Hans Hermann (graphic artist)

Hans Hermann (born January 25, 1885 in Kronstadt , Transylvania ; † February 13, 1980 in Sibiu , Romania ) was a Transylvanian painter , graphic artist , draftsman and art teacher .

Hans Hermann self-portrait 1923

Life

Hans Hermann was born in Kronstadt as the son of the sculptor Friedrich Hermann. Both parents came from the Transylvanian city of Schäßburg , their ancestors were craftsmen and Protestant pastors. Hermann got to know different materials in his father's studio and was encouraged to paint, draw and model. In Kronstadt, Hans Hermann attended the German elementary school and then the Hungarian state secondary school. His drawing teachers also included the pedagogue, painter and draftsman Ernst Kühlbrandt (1891–1975), with whom, however, he did not develop a real teacher-student relationship. The same applies to other painters of the time, such as painter Carl Dörschlag (1837–1917), Octavian Smigelschi (1867–1912), Arthur Coulin (1869–1912) and Friedrich Miess (1854–1935), in whose studio Hans Hermann himself often stayed.

After graduating from high school, Hans Hermann decided to become a drawing teacher, for which he prepared by studying in 1903 and 1907 at the Department of Drawing Professors at the University of Fine Arts in Budapest (Képsömüvészeti Föiskola). There he was a student of László Hegedus , Tivadar Zemplényi and Aladar Edvi-Jllés, among others . In Budapest he passed his teacher examination. Until the outbreak of the First World War he was a teacher at the Mediascher Deutsche Gymnasium and from 1918 to 1949 at the German Brukenthal-Gymnasium in Sibiu .

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Hans Hermann's early work is characterized by the curved lines and the flat painting style of the Secession style . The drawing “The Music of the Kronstadt Mountains” shows that symbolism was not alien to him either. The revolution in the visual arts that took place at the beginning of the 20th century also occupied Hans Hermann, who dealt with the new art theories. However, he came to believe that abstract, non-representational art must necessarily lead to a dead end. Nevertheless, some of his works, such as B. the woodcut “Friedhof in Poiana” (1922) expressionist traits.

Hans Hermann experienced the First World War as a voluntary Imperial and Royal Lieutenant in Volhynia and Istria , at that time parts of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. In contrast to his generation comrades Ludwig Hesshaimer , Hans Eder , Fritz Kimm , the events of the war left no traces in his oeuvre .

After settling in Sibiu, Hermann devoted himself primarily to landscape painting, a genre that had already become a tradition here and was well received by the public. His landscapes are realistic and surrounded by a romantic touch. In addition to untouched nature, especially winter mountain landscapes or atmospheric autumn pictures, he also painted landmarks of the Transylvanian-Saxon towns and cityscapes. There are also portraits of Saxon peasant women in traditional costume, which are meticulously reproduced, as well as excerpts from everyday village life.

Another artistic field was graphics. In 1911 he had bought a copperplate printing press in Austria, which was to remain the only one of its size in Hungary for a long time and then in Romania. He tried all the techniques of metal printing, but also wood and linocut as well as stone printing. The motifs of his graphics are the same as those of his oil painting.

After the Second World War, after Romania became a People's Republic, Hermann took over the chairmanship of the Sibiu branch of the Association of Visual Artists, which he held until 1966. During the first post-war years he painted pictures of workers and LPG farmers in the dominant style of Socialist Realism , a phase that he was soon to overcome. Then he returned to his tried and tested painting style, took part in exhibitions at home and abroad and received numerous awards.

