Günter Johl

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Günter Johl, self-portrait, signed lower right, before 1965

Günter Johl (born May 27, 1908 in Potsdam , † November 25, 1965 in Berlin ) was a German painter and graphic artist who belongs to the so-called lost generation .

life and work

Günter Johl was born on May 27, 1908 in Potsdam. Between 1927 and 1936 he completed an apprenticeship as a script painter with his father, who was the independent director of an advertising studio, learned drawing, design and illustration in the evening and day courses at the Berlin-Charlottenburg School of Applied Arts and finally studied at the United State Schools for Free and applied arts graphics, writing and painting. His teacher, the famous illustrator Hans Meid , had a great influence on the student . Accurately, with quick strokes and a certain tendency to overdraw, Johl captured the environment and the people of his time in his early works.

After the National Socialists came to power , all Jewish and dissident teachers were removed from the United State Schools for Fine and Applied Arts by 1936 . Günter Johl's studies also ended abruptly because of his rejection of Nazi art politics. Under the management of his father, he began to earn his living with commissions for advertising fairs - including for the “ Green Week ” in Berlin - worked as a press illustrator for various local newspapers and illustrated the novel “Das Mädchen von Utrecht ”by Otto Brües . Another turning point in his work - as with so many artists of the lost generation - was the Second World War . Günter Johl married the pianist Ursula Hacker on September 7, 1939, and shortly afterwards he was drafted into the army . As a soldier he was mainly stationed in Strasbourg, where he took part in art exhibitions with a few watercolors of the city and made drawings for the theater and concert sections for the local daily newspapers. In 1943 his daughter Amadee was born. In 1945 shortly before the end of the war, the family moved to Stendal.

Sgraffito “Breakers of all ties” (1954) in the Sankt Nicolai Church in Magdeburg

In Stendal - in the middle of the Soviet occupation zone - he settled down as a freelance artist, like so many others, went to the zero hour , hopefully participated in various exhibitions, taught as a lecturer for art at the adult education center and founded a training workshop for weaving and application in 1953 and mosaic. If he came into conflict with Nazi art policy in the Third Reich , in the young GDR it increasingly collided with the Soviet-style realism imposed by the socialist functionaries . He finally gave up his initial efforts to adapt to the state's conception of art by 1954 at the latest when he found a more or less independent client and an artistic niche for himself in the church. The “breakthrough of all ties”, a monumental sgraffito that he had created for the Schinkel Church of Sankt Nicolai in Magdeburg, which was badly destroyed in the war , finally helped him achieve an artistic breakthrough in church circles, so that he worked with various people through the art service of the Protestant church larger and smaller orders were supplied. Away from the focus of official art and cultural policy , he designed numerous church windows and made sacred tapestries , altar and pulpit hangings in his own workshop , which found their way to Westphalia and the Münsterland and in which he found an expressively flat and at the same time linear-dynamic, to Marc Chagall and Georges Braque reminiscent abstraction pursued and the statements of Christian pictorial themes in "ambiguous clarity and clear ambiguity" of the current social and political situation critically confront knew. The work for the church, however, had the disadvantage that his works went straight from the workshop into the sacred rooms and were then used, without exception, to preach the Christian doctrine of salvation. The name and the person of the artist mostly remained unnamed and unknown.

The more and more closing inner German border , the more difficult order situation as a result, and the “marginal exclusion” of those who think differently in the GDR finally made the Johl family come to a momentous decision. On August 17, 1961, shortly after the Wall was built , Günter Johl fled the GDR to West Berlin with false papers . His daughter had already traveled to the west across the still open border a few days earlier. His wife did not manage to escape . She was arrested from which she was only released after a year and a half.

Günter Johl's tomb in the old Wannsee cemetery in Berlin

The dramatic and traumatizing events of the flight from the east to the west, which resulted in the painful loss of his wife at times, were the most profound turning point in Günter Johl's life. In the end, he was a broken, desperate, and sick man. Together with his daughter, he lived in cramped conditions with his mother in Berlin-Charlottenburg, fought for his wife's release and worked as a specialist teacher for writing and window dressing and as a director of workshops in youth centers. The monumental altar carpet with the call of the Savior (Mt. 11.25 ff.), Designed in 1962 for the Evangelical Methodist Christ Church in Berlin-Kreuzberg, is the only new commissioned work from this time that he was still able to carry out with his own hand. In 1964, as a result of a disability, his wife was finally allowed to leave for West Berlin, but only one year later, on November 25, 1965, Günter Johl died of cancer at the age of 57. His grave is in the old Wannsee cemetery on Friedenstrasse in Berlin.

