Gretel Haas-Gerber

Gretel Haas-Gerber (born August 2, 1903 in Offenburg as Margarete Gerber; † January 20, 1998 there ) was a German painter . The focus of her work were portraits as well as richly figured, scenically arranged pictures that processed the experiences of her life. The municipal art collections of Offenburg have the most extensive public collection of their work.

life and work

Childhood and youth

Margerete Gerber was born in Offenburg, Baden. She grew up as one of three daughters of the Offenburg doctor Friedrich Gerber and his wife Anna, née Stebel. She received private painting and drawing lessons from Adolf Mangold, a drawing teacher from Offenburg. As an artist she called herself Gretel Gerber, after her marriage Gretel Haas-Gerber.

Studied in Karlsruhe and Munich

Gretel Gerber enrolled at the Badische Landeskunstschule in Karlsruhe in 1922 . Hermann Gehri became its most important sponsor and teacher at this academy. During her time in Karlsruhe, she intensified the art of drawing and watercolor painting, and made studies of nudes and movements. She learned woodcut, illustration and composition from Ernst Würtenberger . In 1925 she moved to the Academy of Fine Arts in the painting class of the late Impressionist Hugo von Habermann .

First creative years and early work

Self-portrait 1928

After graduating from the academy, Gretel Gerber first moved to the countryside, from 1927-28 she painted portraits, landscapes and still lifes in Uffing am Staffelsee and in Bokel in the Lüneburg Heath . Her pictures showed children, old and sick people, often in simple, rural living conditions. In this first complex of works, the painter brought into the picture the traces that poverty and hardness have left on bodies and faces. The simple, roughly geometric backgrounds are quite the painterly equivalent of the "order of things", from which several layers (everyday objects, clothing, hairstyle, etc.) emerge gradually and are concentrated in the face: in those grimaces that are so typical of the speech Set picture, "she didn't know whether to laugh or cry". These pictures show sympathy and affection for their models. In 1932 Gretel Gerber married Walther Haas, who was then an assistant doctor at the Freiburg University Clinic and later Ophthalmologist from Offenburg. 1932 is also a year of first public and financial recognition. She took part in a group exhibition in the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden , where her picture, poor house children , was bought by the Baden state .

Intermediate period (1933 to 1967)

The first successes followed in autumn 1933 disillusionment: In the Offenburg exhibition hall, in addition to work by colleagues, her painting The Hatter Girl was confiscated for “ despising the peasant class” . She met contempt and ridicule in Offenburg and in her family. With the birth of five children, Gretel Haas-Gerber's energy focused on the role of mother and wife. The Second World War also prevented a return to art. Her parents' house is destroyed in a bomb attack, as well as, as she long believed, the pictures and drawings stored there. In the post-war period, the demands of everyday life predominated: rebuilding the parental home, working in the ophthalmological practice, bringing up and taking care of the children's education. She found this time, in which she found little time for artistic work, to be a major limitation. From the fifties she took a “painting vacation”, went to Italy, Paris, Lake Constance and the Allgäu. In 1964 the husband died after a long illness. After 32 years of marriage, family, household and medical work, Gretel Haas-Gerber was looking for a fresh start: after a three-month, productive painting holiday in 1967 in Turkey, she enrolled at the age of 64 as a student at the art academy in Düsseldorf .

Time in Düsseldorf (1967 to 1985)

She found space to work in Professor Karl Otto Götz's class . Contacts and lifelong friendships with young colleagues developed. For Gretel Haas-Gerber, the years in Düsseldorf were a time of artistic, cultural and political awakening. In 1972 she traveled to India with friends of her children, and in 1984 to see artist friends in Greece. Large oil paintings were created in Düsseldorf: the café series, the self-image I and the world , the park-goers, the housewife pictures, the neutron bomb business game cycle , the Biafra pictures, the hospital series. Study trips took her to India and Greece, Switzerland and Italy. She took part in numerous group exhibitions and has solo exhibitions in Berlin, Bonn, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hanover, Hamburg and Offenburg.