Exhibitions

• 1921 - First exhibition at the Maison d'Art gallery, Bucharest
• 1924 - Solo exhibition in the Mediasch city gallery
• 1929, 1930 - Solo exhibition in the Blue House, Hermannstadt (Sibiu)
• 1930, 1931 - own exhibition in the Salon Amelang, Berlin and in the "Association of Visual Artists", Berlin; then in the Artaria-Saal, Vienna
• 1937 - solo exhibition in the hall of the Comedia Theater, Bucharest
• 1939 - Solo exhibition in the Dalles Hall, Bucharest
• 1942 - Participation in the first major traveling exhibition “German Artists from Romania” Neues Museum, Stuttgart; Kunstsaal in Saarbrücken, Diedenhofen / Alsace-Lorraine (Organizer: Gauverband Württemberg des Volksbund for Germanness Abroad in the Memorial of German Achievement Abroad)
• 1944 - Participation in the second major “Art Exhibition. German Artists from Romania ”, Künstlerhaus, Vienna and Salzburg, then in the Great Hall in the Breslauer Schloss, Breslau
• 1947–1957 - Participation in all local and regional exhibitions of the Romanian Artists Association in Hermannstadt (Sibiu), Kronstadt (Brașov) and Klausenburg (Cluj-Napoca)
• 1955 - Large retrospective as a solo exhibition (150 paintings and graphics) in the Fondul-Plastic-Saal, Bucharest
• 1952–1957 - Participation in the official, representative Romanian art exhibitions in Bulgaria, Finland, China, Argentina, Mexico and Albania
• 1968–1979 - Participation in the regional exhibition of the Artists' Union in Sibiu

Awards

• 1937 - State Prize for Graphics
• 1954 - Working Medal (Medalia Muncii)
• 1965 - Medal and title of "Honored Artist of the People" for his many years of activity as a visual artist
• 1968 - Award of the labor order, 2nd class "for outstanding work in the cultural and artistic field"
• 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973 - Honorary diplomas from the Cultural Council for his work as a visual artist

Literature (selection)

• Victor Roth : Hans Hermann. In: Siebenbürgisch-Deutsches Tageblatt (Hermannstadt / Nagyszeben), Volume 44, No. 13904, November 21, 1917, p. 5.
• Hans Wühr: The battlements and the Kronstadt painters. In: Klingsor. Transylvanian magazine (Kronstadt), 3rd year, April 1926, issue 4, pp. 128-134.
• Wolf Aichelburg: Hans Hermann, the painter of Transylvania. In: Volk und Kultur (Bucharest), 9th year, No. 8; Aug 1957, pp. 16-18.
• Julius Bielz : Hans Hermann. Editura pentru Literatură și Artă, Bucureşti, 1957. Seria Maeştri artei româneşti.
• Horst Zay: Inexhaustible creativity. Visit to the studio of Hans Hermann. In: Hermannstädter Zeitung (Sibiu), No. 23, June 17, 1968, p. 5.
• Claus Stephani : "Pictures have to be like bridges." Conversation with Hans Hermann. In: Volk und Kultur (Bucharest), 20/11, 1968, p. 37.
• Wolf Aichelburg: Old cityscapes silently hidden in stone. In: Hermannstädter Zeitung (Sibiu), No. 192, August 27, 1971, p. 5.
• Brigitte Stephani: Expression of a moment. On the death of Hans Hermann. In: Volk und Kultur (Bucharest), 32/3, 1980, pp. 16-17. (Reprinted in: Brigitte Stephani (ed.): They shaped our art. Studies and essays. Dacia Verlag, Cluj-Napoca, 1985, pp. 241–243.)
• Octavian Barbosa: Dicționarul artiștilor români contemporani. Editura Meridiane, Bucureşti, 1976, pp. 230-231.
• Karin Bertalan: Hans Hermann. Kriterion Verlag, Bucharest, 1982.
• Rohtraut Wittstock-Reich: Of the high commandment of order. Hans Hermann celebrated his 93rd birthday. In: Volk und Kultur (Bucharest), 32/3, 1980, p. 17. (Reprinted in: Brigitte Stephani (ed.): They shaped our art. Studies and essays. Dacia Verlag, Cluj-Napoca, 1985, p. 248-250.)
• Brigitte Nussbächer-Stephani: "My drawn memory album." The unknown sketch portfolios by Hans Hermann. In: Neue Kronstädter Zeitung (Munich), 18/3, 20 September 2002, p. 7.
• Gudrun Liane Ittu: Transylvanian artists after 1945. In: Siebenbürgische Zeitung (Munich), March 7, 2003.
• Stefan Schulze: Hermann, Hans . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 72, de Gruyter, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-023177-9 , p. 199.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ illustrated in the magazine “Die Karpathen” published by Adolf Meschendörfer (No. 18, June 15, 1909)