19th century since Johann Wilhelm Schirmer : Cloudy skies as mood bearers, special light direction and side backdrops. Since his travels in Italy, Wille has lightened his coloring . During these years he leaned on Oswald Achenbach . The chromatically graded coloring of the 1890s can be traced back to the influence of Eugen Gustav Dücker .

Willes' main works were created between around 1890 and 1910. After spontaneous sketches from nature, he painted lavishly composed landscapes in his Düsseldorf studio . It remained largely unaffected by the stylistic innovations at the beginning of the 20th century. The surface and color structure of some paintings from around 1900 to 1910 is close to Art Nouveau .

Wille has been touring the Eifel regularly since 1885. There he had a second residence in the summer months since 1899: 1899 to 1905 in the "Friedrichsruh" house in Reifferscheid , 1905 to 1907 in the Dalbenden Castle in Kall- Urft , then in the "Liebfrauenhof" in Reifferscheid, before moving with his family in 1911 Kerpen Castle , which he had acquired in the same year.

In the first decade of the 20th century, Wille developed into a specialist in the representation of the Eifel , as his solo exhibition "Eifel-Collection", 1904–05 in the Düsseldorf Kunsthalle , shows. Even during his lifetime he was referred to as "The Eifel Painter". Since 1895 Wille had received several medals for his paintings. Several museums, including in Berlin , Cologne , Düsseldorf, Krefeld , Düren , Aachen , Bonn and Stuttgart bought pictures from him. In 1908, Kaiser Wilhelm II acquired what was probably the first version of the painting The Blue Flower at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition . Wille made several repetitions of the imperial image as commissioned work. In 1910 he was awarded the title of professor, which, however, was not associated with teaching. In 1911, after meeting Kaiser Wilhelm II in Daun, he received the Order of the Red Eagle, IV class. In 1911 and 1913, Wille furnished the district houses in Daun and Wittlich with seven large-format wall paintings each. Since moving to Kerpen Castle (1911), he has increasingly included motifs from the southern Eifel and the Moselle in his repertoire. He was a member of the Neuweider Masonic Lodge for Truth and Loyalty .

During the First World War he was an officer deputy of the "Landsturm Battalion Elberfeld" stationed in Nivelles .

Wille stuck to his style regardless of recent artistic developments such as the "Sonderbund" founded in Düsseldorf in 1909. After the First World War, there were hardly any remarkable compositions. Wille made numerous replicas that no longer had the quality of the first versions. He lost his fortune due to inflation and ran into serious economic difficulties. In the 1930s he tried to adapt to contemporary tastes with moderate success.

Wille died on February 16, 1941 in his Düsseldorf studio. On February 21, 1941 he was transferred to Kerpen and buried in the family crypt behind the castle. He had the mausoleum with the large boulder designed according to his own designs while he was still alive.

Portrait of Fritz von Willes on his tombstone
Kerpen Castle, aerial photo (2015)

The largest collection of his works is in the “Fritz von Wille Museum” in the cultural center “Haus Beda” in Bitburg ( Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm , Eifel). Around 100 paintings from all creative phases can be viewed there, including two copies of the “Blue Flower” and other major works such as Ein Klarer Tag (1906), Sommertag in der Eifel (1907), Einsamkeit, Mosenberg (1911), Mühle bei Daun and Burg Reifferscheid in winter . In addition to the Eifel motifs, another focus of the collection is on important early works such as Autumn Evening at Walkenried Monastery (1884), Hirsau Monastery / Black Forest (before 1887), Rising Thunderstorm on the Riviera di Ponente (1892).

meaning

Before the First World War, von Wille was considered “one of the 'artist princes' of Düsseldorf painting.” He is one of the painters of regional importance who, after the turn of the century, stuck to the traditional compositions and the style of the late 19th century. Willes' works have been reproduced in magazines, calendars, or as art prints .

His paintings contributed to positively changing the image of the Eifel. In contrast to their “artistic discoverers”, Johann Wilhelm Schirmer (1807–1863) and Carl Friedrich Lessing (1808–1880), whose sketches served as templates for large-format ideal landscapes, Wille created topographically determinable portrait landscapes. Some of his paintings document the geological peculiarities of the Eifel, such as the Weinfelder Maar (also called Totenmaar), which he reproduced in his last painting.