During this time she made a fresh start. The tense atmosphere of optimism and the critical impulses of those years give her momentum and new courage. At the beginning of the 1970s, pictures with clear political statements were made. In the picture Cafehaus I (1973) one saw in the foreground “a group of buxom ladies whose voluminous bodies are further upgraded with opulent grease dispensers such as crème cakes or cream cakes, while in the background a curtain is tearing open and innumerable, obviously disturbed, injured, desperate children in the room fall. This room fulfilled a macabre double function. It is only a coffee house where the obese representatives of the German economic miracle sit with their mocha cups and desserts. Further back, the hall turns out to be a morgue, equipped with white coffins, although it remains to be seen whether they are occupied or whether they should first take in the crying, screaming children. "(Michael Hübl)

Late work (1985 to 1996)

At the age of 82, Gretel Haas-Gerber returned to Offenburg and continued her artistic work continuously. She also kept a close eye on political events. The news of the Yugoslav civil war in the mid-1990s gave impetus to images of mother burying a child . Above all, she never let go of the subject of the war-related suffering of innocent people; she had dealt with it in the large complex of works The Women of Lucca . The genre of the self-portrait increasingly played a central role and ultimately shaped her late work. Even the increasing blindness shortly before her death was translated into large-format drawings of valid artistic value. “As much as her work was directed towards her contemporaries, the behavior or the fate of others, unadorned, sometimes exaggerated, even distorted, Gretel Haas-Gerber kept confronting herself again and again. For seven decades she searched for the truth of her own expression, for her own inner image. ... Especially in the very last works from 1997, a group of ten large-format drawings, both are converging more and more: Almost completely blind, she finds in her physiognomic imagination and the premonition of the state of the world a pictorial certainty that surrounds inside and outside . "(Jochen Ludwig)

Even in the last years of her life, Gretel Haas-Gerber kept in touch with the exhibition. Solo exhibitions in Altenburg, Bad-Oldesloe, Bremen, Duisburg, Hamburg, Kirchzarten, Cologne and Offenburg are dedicated to her. In 1997 Gretel Haas-Gerber received the Maria Ensle Prize from the Baden-Württemberg Art Foundation for her life's work. On January 20, 1998, Gretel Haas-Gerber died in her parents' house, surrounded by her children.

After her death, the artist remained silent for a short time. In 2000, 2003 and 2006, individual work phases will be presented in the museum in the Ritterhaus Offenburg. They were part of the donation of paintings and drawings to the hometown of Offenburg. In 2007 the Städtische Galerie Offenburg showed a comprehensive retrospective under the title Gretel Haas-Gerber. Me and the world .

Since May 2008 the Städtische Galerie Offenburg has presented the Gretel Haas-Gerber collection as a permanent, annually changing exhibition. The Gretel Haas Gerber Foundation was founded in 2013. In 2014, a major retrospective of the graphic work took place in the Städtische Galerie Offenburg. The two publications from 2007 and 2014 published by modo Verlag Freiburg reveal the artist's painterly and graphic work.             

Selected works

• Old Uncle Hans II, 1927, oil on canvas, 95 × 67 cm, Offenburg Municipal Art Collections
• Girl with a red jacket, 1928, oil on canvas, 73 × 49 cm, Offenburg Municipal Art Collections
• The Sick Woman, 1927, oil on canvas, 94 × 62 cm, Municipal Art Collections Offenburg
• Communion children, 1927, oil on canvas, 100 × 65 cm, Offenburg Municipal Art Collections
• Two girls from the moor, 1927, oil on canvas, 98 × 64 cm, Offenburg Municipal Art Collections
• Two country children in the Ährenfeld, 1927, 98 × 64 cm, Municipal Art Collections Offenburg
• The Shepherd Girl, 1928, oil on canvas, 77 × 48 cm, Offenburg Municipal Art Collections
• Breastfeeding Housewife, 1928, oil on canvas, 84 × 58 cm, Offenburg Municipal Art Collections
• Tilde, 1929, oil on canvas, 79 × 65 cm, Municipal Art Collections Offenburg
• Self-portrait, 1928, oil on canvas, 78 × 66 cm, Städtische Kunstsammlungen Offenburg
• Steam bath - Leukerbad, 1971/72, oil on canvas, 66 × 120 cm, Municipal Art Collections Offenburg
• Caféhaus I, 1973, oil on canvas, 130 × 170 cm, Municipal Art Collections Offenburg
• India II, 1975/76, oil on canvas, 120 × 170 cm, Offenburg Municipal Art Collections
• Tiger Cage Vietnam, 1976/78, oil on canvas with iron bars, 80 × 100 cm, Municipal Art Collections Offenburg
• Done II - In the Grass, 1977–79, oil and egg tempera on canvas, 110 × 76 cm, Städtische Kunstsammlungen Offenburg
• Isolation - kitchen picture II, 1978, oil on canvas, 150 × 110 cm, Municipal Art Collections Offenburg
• Isolation - Zimmerbild III, 1979/80, oil on canvas, 170 × 110 cm, Offenburg Municipal Art Collections
• Mother buries child III, 1994–97, oil on canvas, 120 × 100 cm, Offenburg Municipal Art Collections

