Gerhard Graf (painter)

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Gerhard Graf (born January 6, 1883 in Berlin , † October 1, 1958 in Stockholm ) was a German painter and art educator , somewhere between academic painting and impressionism. His style is sometimes referred to as moderate German impressionism .

life and work

Gerhard Graf was born in Berlin in 1883 as the son of court photographer Heinrich Graf. After attending grammar school, Gerhard Graf began training at a craft school as an apprentice painter in 1900, from 1904 to 1905 in particular in the field of decorative painting. In 1906 he passed the drawing teacher examination at the Royal Art School in Berlin and from 1907 worked as a specialist teacher for drawing and art classes.

In 1910 Graf married the fourth and youngest daughter of the hydraulic engineer Paul Richter (1855–1939). From this marriage two daughters were born. The first daughter Katrin was born on January 29, 1911 and died as a widowed Müller in the Stockholm district of Bromma on May 28, 2009. After the First World War , Graf traveled through Europe to study. From 1923 he began to take on more and more industrial orders. Gerhard Graf was appointed to the school council in 1926. He acquired a plot of land in Werder (Havel) on the Großer Plessower See and built the Graf country house . In 1927 he began his activity at the Grunewald-Gymnasium in Berlin as a teacher. In the same year he carried out a study trip to the USA on behalf of the North German Lloyd . From 1932 his country house was expanded and his own studio was added. Gerhard Graf retired in 1938 and was accepted into the Chamber of Artists in 1945. In 1948 he gave up his residence in Werder and moved to West Berlin , while his two daughters emigrated to Sweden . He died when his two daughters visited Stockholm in 1958 , but was buried in the cemetery in Berlin-Wilmersdorf .

Gerhard Graf lived in Werder (Havel) from 1926 to 1948. He carefully chose the then still rather rural area at Plessower See as a place to live and work. He was a cosmopolitan artist. In addition to depictions of major cities in Europe and North America, his pictorial repertoire also includes landscapes showing the rural surroundings of Werder. In his image content, the person is always included in the representation. His very different painting techniques, whether oil painting or gouache, show a pronounced artistic handwriting.

Guests at Landhaus Graf included the artists George Grosz , Walter Trier , Rudolf Jacobi and his wife Annot , the painter and set designer Harry Breuer, the comedians Carl Napp and Bruno Fritz . His brother-in-law, the painter and lithographer Wilhelm Blanke, had certain similarities in his work .

literature

  • Brustmann, Martin : Gerhard Graf, in: Westermanns Monatshefte, Volume 129, II, Issue 773 (March 1921), pp. 473-480, with 8 color illustrations
  • Weitz, H. Ph .: Gerhard Graf the German city painter, in: Die Große Berliner, born in 1923, No. 37
  • Kricheldorff, L .: Gerhard Graf, in: Die Kunstschule, 10 Jg. (1927), No. 3, March 1927, pp. 74 - 84, with a colored cover picture, a portrait and 14 illustrations based on the artist's works
  • Dreßler , in: Westermanns Monatshefte, 153 (1932/33), color plate given p. 552, 581, 582; 154 (1933), col. Table against p. 481,568
  • Local history association for the district of Wilmersdorf / August, Heinz (Ed. ): Gerhard Graf, painter and art educator from Wilmersdorf, watercolors - paintings - graphics - photos, catalog for the exhibition from October 22 to November 22, 1985 in the municipal gallery of the Wilmersdorf district office , Berlin 1985

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Count, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naturalistic painter
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH October 1, 1958
Place of death Stockholm