Honors

  • In Düsseldorf , Trier -Tarforst and Kerpen there is a Fritz-von-Wille-Straße , in Hellenthal-Reifferscheid there is a Fritz-von-Wille-Weg .

Image sequences

literature

  • Will, Fritz von . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 36 : Wilhelmy-Zyzywi . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1947, p. 11 .
  • Irene Markowitz (arrangement): Die Düsseldorfer Malerschule , Mus. Cat., Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf 1969 = catalogs of the Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf 4.2.
  • Alfred Kirfel: Fritz von Wille - painter of the Eifel . In: Yearbook of Schleiden District 1972 . Pp. 27-33.
  • Otto Baur, Alfred Kirfel, Margot Klütsch, Dirk Kocks and Heinz Ladendorf: Fritz v. Wille, the painter of the Eifel . Exhibition catalog, Daun 1979, Ed. District Daun.
  • Margot Klütsch (arrangement): The collection of Wille in the House of Beda Bitburg . Museum catalog, Bitburg 1992.
  • Margot Klütsch: Fritz von Wille, work and effect . In: Conrad Peter Joist (Hrsg.): Landscape painter of the Eifel in the 20th century . Düren 1997, pp. 9-24.
  • Margot Klütsch (arrangement): Wille, Fritz von. In: Hans Paffrath (Ed.): Lexicon of the Düsseldorfer Malerschule 1819–1918. Volume 3: Nabert-Zwecker. Published by the Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf in the Ehrenhof and by the Paffrath Gallery. Bruckmann, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-7654-3011-0 , p. 427 f.
  • Hans Joachim Bodenbach: Fritz von Wille, in: Encounters with Eifelmalern - A family history -. In: New Trierisches Jahrbuch 2000 , NF, Volume 40, Trier 2000, pp. 247–268 with 18 illustrations and color table IV. (Also special prints). With paintings / drawings by the following painters: Aenni Härtung / Koblenz (1 fig. B / w.), Kavenmoser / Koblenz (?) / (1 fig. B / w.), Pitt Kreuzberg / Schalkenmehren (1 color, and 3 fig . b / w.), Jean Möhren / Elberfeld (1 fig. b / w), Dr. Hans Roth / Koblenz (1 fig. B / w.), Fritz Schönhagen / Koblenz (?) (1 fig. S / w.), E. v. Hauth / Mayen (pp. 249–254, with 4 illus. 3–6, b / w.), Otto von Wille / Düsseldorf (2 illus. B / w.).
  • Margot Klütsch: Fritz von Wille 1860–1941. From Düsseldorf to the Eifel . Exhibition catalog, Prüm and Bitburg 2006, published by Galerie Schwarzer, Düsseldorf and Haus Beda, Fritz-von-Wille-Museum, Bitburg.

