Hans Karl Steffen

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Exhibition catalog "Grimmige Idyllen", Klartext Verlag, Essen 2000

Hans Karl Steffen (born February 24, 1930 in Dortmund ; † May 21, 1994 there) was a visual artist ( painter ) from Dortmund.

HK Steffen, as he signed his pictures, only became a freelance painter at the age of thirty and without any academic training. He painted representationally and described his way of working as follows: “In my painting I am not looking for sensations, but rather what is present, looking for what is socially problematic because it is what opposes me that is essential for me.” His extensive work goes far beyond a classification as a "painter of the Ruhr area". The lack of any transfiguration in his motifs was summarized by a reviewer as “Grim Idylls in Times of Change” (see literature).

Life

Hans Karl Steffen came from a family of miners in today's Dortmund-Eving district . According to his self-description, his cradle was between a prince and a minister - the mines Fürst Hardenberg and Minister Stein. He also lived in Bochum-Werne and until his death in Dortmund-Hörde . After his apprenticeship in the commercial sector, which had a difficult start due to the World War and the aftermath of the war, he worked in various professions, as a construction and machine worker in road construction and also in a museum, possibly in a process of reorientation before he found his calling and his profession in the visual arts , albeit with difficult income as a freelance artist. Steffen was married, but ultimately living separately. He is the father of six children.

Exhibitions

literature

  • Steffen, Hans Karl, My Time , Dortmund, 1970 (private print)
  • Steffen, Hans Karl, A lyrical curriculum vitae , Hochschule für Gestaltung, Stuttgart, 1971
  • Pfundtner, Raimund (ed.): Hans Karl Steffen. Grim idylls - painting of the Ruhr area. Writings of the Fritz Hüser Institute for German and Foreign Workers' Literature of the City of Dortmund, Series I: Exhibition Catalogs, Vol. 10, ed. by Dr. Rainer Noltenius, 120 pages, 89 color illustrations, twelve black and white sketches, Essen: Klartext Verlag, 2000

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Review of the exhibition catalog "Hans Karl Steffen. Grim Idylls - Painting of the Ruhr Area ” ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (see literature)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.geschichtskultur-ruhr.de
personal data
SURNAME Steffen, Hans Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Dortmund
DATE OF DEATH May 21, 1994
Place of death Dortmund