Art-historical classification

Günter Johl's biography reveals the plight of many GDR artists of his generation in a rather haunting manner: Torn from artistic development by National Socialism and the war , failed in the young GDR due to the dogma of realism, excluded from official commissions and lost in isolation and anonymity Pushed aside from sacred art, he inevitably turned his back on his East German homeland, only to recognize in the Federal Republic , which was striving towards western ideals , that there, too, he had no real connection with the development of art. In the case of Günter Johl, his private tragedy about his escape from the GDR made things even more difficult, which ultimately destroyed his courage to face life. Nevertheless, he left posterity an extremely varied, cross-genre oeuvre, even if it was hardly linked to his name, and thus became a typical representative of the lost generation, whose importance is only now gradually moving into art-historical awareness.

List of works carried out

- 1948 -

  • Murals for the August Bebel School in Stendal (Altmark)
    • Topic: "Development work"
    • Draft for the mural "Research and Teaching" (1948), Wilhelm-Wundt-Schule, Tangerhütte
      Remnants of the sgraffito "Breaker of all gang" after the sponge infestation in 2014 in the Sankt-Nicolai-Kirche in Magdeburg
      "Calling Mose" (1955), colored design for the tower window of the Evangelical Peace Church in Wersen-Büren
      "Creation Cycle" (1956), window designs for the Nikodemuskirche in Berlin-Neukölln
      "Christ as ruler over good and evil" (1956), altar window in the Kreuzkirche in Magdeburg
      "Entombment, Ascension of Christ and the Miracle of Pentecost" (1958), colored design for the altar window of the Marienkirche in Altlandsberg
      "Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor" (1958), apse window in the Taborkirche in Berlin-Kreuzberg
      "Twelve-Gate Jerusalem" (1959), window design for the Protestant church in Rothemühle
      "Christ crucified" (1960), round window in the village church in Gorgast
      Altar woven carpet with the "Heilandsruf" (1962) in the Christ Church in Berlin-Kreuzberg
      Status: The murals were whitewashed after 1961 due to the artist's flight from the republic.
  • Four murals for the Wilhelm Wundt School in Tangerhütte (Altmark)
    • Topics: "Industrial work", "Agriculture", "Research and teaching", "Art"
    • Status: The murals were whitewashed after 1961 due to the artist's flight from the republic.

- 1954 -

  • Window for the Protestant village church in Sachau (Altmark)
    • Topic: "The unbelieving Thomas" according to Joh. 20, 24-29
    • Status: The window is in place and in good condition.
  • Sgraffito for the Protestant Sankt-Nicolai-Kirche in Magdeburg
    • Topic: Christ as the “breaker of all bonds” according to EG 388
    • Status: Due to sponge infestation, only a small central part of the work has been preserved in four fragments since 2014, which is to be given a “place of honor” in the anteroom of the church.
  • Application carpet for the Protestant Schifferkirche (today: Reconciliation Church) in Riesenbeck (Münsterland)
    • Theme: “Christ stills the storm” according to Mk. 4, 35-41
    • Status: After a complete renovation of the church in 2003, the carpet was replaced by a cross and has been missing since then.

- 1955 -

  • Altar carpet for the Andreas House of the former Protestant St. Andreas Congregation in Berlin-Friedrichshain
    • Topic: Lettering "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Mt. 28, 18)
    • Status: In the course of a renovation in 1997, the carpet was removed and replaced by another and has been missing since then.
  • Three windows for the Protestant Church of Peace in Wersen / Büren (Westphalia)
    • Theme of the double window below the gallery: "Tree of Knowledge" according to Gen. 2, 4b - 3, 24
    • Theme of the tower window: "Calling Moses" according to Ex. 3
    • Status: The interior of the church was fundamentally rebuilt in 2005. All three Johl windows have been preserved. While the tower window is in place, the double windows have been removed and moved into the sacristy. The windows were inventoried in 2017 by the Westphalia building department.
  • Window for the Protestant village church in Neuholland (Oberhavel)
    • Author: Christ cycle
    • Left page (from top to bottom): "Birth of Christ", "Baptism on the Jordan", " Sermon on the Mount "
    • Right side (from bottom to top): "Awakening of Lazarus", "Crucifixion", "Resurrection"
    • Status: The windows are in place and in good condition.

