Gerhard Bätz

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Gerhard Bätz (around 1952)

Gerhard Bätz (born April 21, 1938 in Sonneberg ) is a German restorer and miniaturist . Since the 1950s he has been creating rococo miniatures together with Manfred Kiedorf , which are now presented in the exhibition Rococo en miniature .

Life

The son of the businessman Karl Bätz (died in France in 1941) grew up in Sonneberg. In his earliest childhood he got to know the "paint and toy industry supplies store Oskar Bätz" founded by his father and grandfather. In their extensive warehouse with all sorts of individual toy parts, he got an insight into the working methods of toy manufacturing.

From 1951 to 1953 he studied at the sun Berger consumer cooperative training to use recruiters . He got to know Manfred Kiedorf, who was two years older than him, at the commercial school. From 1955 to 1959 he was in Erfurt and Weimar with Kiedorf and studied painting and drawing with Otto Paetz and Alfred Ahner . Ahner introduced him to the circle of friends around Dora Wentscher and Johannes Nohl . Bätz occasionally worked as an advertising decorator during this time.

In 1956 he applied to the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art , but was not accepted there.

Gulliver in Lilliput

After the remains of a specimen of the " Gulliver in Liliput " display group that had been destroyed at an exhibition at the German Toy Museum in Hungary in 1956 during the local popular uprising had been stored in the museum's warehouse for a long time, the then museum director Otto Keil became aware of Bätz's miniatures. Keil commissioned Gerhard Bätz to restore the display group made of bread dough from 1843/44. Bätz restored the Gulliver group on a fee basis for six months. Then he was employed pro forma in a caretaker position at the German Toy Museum, began training at the museum in 1960 and then worked as a restorer in the German Toy Museum until 1978. Since 1975 Bätz was a member of the Association of Fine Artists of the GDR , section restoration and arts and crafts. With his miniatures he was at the VIII. And IX. Art exhibition of the GDR involved, further exhibitions followed.

In 1984 he applied for an exit visa . After helping his half-brother in an unsuccessful escape attempt, he was sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment; after just 7 months, he was expatriated from the GDR in 1986 . His wife Elfi was able to follow him a month later. Now living in the Federal Republic, he went on study trips to Italy and France. From 1988 to 2000 Bätz worked as a restorer in Fulda .

The imaginative realms of the castles of the vaunted island, created over the course of more than 50 years together with his friend Manfred Kiedorf, are considered to be Bätz's life's work. This total work of art, bought in 2006 by the Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg in Rudolstadt , has been presented since 2007 in the restored rooms of the castle's former court kitchen.

Exhibitions (selection)

literature

  • Gerhard Bätz: Quodlibets. Nymph stuff and all sorts. Heidecksburg residential palace, Rudolstadt 2009, ISBN 978-3-910013-75-9 .
  • Helga Kämpf-Jansen, Jens Henkel (ed.): Rococo en miniature. The castles of the vaunted island. Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg, Rudolstadt 2007, ISBN 978-3-910013-67-4 .
  • Reinhild and Peter Schneider (eds.): The castles of the praised island. Rococo en miniature by Gerhard Bätz and Manfred Kiedorf. Kunstverlag, Gotha 2000, ISBN 3-931182-24-X .
  • Helga Kämpf-Jansen, Jens Henkel (ed.): Rococo en miniature. The castles of the vaunted island. Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg, 1st extended new edition Rudolstadt 2019, ISBN 978-3-947272-10-5 .
  • Matthias Thalheim: Fatzer on the radio - encounters of a rare nature , including text print of the audio image The castles of the praised island - Gerhard Bätz and Manfred Kiedorf in the residences of their fantasy (MDR 2007), Verlag epubli, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-750260-96 -2

Radio and television

  • “The castles of the vaunted island - Gerhard Bätz and Manfred Kiedorf in the residences of their imagination” - audio picture by Gerhard Bätz and Manfred Kiedorf, directed by Matthias Thalheim, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk , February 2007
  • “Von der Lust am Prunken” - Film by Ria Weber Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk 2007, also released on DVD, Telepool 2007

Web links

Commons : Gerhard Bätz  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Juppenlatz: Rokokolores for two. In: Stern , H. 12/2000, March 16, 2000, p. 202.
personal data
SURNAME Bätz, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German restorer and miniaturist
DATE OF BIRTH April 21, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Sonneberg