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• 1963: Offenburg Cultural Office
• 1964: Lahr Cultural Office
• 1969: Offenburg Cultural Office
• 1976: Art Office Berlin-Wedding
• 1978: Black Monastery, Freiburg
• 1980: Galerie Schübbe, Düsseldorf-Mettmann
• 1982: Women's Museum, Bonn
• 1983: Stadtmuseum, Düsseldorf, Kunstverein Hannover: Prohibited / persecuted , Goethe-Institut Bremen
• 1986/1987: GEDOK, Black Monastery, Freiburg
• 1988: Galerie Die Schnecke, Hamburg and Städtische Galerie im Spitalspeicher, Offenburg
• 1988/1989: Villa Ichon, Bremen
• 1989: Lindenau Museum Altenburg, Thuringia and City Hall, Bad Oldesloe
• 1990: Kunstverein, Kirchzarten
• 1991: Juttas Schneckenhaus Gallery, Bühl
• 1993: Museum im Ritterhaus, Offenburg; Gallery Old Laundry Offenburg "Drawings and watercolors 1922 to 1993"
• 2000: Museum in the Ritterhaus Offenburg "Art in the 70s in Düsseldorf"
• 2003: Museum in the Ritterhaus Offenburg "Early Pictures"
• 2006: Museum in the Ritterhaus Offenburg "The fight for the ball - The painter Gretel Haas-Gerber and her football pictures"
• 2007: Municipal Gallery Offenburg “Gretel Haas-Gerber. Me and the world "
• 2008: Lindenau Museum Altenburg (Thuringia), "Southern Light"
• 2014: Städtische Galerie Offenburg, drawings
• 2017: Städtische Galerie Offenburg, paintings from seven decades 

Group exhibitions

• 1932: Baden Secession, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
• 1933: Kunstverein Freiburg
• 1933: Offenburg exhibition hall
• 1948: Offenburg Cultural Office
• 1958: Freiburg city hall, "Five female painters from Baden"
• 1962: Upper Rhine Hall Offenburg
• 1974: Neue Münchner Galerie, Munich
• 1974–1985: Annual exhibitions, Kunstpalast Düsseldorf
• 1976: Kunsthalle Düsseldorf "Neighborhood"
• 1977: Kunsthalle Baden-Baden. BBK Düsseldorf. BBK food. Black Monastery, Freiburg. Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart
• 1978: GEDOK Hamburg, "Hommage à Goya"
• 1979: GEDOK Hamburg, "Women see themselves". West German Artists Association, Karl-Ernst-Osthaus Museum, Hagen
• 1980: GEDOK Cologne, “Reality and Art. Art as Reality ”. Science Center Bonn-Bad Godesberg. Elefanten Press Galerie, Berlin, "Images of Women"
• 1982: GEDOK Munich, “The world is beautiful. Is the world beautiful ". Elefanten Press Galerie Berlin: "Body, Love, Pictures". Bremen artists, Bremen. Workers' Welfare, Bonn. BBK Düsseldorf "Human cultural asset worthy of protection"
• 1983: Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum Duisburg
• 1986: State Art Gallery Berlin
• 1987: Gallery Old Laundry Offenburg
• 1989: City Museum Düsseldorf. Museum of Handicrafts Moscow
• 1990: Volkshochschule Karlsruhe
• 1991: Unna Castle
• 1992: Art Prize of the City of Bühl. Künstlerhaus Karlsruhe "The large format" (football triptych)
• 1994: Gabriele Münter Prize, Women's Museum, Bonn
• 1995: Municipal gallery in the Prinz-Max-Palais Karlsruhe
• 1995: Gallery “Lovis-Kabinett”, Villingen-Schwenningen