- 1956 -

  • Three windows for the former catholic community room in Lüderitz (Altmark)
    • Theme: Peter, Paul, Greek symbol of Christ "ΧΡ"
    • Status: The community room was privately made available to the Catholic Church until 1973. In 1998 the property was sold. Since then, there has been no trace of the Johl windows.
  • Five-part window wall in the nave and a window next to the altar for the Protestant Gnadenkirche in Albersloh (Münsterland)
    • Theme: colored ornaments
    • Status: The windows are in place and in good condition.
  • 16 windows for the Protestant Nicodemus Church in Berlin-Neukölln
    • Theme: Cycle of Creation according to Gen. 1; 2, 8ff.
    • Status: The windows were deliberately destroyed during the renovation of the church in 1988 and replaced by clear laminated glass windows.
  • Three-part altar window for the Evangelical Kreuzkirche in Magdeburg
    • Topic: "Cain kills Abel" (Gen. 4, 1ff.), "Christ as ruler over good and evil", "Good Samaritan" (Luk. 10, 25-36)
    • Status: The window is in place and in good condition.
  • Three windows for the Protestant Christ Church in Ostbevern (Münsterland)
    • Topic: Creed: "Creation of Adam" (creation), "Christ on the cross" (redemption), "Pentecost miracle" (sanctification)
    • Status: The windows are on site, in good condition and were inventoried by the Westphalia building department in 2003.
  • Altar woven carpet for the parish hall of the Evangelical Church in Rochau (Altmark)
    • Subject: “The Lord cleanses Isaiah's lips with hot coals” according to Isa. 6, 5
    • Status: The carpet is lost.
  • Three-part altar window for the Holy Spirit Church of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) in Berlin-Spandau
    • Topics: "The Annunciation", "Birth of Christ", "Baptism on the Jordan"
    • Status: The windows are in place and in good condition.

- 1958 -

  • Altar window for the Protestant Church of St. Mary in Altlandsberg near Berlin
    • Topics (from bottom to top): "Entombment", "Outpouring of the Holy Spirit", "Ascension of Christ"
    • Status: The window is in place and in good condition.
  • Apse window for the Protestant Tabor Church in Berlin-Kreuzberg
    • Topic: "Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor" after Mt. 17
    • Status: The window is in place and in good condition.
  • Four windows for the Protestant church in Ratzdorf (Oder-Spree district)
    • Theme: colored ornaments
    • Status: The windows are in place and in good condition.

- 1959 -

  • Two windows for the Evangelical Church of the Holy Spirit in Beelen (Münsterland)
    • Topics: "Outpouring of the Holy Spirit", "Fish haul"
    • Status: The windows are in place, but some panes are damaged. The building was de-dedicated as a church in 2015. The further fate of the building and the windows is currently uncertain.
  • Three windows for the Protestant Church of the Resurrection in Seppenrade (Münsterland)
    • Topics: "Feeding the 5000" (Joh. 6), "Christ the big fish", "Wedding at Cana" (Joh. 2, 1-12)
    • Status: The windows are in place and in good condition.
  • An altar carpet, two window fronts for the community hall and a round baptismal window for the Evangelical Martin Luther House in Bierde (Minden-Lübbecke)
    • Theme of the altar carpet: “The Appearance of Christ on Pathmos” according to Rev. 1, 12
    • The theme of the parish hall windows: colored ornaments
    • Theme of the round baptismal window: Greek symbol of Christ "ΧΡ" and fish
    • Status: Altar carpet and windows are on site and in good condition.
  • A window and an altar carpet for the Protestant church in Rothemühle (Sauerland)
    • The theme of the window: “ The Twelve-Gate Jerusalem ” according to Rev. 21st
    • Theme of the altar carpet: "Death and Resurrection of Christ"
    • Status: Windows and altar carpet are on site, well preserved and were inventoried in 2008 by the Westphalia building department.
  • Three altar windows for the Protestant village church in Göritz (Uckermark)
    • Theme: colored ornaments
    • Status: The windows are in place and in good condition.

