Gerhard Goßmann

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gerhard Goßmann (left) and Werner Klemke , 1986

Gerhard Goßmann (born November 1, 1912 in Guben ; † July 25, 1994 in Bad Saarow-Pieskow ) was a German graphic artist and illustrator . He was best known for his illustrations of adventure and youth books.

Life

Memorial for Gerhard Goßmann (1912–1994) - statue by Robert Metzkes, 2009, in Fürstenwalde / Spree
Plaque for the monument to Gerhard Goßmann by Robert Metzkes

Goßmann grew up in Fürstenwalde / Spree from 1917 . Between 1928 and 1932 he completed an apprenticeship as a font and chromolithograph in Berlin and attended evening classes at the arts and crafts school in Charlottenburg . From 1932 to 1935 he studied at the higher graphic technical school in Berlin. From 1935 he devoted himself to book design, among others for the publishers Rowohlt and Kiepenheuer . His cover illustrations for the German edition of the successful novel Gone with the Wind became famous . During the Second World War he was stationed as a soldier in Scandinavia.

From 1945 he worked initially as a teacher for art education, from 1955 as a freelance graphic artist. He became known to a wide audience in particular because of his detailed, yet lively, imaginative and atmospheric illustrations of classic youth and adventure books from the series Excitingly told as well as of classics from world literature. The artist mostly used pen drawing , but also mastered lithography and etching , later he turned more to painting .

In 1968 Goßmann created the Maxim Gorki stele in Bad Saarow in collaboration with the Meissen porcelain factory . 384 tiles are attached on both sides under the theme of the song of the petrel . The poem was written by Maxim Gorky in 1901 after a student demonstration in Saint Petersburg , which ended in a massacre due to the brutal intervention of the police. The stele stands in front of the Maxim Gorki School at Pieskower Straße 31 and was added to the list of architectural monuments in 2013 .

Gossmann illustrated around 250 works from world literature. A special exhibition has been dedicated to the artist in the Fürstenwalde City Museum since 1991. His autobiography, edited from the estate in 2002, was published under the title Born 1912 . A bronze monument by Robert Metzkes has stood in the pedestrian zone Am Markt since 2009.

Illustrations for books (selection)

Awards

Web links

Commons : Gerhard Goßmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Marcus Kenzler: The view into the other world - influences of Latin America on the fine arts of the GDR . LIT, Jul 2012, page 786
  2. ↑ Bettina Winkler: Goßmann's stele Sturmvogel became a memorial. In: Märkische Oderzeitung (MOZ-online), April 11, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Goßmann, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German graphic artist and illustrator
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Guben
DATE OF DEATH July 25, 1994
Place of death Bad Saarow