Gerhard Fritz Hensel

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Gerhard Fritz Hensel (born August 24, 1910 in Neukirch / Lausitz , † December 9, 1986 in Flensburg ) was a German painter . He is best known for his works in northern Germany .

Life

childhood

Hensel was the second child of Ostwald Richard Hensel and Linna Florendine Hensel, b. Kremtz. He had two sisters, one of whom was Hedwig Hensel, the wife of Rudolf Höß . Hensel spent his childhood in Neukirch, where he was born.

School career and studies

Hensel did not take a matriculation examination and after breaking off a commercial apprenticeship worked at the Bischofswerda glassworks in Saxony, from 1927 as a painter's assistant in his father's company. Between 1928 and 1931 he volunteered in agriculture with the Artamanen , received his first artistic evening lessons from Georg Schrimpf in Munich and worked as an auxiliary painter. From November 1, 1931 to March 31, 1934, Hensel was unemployed until he enrolled on April 1, 1934 as a student of fine arts at the Dresden State Art Academy. At the university he received lessons from Wilhelm Rudolph , Ernst Richard Dietze, Richard Müller and Hans Hanner. During his studies, Hensel received various cash prizes and awards for his artistic work. He belonged to the management staff of the NSDStB . He volunteered for military service as early as 1935, but was initially disregarded and received a postponement of the presentation order until the summer of 1939. As he was shortly before completing his studies and was mainly the maker of wall paintings in the Augustusburg , Rector Hanner Hensel's request for deferment was in favor from military service until Easter 1940. Nevertheless, he was drafted in October 1939 and was unable to complete his studies. On May 24, 1939, Hensel married the kindergarten teacher Edith Nieblich (* August 7, 1910, † December 9, 2003 in Flensburg).

War years

On October 31, 1939, Hensel began his military service, working as a war painter in Russia, Romania and Hungary since 1942 . His job was to take monthly pictures for the homeland and use them to report from different war zones. Drawings were also made in Auschwitz . Hensel visited Auschwitz because his sister was married to the camp commandant Rudolf Höß and lived there with her family. One of his pictures “Sola in Auschwitz” is in the archive of the Auschwitz concentration camp . In October 1944 he took part in a military school course in Potsdam and was promoted to lieutenant . He was wounded on a front mission in February 1945. In April of the same year he came to Flensburg. He was officially released from the army on August 21, 1945 by the British occupying forces. His children Eike (* March 28, 1940, † October 29, 2011 in Steinbergkirche ) and Birke (* December 23, 1942, † January 5, 2010 in Durbach ) were born in Dresden .

Post-war years

Hensel came to Flensburg in early May 1945. He probably helped his brother-in-law Rudolf Höss to a new identity, with which Höss found shelter on a farm in the nearby village of Gottrupel . In the meantime, Hensel was arrested by the Allies because it was assumed that he was the wanted Rudolf Höß. Until 1951, Hensel worked as a freelance painter. He led evening courses at the Flensburg Adult Education Center on head and nude drawings.

Time as a teacher

From 1951 Hensel worked as an assistant teacher at the Goetheschule in Flensburg. In 1954 he passed an examination to become a teacher for secondary schools in Hamburg. Hensel was appointed senior teacher on March 13, 1967 at the Goetheschule. On September 1, 1972, Hensel was released into retirement at his own request. Hensel died on December 9, 1986 in Flensburg.

Artistic career

From 1934 to 1939 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden, which he left without an academic degree. From 1939 to 1945 he worked as a war painter in a propaganda company in Romania, Hungary and Russia. After the war he led evening courses at the Flensburg Adult Education Center from 1949 to 1954.

From 1951 to 1971 he worked as an art teacher at the Goetheschule in Flensburg, then from 1971 to 1986 as a freelance painter. Since 1951 he has made study trips to the countries of the Mediterranean, Scandinavia, France and Austria every year, including a study trip to the Middle East in 1952 at the invitation of the North Frisian shipping company. From 1977 he owned a studio in Bergheim / Alsace.

Hensel's working techniques were oil and mixed media in painting, woodcut and watercolor in graphics. His fields of work were portraits and travel impressions, especially landscapes.

From 1954 he briefly oriented himself to Karl Hofer, Mario Siron, Massimo Campigli and Marino Marini. Later he discovered the landscapes for himself and referred to antiquity and humanism with set pieces.

His estate is in the Städtisches Museum Flensburg and has not yet been archived (as of 2011).

Exhibitions

  • 1960 City Museum Flensburg
  • 1961 House of Art, Munich
  • 1981 City Museum Flensburg: Gerhard Fritz Hensel (1910-1986), travel sketches - landscapes. Exhibition catalog (watercolors, drawings), August 30th - September 27th, 1981 in the Städtisches Museum Flensburg. Introduction by Rudolf Zöller.

Works

  • Self-portrait. Oil on canvas, 1968
  • Magna graecia in memoria. Oil on cardboard, 1972
  • Portrait of Dr. Ellen Redlefsen. Oil on canvas, 1974

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ in: History of an Institution. In: From the Royal Art Academy to the College of Fine Arts 1764-1989 1990 pp. 352–353
  2. ↑ See “Flensburger Tageblatt” March 4, 1995 and Die Zeit 6/2001.
  3. ↑ Schulte-Wülwer In: Painting in Schleswig-Holstein Heide 1989
  4. ↑ Horst Schwarze, Gerhard Fritz Hensel In: Grenzfriedenshefte 3 1980 pp. 148–153
  5. ↑ Feddersen, BH In: Schleswig-Holsteinisches Künstlerlexikon Bredsted 1984
  6. ↑ The rider. In: Museums North. Retrieved July 21, 2016 .
  7. ^ Record of the exhibition catalog in the German National Library , last accessed May 17, 2011
  8. ↑ Self-portrait. In: Museums North. Retrieved July 21, 2016 .
  9. ↑ Magna graecia in memoria. In: Museums North. Retrieved July 21, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Portrait of Dr. Ellen Redlefsen. In: Museums North. Retrieved July 21, 2016 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hensel, Gerhard Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Neukirch / Lausitz
DATE OF DEATH December 9, 1986
Place of death Flensburg