- 1960 -

  • A round window for the Protestant village church in Gorgast (Oderbruch)
    • Subject: "Christ crucified"
    • Status: The window is in place and in good condition.
  • Woven and partly embroidered, partly appliquéd altar and pulpit hangings for a complete church year for the Evangelical Martin Luther Church in Gütersloh (Westphalia)
    • Advent season (purple): burning oil lamp (altar hanging), anchor cross (pulpit hanging)
    • Christmas (white): Evangelist symbols (altar hanging), letters JHS (pulpit hanging)
    • Passion time (purple): the pelican feeds its young with its own blood (altar hangings), thorns (pulpit hangings)
    • Pentecost and Reformation (red): ship with billowing sails (altar hanging), dove with nimbus (pulpit hanging)
    • 1st half of Trinity time (green): three ears of wheat (altar hanging), chalice (pulpit hanging)
    • 2nd half of Trinity time (green): vine with grapes (altar hanging), Greek symbol of Christ "ΧΡ" (pulpit hanging)
    • Good Friday and Eternal Sunday (black-gray): The Lamb of God (altar hanging), inscription on the cross INRI (pulpit hanging)
    • Status: All paraments are stored on site and in good condition.
  • Plaster mosaic for the anteroom of the management room in the administration building of the construction company Anton Schmittlein in Berlin-Charlottenburg
    • Topic: " Construction work "
    • Status: The mosaic is on site and is in good condition.

- 1962 -

  • An altar carpet for the Methodist Christ Church in Berlin-Kreuzberg
    • Topic: Lettering "Come to me all who are troublesome and burdened, I want to refresh you" (Mt. 11, 25 ff.)
    • Status: The woven carpet is on site and in good condition.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Hermann Reuter, Günter GA Marklein: Art of the Altmark . Märkischer Kunst- und Heimatverlag, Hechthausen - Kalbe ad Milde 1995, ISBN 3-925354-17-4 , p. 72 .
  2. ↑ a b Werner Wortmann: Martin Luther Church 1861–1961. For the 100th anniversary of the Martin Luther Church in Gütersloh . Publisher: Ludw. Flöttmann, Gütersloh 1961, p. 83 .
  3. ↑ Art Binder "Four Painters" . Stendal 1948.
  4. ^ Rat der Stadt Stendal (ed.): Art folder Stendal. City and landscape . Stendal 1948.
  5. ^ Hermann Reuter, Günter GA Marklein: Art of the Altmark . S. 235 .
  6. ↑ a b c Claudia Brykczynski: Breaker of all ties . In: Nicodemus magazine . Dec. 2009-Feb. 2010, p. 11 .
  7. ^ Hans-Joachim Krenzke: Churches and monasteries in Magdeburg . Magdeburg 2000, p. 96 .
  8. ↑ a b Claudia Brykczynski: Linientreu . In: Nicodemus magazine . Dec. 2012-Feb. 2013, p. 9 .
  9. ^ A b Hannelore Offner, Klaus Schroeder: Restricted, excluded. Fine arts and party rule in the GDR 1961-1989 . In: Studies by the SED State Research Association at the Free University of Berlin . Fine arts and party rule in the GDR 1961-1989. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 978-3-05-003348-8 .
  10. ^ Hannelore Offner, Klaus Schroeder: Restricted, excluded . S. 612 .
  11. ↑ a b On the events surrounding the escape of the Johl family: Amadee Vorsteher-Johl: Memories , lecture as part of the project "50 years of building the wall and the Babelsbergers" by Ulrich Schmelz and Ralf Haufe, held on April 12, 2012 in the Kulturhaus Babelsberg .
  12. ^ Günter Johl as lecturer and teacher: Hermann Reuter, Günter GA Marklein: Art of the Altmark. P. 325.
  13. ↑ Anneliese Fleck: Vorkuta survived. A woman in Stalin's penal camp . Hamburg 1994, ISBN 978-3-8132-0444-5 , pp. 155 .
  14. ^ Wolfgang Hütt: Funded. Supervised. Reform pressure from visual artists of the GDR. The example of Halle . Publisher: Janos Stekovics, Dößel / Saalkreis 2004, ISBN 3-89923-073-6 .
  15. ↑ Werner Schmidt (Ed.): Ausgebürgert. Artists from the GDR and the Soviet sector Berlin. 1949-1989 . Argon-Verlag, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-87024-160-8 .
  16. ^ Rainer Zimmermann: The Art of the Lost Generation. German expressive realism painting from 1925 to 1975 . Econ-Verlag, Düsseldorf / Vienna 1984, ISBN 978-3-430-19961-2 .
  17. ↑ https://www.volksstimme.de/nachrichten/magdeburg/1361926_Schwamm-lueftet-Schinkel-Himmel.html (accessed on February 6, 2018)
  18. ^ Gabriele Böhm: Evangelical Reconciliation Church Riesenbeck . In: Discover churches in the Tecklenburger Land. Church leaflet of the series Kirchwege, Kirchzimmer .
  19. ↑ Gabriele Böhm: Evangelical Peace Church Wersen-Büren . In: Discover churches in the Tecklenburger Land. Church leaflet of the series Kirchwege, Kirchzimmer .
  20. ^ Marga Ristow: A church window design by Günter Johl . In: The signs of the times. Evangelical monthly for Church workers . Issue 11, 1956, pp. 414-417 .
  21. ↑ Claudia Brykczynski: ( Not ) a comment . In: Nicodemus magazine . March-May 2013, p. 9 .
  22. ↑ http://www.die-glocke.de/lokalnachrichten/kreiswarendorf/beelen/Beelens-Heilig-Geist-Kirche-vor-dem-Aus--7f6c2185-e43d-478b-91f1-5f8a4a8a0eac-ds (accessed on 6. February 2018)
  23. ↑ Martin Kornfeld: 50 years. 1959-2009. Ev. Rothemühle Church . Rothemühle 2009, p. 19th f .
  24. ↑ Werner Wortmann: Martin Luther Church 1861-1961 . S. 58 ff .
  25. ↑ Anton Schmittlein construction company (ed.): Progress through construction - construction through progress. Commemorative publication for the 10th company anniversary . Berlin 1960.