Working in public collections

• Municipal collections of Bühl
• City Museum Düsseldorf
• Museum of New Art Freiburg
• Municipal Gallery Karlsruhe
• University Museum Marburg
• Municipal art collections Offenburg

Awards

• 1962: The Ortenau Culture Prize
• 1997: Maria Ensle Prize from the Baden-Württemberg Art Foundation

literature

• Gretel Haas-Gerber, Something like a curriculum vitae that may be too long since my life has lasted for 70 years, in: Tendenzen No. 89, June / July 1973, vol. 14, pp. 23-25
• Gretel Haas-Gerber, exhib.-cat. Kunstamt Wedding, Berlin 1976 (text by Rudolf Pfefferkorn)
• Images of people, exhibition catalog, Schübbe Gallery, Düsseldorf-Mettmann 1980
• Gottfried Sello, Gretel Haas-Gerber, in: Brigitte 26/1981, p. 130f.
• Anna Tüne (Ed.), Gretel Haas-Gerber, in: Body, Love, Language. On female art, depicting eroticism, Berlin 1982, pp. 111–115
• Ulrike Evers, German artists of the 20th century. Painting, sculpture, tapestry, Hamburg 1983, p. 111ff.
• Christian Schuster, Klaus Deubel (camera), Gretel Haas-Gerber. What does realist mean here? Production by Fuzzi Film, Landesstudio Düsseldorf, WDR 1984
• Gretel Haas-Gerber. Pictures 1926–1984, exhibition cat. Municipal gallery in the Spitalspeicher Offenburg in 1988
• Gretel Haas-Gerber, I slowly became aware of my strengths and works again, in: Malende Frauen. Writing women. Artists in our society. An exhibition at the Volkshochschule Karlsruhe 1990, pp. 77–81
• Sonja Weiss, stations of a long life. Conversation with the painter Gretel Haas-Gerber, in: The female look. Artists and the representation of the naked body. Edition Wort und Bild, Bochum 1990, pp. 77–81
• City of Bühl Art Prize 1992. Exhibition cat. Friedrichsbau Bühl 1992
• Gerlinde Brandenburger-Eisele, female painters in Karlsruhe 1715–1918, in: Susanne Asche and others, Karlsruhe women 1715–1945. Eine Stadtgeschichte, Karlsruhe 1992, pp. 257–267
• Gretel Haas-Gerber, Memories of the Karlsruhe Academy in the years 1922–1925, in: Susanne Asche et al., Karlsruhe Women 1915–1945. Eine Stadtgeschichte, Karlsruhe 1992, pp. 286–292
• Gerlinde Brandenburger-Eisele, Rainer Nepita, Gretel Haas-Gerber. Drawings and watercolors 1922 to 1993. Exhibition cat. Museum in the Ritterhaus and Gallery Old Laundry Offenburg 1993
• Forty at last. Gabriele Münter Prize. Exhibition cat. Women's Museum Bonn 1994
• Rainer Zimmermann, Expressive Realism. Painting of the Lost Generation, Munich 1994
• Women on the move. Artists in the German Southwest 1800–1945, exhibition cat. Municipal gallery in the Prinz-Max-Palais Karlsruhe and municipal gallery "Lovis-Kabinett" Villingen-Schwenningen 1995
• Gretel Haas-Gerber. Portraits - Self - Portraits. Exhibition cat. Rheinhausen Gallery of the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum Duisburg 1996
• Sarah Palmer, creativity on a schedule. Artists and their field of work. Gretel Haas-Gerber. Gabi Streile. Karin Sander, Production SDR / SWF Stuttgart, Baden-Baden 1997
• Ingrid von der Dollen, Gretel Haas-Gerber. Painting of expressive realism, volume XXIII, in: Weltkunst No. 8 August 2000, p. 1380f.
• Ingrid von der Dollen, painters in the 20th century. Visual art of the "lost generation", Munich 2000
• The 20s in Karlsruhe, exhibition cat. Municipal Gallery Karlsruhe 2005
• Municipal Gallery Offenburg (ed.), Gretel Haas-Gerber. Me and the world. Freiburg: Modo 2007
• Municipal Gallery Offenburg (ed.), Gretel Haas-Gerber. Drawings. Freiburg: Modo 2014

Web links

• Literature by and about Gretel Haas-Gerber in the catalog of the German National Library