Hans-Joachim Walch

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Hans-Joachim Walch (born April 7, 1927 in Berlin ; † September 17, 1991 in Leipzig ) was a German graphic artist , wood engraver , typographer and book designer.

Professional background

After graduating from high school, Walch was drafted into the Wehrmacht and taken prisoner of war. He then studied for a few semesters at the Leipzig School of Applied Arts, where u. a. Karl Miersch and Max Schwimmer were his teachers. After completing his studies, he worked as a lithographer at the Leipzig printing company CG Röder and passed the journeyman's examination.

From 1952 to 1978 Walch worked as a production manager and artistic designer in the Leipzig publishing house of Insel Verlag . In 1961, when Gotthard de Beauclair , the publishing director of the Wiesbaden publishing house, suggested that Walch was appointed Leipzig publishing director, the GDR authorities regarded him as politically unreliable. During his work at Insel Verlag, where he designed the covers and typography of a large number of books and also illustrated them in some cases himself, Walch promoted young graphic artists, including many graduates of the Leipzig University of Graphic and Book Art , such as Egbert Herfurth , Rolf Felix Müller or Karl-Georg Hirsch by giving them illustration orders for publishing works.

After the state-ordered merger of the Insel publishing houses, Gustav Kiepenheuer , Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung and Paul List to form the Kiepenheuer publishing group in 1977, Walch left Insel Verlag in 1978 and now worked as a freelance book designer, illustrator and graphic artist, especially for Leipzig publishers such as Breitkopf & Härtel , Koehler & Amelang , Evangelical Publishing House and Bibliographical Institute.

Most of Hans-Joachim Walch's artistic estate is in the German Museum of Books and Writing in the Leipzig National Library.

Works (selection)

Book illustrations

  • 10 wood engravings on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Myron's cow . oO o.publisher 1953
  • 8 wood engravings for: The Gilgamesh . The first three panels of a story from the ancient Orient . University of Graphics and Book Art Leipzig, Leipzig 1955 (1958 also as Insel-Buch 203 / 1B)
  • 21 wood engravings for Don Juan Manuel : Count Lukanor . Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1961
  • Illustrations for Horst Kunze : The big book from the book. A history of the book and the book trade from the beginning until today presented in words and pictures . Children's book publisher, Berlin 1983
  • 37 wood engravings on Washington Irving: Rip van Winkle . Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1976 ( IB 580/2)
  • 5 wood engravings from Herman Melville: Kikeriki or the crowing of the noble rooster Benvenuto . Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1962 (IB 729)
  • 13 wood engravings on Ernest Hemingway: The storm surges of spring . Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1980 (IB 902 / 1B)
  • 9 wood engravings on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: The man of fifty years . Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1971 (IB 921)

Book cover designs, dust jackets and typography

  • Hugo von Hofmannsthal: poems and small dramas . Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1956 (dust jacket, typography)
  • Ricarda Huch: The Thirty Years War . Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1957 (dust jacket, typography)
  • The trolley book ... . Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1958 (IB 132 / 1C)
  • Jost Amman : The Book of Status . Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1975 (IB 133 / 2B)
  • Friedrich Schiller: The strange siege of Antwerp . Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1975 (IB 165 / 1B)

literature

  • Herbert Kästner (ed.): The island library. Bibliography 1912–2012 [on the occasion of the anniversary “100 years Insel-Bücherei 2012”], Insel Verlag, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-458-17540-7 .
  • Horst Kunze: Hans-Joachim Walch as illustrator and book designer. In: Marginalia. Journal of book art and bibliophilia. ed. from the Pirckheimer Society. Issue 65, 1977, pp. 15-27.
  • Heinz Sarkowski (Ed., Author): The Insel-Verlag 1899–1999. The history of the publisher . (Chronicle 1965–1999 by Wolfgang Jeske. Introduced by Siegfried Unseld). Insel, Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1999, ISBN 3-458-16985-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Julia Frohn: Literature Exchange in Divided Germany: 1945 - 1972 . Ch.links Verlag, Berlin 2014, p. 254
  2. ↑ Catalog raisonné from 1952 to 1975 in Horst Kunze: Hans-Joachim Walch as illustrator and book designer. In: Marginalia. Issue 65, 1977, p. 22 ff.
  3. ^ Book market from May 19, 2009 ( online ).
personal data
SURNAME Walch, Hans-Joachim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German graphic artist, wood engraver and typographer
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 17th September 1991
Place of death Leipzig