Literature selection

  • Claudia Brykczynski: Breaker of all ties. In: Nicodemus magazine. Dec. 2009-Feb. 2010, p. 11.
  • Claudia Brykczynski: True to the line. In: Nicodemus magazine. Dec. 2012-Feb. 2013, p. 9.
  • Martin Kornfeld: 50 years. 1959-2009. Ev. Rothemühle Church . Rothemühle 2009.
  • Art folder "Four painters". Stendal 1948.
  • Hans-Joachim Krenzke: Churches and monasteries in Magdeburg . Magdeburg 2000.
  • Hannelore Offner, Klaus Schroeder: Restricted, excluded. Fine arts and party rule in the GDR 1961–1989. In: Studies by the SED State Research Association at the Free University of Berlin. Fine arts and party rule in the GDR 1961–1989. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-05-003348-7 .
  • City Council of Stendal (ed.): Art folder Stendal. City and landscape. Stendal 1949.
  • Hermann Reuter, Günter GA Marklein: Art of the Altmark . Märkischer Kunst- und Heimatverlag, Hechthausen - Kalbe ad Milde 1995, ISBN 3-925354-17-4 .
  • Marga Ristow: A church window design by Günter Johl. In: The signs of the times. Evangelical monthly for Church workers. Issue 11, 1956, pp. 414-417.
  • Werner Wortmann: Martin Luther Church 1861–1961. For the 100th anniversary of the Martin Luther Church in Gütersloh. Publishing house Ludw. Flöttmann, Gütersloh 1961.

Web links

Commons : Günter Johl  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Albersloh, Beelen, Bierde, Ostbevern, Rothemühle:

Stendal (Winckelmann Museum):

personal data
SURNAME Johl, Günter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH May 27, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Potsdam
DATE OF DEATH November 25, 1965
Place of death Berlin