Web links

Commons : Fritz von Wille  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kerpen Castle. kerpen-eifel.de, accessed on March 4, 2020 .
  2. ^ Genealogical handbook of the nobility . Volume VI: Noble houses B. Volume 32 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1964, ISSN  0435-2408 , p. 445.
  3. ^ Alfons W. Biermann, Hubert Meyer: The Rhenish landscape in the picture, The painter family von Wille, exhibition catalog, Leopold Hoesch Museum, Düren 1976. M. Klütsch: The collection of Wille in the Beda Bitburg house. 1992, pp. 12, 13, 36, 37, 60-67.
  4. ^ M. Klütsch: The collection of will in the House of Beda Bitburg. 1992, pp. 16, 17, 54, 55, 150 ff.
  5. ^ M. Klütsch: Fritz von Wille and the landscape painting of the Düsseldorf School. In: Exhibition catalog Daun 1979, pp. 50–59.
  6. ^ M. Klütsch: The collection of will in the House of Beda Bitburg. 1992, pp. 38-40.
  7. ↑ Fritz von Wille. Special exhibition 22, Galerie Paffrath Düsseldorf, exhibition catalog, Düsseldorf 1965.
    A. Kirfel 1972, pp. 30–33.
    M. Klütsch: Wille's collection in the Beda Bitburg house. 1992, pp. 23-25.
  8. ^ Margot Klütsch, in: Margot Klütsch, Karl Schwarzer: Fritz von Wille 1860–1941, From Düsseldorf to the Eifel. Exhibition catalog, Prüm and Bitburg 2006, published by Galerie Schwarzer, Düsseldorf a. House Beda, Fritz-von-Wille-Museum, p. 62.
  9. ↑ Documents in the archive of the artists' association Malkasten
  10. ^ M. Klütsch: The stylistic development of Fritz von Willes 1880–1920. In: exhib. Kat. Daun 1979, pp. 40-48.
  11. ^ Eifel Collection, Fritz von Wille . Exhibition catalog, Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf 1904–1905.
  12. ↑ Clara Viebig: The Eifel painter Fritz von Wille. In: Eifelvereinsblatt . Volume 10, 1909, 6, p. 100.
  13. ↑ 1895: Silver Medal from London ; 1901: Gold Medal from Munich ; 1905: Silver medal from Salzburg ; 1906: Gold Medal from Vienna ; 1909: Great Golden State Medal of Vienna.
  14. ↑ Catalog of the Great Berlin Art Exhibition 1908, No. 881.
    On the history of the “Blue Flower” in detail: Margot Klütsch: Fritz von Wille, Part I, From Sketch to Myth - 100 Years of the “Blue Flower”. In: Eifeljahrbuch 2006. pp. 11–15.
  15. ↑ Drawn from nature by Prof. Fritz von Wille, currently a deputy official in the Landsturmbatallion Elberfeld: Entrance to the barracks of the 4th Company of the Landsturmbatallion Elberfeld in the Seminarium Diocesanum (seminary) in Nivelles (Belgium). , in Rhein and Düssel (No. 23), from June 6, 1915
  16. ↑ O. Baur, in: Exh. Kat. Daun 1979, pp. 11-26, M. Klütsch 1997, pp. 20-23.
  17. ↑ Fritz von Wille. Live and work. Old book art. Eifel painter Rolf A. Tilemann-Schenck , exhibition catalog, Jünkerath station, with contributions by Alexandra Engelhardt, Hubertus Foester, Margot Klütsch, ed. Art collegium, Jünkerath / Eifel, Cologne 2007, pp. 8–17 (M. Klütsch); Pp. 18-22 (H. Foester).
  18. ↑ On Willes painting in the time of National Socialism in detail: Marita Cwik-Rosenbach: Fritz von Wille, pictures of the Eifel and Ahr. Exhibition on the 50th anniversary of death as part of the 5th culture days of the Ahrweiler district, Adenau 1991, published by the Ahrweiler district administration.
  19. ^ M. Klütsch, in: Fritz von Wille. Live and work. Old book art. Eifel painter Rolf A. Tielmann-Schenck , exhibition catalog, Jünkerath train station, with contributions by Alexandra Engelhardt, Hubertus Foester, Margot Klütsch, ed. Art collegium, Jünkerath / Eifel, Cologne 2007, pp. 15–17.
  20. ^ M. Klütsch: The collection of will in the House of Beda Bitburg. 1992, pp. 38-54, fig. Pp. 70-149;
    Margot Klütsch: Fritz von Wille, Part II, New Acquisitions from the Fritz von Wille Museum in Bitburg. In: Eifeljahrbuch 2006. pp. 16–26.
    Margot Klütsch and Karl Schwarzer, Fritz von Wille 1860–1941. From Düsseldorf to the Eifel. 2006, pp. 55-89.
  21. ↑ Dirk Kocks: A painter of the Eifel. Fritz von Wille In: World Art. 54, 1984, p. 490.
  22. ↑ A painter discovers the Eifel: Fritz von Wille died 75 years ago. In: Volksfreund. Retrieved March 4, 2020 .
  23. ↑ M. Klütsch, in: Exh. Kat.Daun 1979, p. 50.
  24. ↑ Fritz von Wille came back to the Eifel. heimatjahrbuch-vulkaneifel.de, 1977, accessed on March 4, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Will, Fritz von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wille, Friedrich Gustav August Julius Philipp Rudolf von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH April 21, 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH Weimar
DATE OF DEATH February 16, 1941
Place of death Dusseldorf