Hans Lewerenz

Hans Georg Lewerenz (born May 21, 1915 in Stargard in Pomerania , † February 3, 2006 in Kulmbach ) was a German painter , graphic artist and sculptor .

Painting by Hans Lewerenz: The catwalk 1967; Published with the kind permission of the owner

life and work

youth

Hans Lewerenz was born in Stargard in Pomerania as the sixth of six children of the master gunsmith and weapon maker Richard Lewerenz . He attended the Gröningianum grammar school there and got to know the art tendencies of the time after the First World War through the artist Hans Schwarzer, who worked there as an art teacher .

Berlin 1936 to 1943

Following a recommendation, Hans Lewerenz, supported by a grant from the Province of Pomerania , was accepted into the Academy of Arts in Berlin . He became a master student of Karl Hofer's successor class with Paul Plontke and Gerhard Ullrich.

Second World War

In the Second World War , Hans Lewerenz was used as a soldier from day one and fought on various fronts. The enormous extent of the destruction experienced, the Nazi terror and the presence of death, the dying of friends, especially in the Soviet prisoner-of-war until 1947, shaped his feelings and the wondrous worlds that arose from it. The destruction of the family during the war through displacement and air raids also contributed to this. A direct hit in the parents' house in Szczecin wiped out the family legacy as well as most of the works created up to that point. The use of the atom bomb was later discussed repeatedly.

Kulmbach 1947 to 1960

After the war and imprisonment, Hans Lewerenz managed to establish contact with friends from his time in Berlin. The architect Fritz Kerling, an employee of Heinrich Presse and lifelong friend of the artist, brought him to the Franconian city ​​of Kulmbach in the post-war confusion. The friendship with the architect Josef Lorenz, the builder of the St. Kunigund Church in Bamberg , and the Bauhaus artist Egon Engelien continued the pre-war discussion of the art trends of the 1920s. However, social tendencies related to the theories of Hans Sedlmayr, loss of the center , set the utopian approaches narrower limits. Two sons emerged from the marriage with Brigitta Lewerenz.

Bonn 1960 to 1961

Through Bruno Friedrich and Karl Herold , who later became State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Internal German Relations , Lewerenz came to the conclusion that the knowledge gained from Nazi terror, war and imprisonment required closer proximity to political decision-makers in order to have a positive impact on society. He met Erich Ollenhauer , who was able to convince him, together with Gerhard Zwerenz, to play a central role for the SPD in the federal election campaign against Konrad Adenauer's government . Tendencies in the SPD leadership that ultimately led to the ideology of 1968 ultimately overthrew Ollenhauer. Having lost this advocacy and disgusted by the opportunism of some of his companions, Hans Lewerenz was exposed to hostility and turned away from politics.

Return to Kulmbach 1962 to 1975

Painting by Hans Lewerenz: The magical square 1970; Published with the kind permission of the owner

Lewerenz found other sponsors in Kulmbach and was able to bring his art to the modern architecture of those years by successfully participating in competitions in the extensive building programs of the 1960s and 1970s. The material collages and space-effective installations were used consistently in the spirit of the Bauhaus in functionalist architecture. In painting, too, a departure towards new topics and techniques succeeded in this phase, which, however , were increasingly encoded in the analysis of the philosophy of Martin Heidegger and Carl Gustav Jung . The intensive friendships with Helmut Bruck, a war pilot who received the highest honors and who had radically turned away from the military, and with the later Protestant regional bishop of Bavaria Hermann von Loewenich contributed to this. The themes of doom and redemption were so interwoven in an apparent overcoming of technical problems that a partially decorative appearance was deposited in a disturbing way.

Late work

After serious health problems, no further public contracts could be accepted, and there was the appearance of complete exhaustion in dealing with the serious issues of the past. In this section the documents for visits by well-known personalities contained in the Golden Book of the city of Kulmbach were created. Through his work on the church council of the Evangelical Church in Kulmbach, Lewerenz turned more to graphics and sacred cabaret. Remarkable interpretations of the crucifixion emerged , which placed the question of salvation more at the center. The visit to the old homeland in Pomerania and East Prussia in 1979 as well as the reunion with his brother Erich, who was believed to be lost, took the edge off the desperate look at the past. There were now cycles that deal with the development and decay in nature in such a way that the pictures are increasingly painted over and periodically changed.

Aftermath

In Kulmbach there was a discussion of architecture that lasted more than five decades and that still shapes the appearance of the city with numerous sculptural works ( art in architecture ). Today, many plants belong to bygone eras and are increasingly endangered , especially by indifferent renovations that are justified by the Energy Saving Ordinance.

Lewerenz left behind a large number of graphics and paintings, which are now scattered in private collections. The estate in Brigitta Lewerenz's collection contains some paintings from the last phase of life, drafts, diaries and writings that have been left behind. Hans Lewerenz always vehemently opposed interpretations of his work and referred to Heidegger:

“The artist himself is there in these sounds; because the presence of the master in the work is the only real one. "

- Martin Heidegger : Serenity.

Selected Works

• Residential houses at Caspar-Fischer-Straße Kulmbach: Ceramic figures around 1950
• Schobert bakery, Spitalgasse Kulmbach; Façade fesko, 1951 (broken off)
• Dietzel bakery, Kulmbach settlement: Façade fesco 1951
• Laundry Dr. Dilcher, Kulmbach: Façade fesko around 1952
• Hardenberghof Kulmbach: Various sculptures (season cycle majolica), frescoes around 1952
• Mönchshof Kulmbach: frescoed facade and painting of the guest room 1952
• Max Hundt School, Kulmbach: 3 reliefs, one full sculpture; Pottery around 1952
• Ängerlein Kulmbach: 4 portrait medallions, majolica around 1955
• Hermann-Limmer-Straße / Ängerlein, Kulmbach: Ceramic medallions
• Petrikirche Kulmbach: dial wrought iron fire-gilded 1960,
• Kulmbach Hardenbergstraße, AOK: Ceramic figures in the atrium around 1960
• Reichelbräu, Kulmbach: Ceramic coat of arms 1963
• St. Georgen School, Bayreuth: St. Georg facade mosaic around 1963
• Obere Apotheke Kulmbach: Design of the corner figure as an aluminum sculpture around 1965
• Mühle Himmelkron: writing, coat of arms brass shield 1965
• Gasthof Horn, Grafengehaig: Font on the facade 1965
• Mönchshofbräu Kulmbach: font as plaster cut (scraffito)
• Karl Herold senior housing complex in Kulmbach, murals around 1967
• Gasfabrikgässchen Kulmbach: balconies, mosaic pictures with Caspar Walter Rau 1968 (canceled 1985)
• District office Kulmbach: coat of arms of the district, bronze work with mosaic 1969
• Caspar-Vischer-Gymnasium Kulmbach, new building: mosaic of the inner courtyard with Caspar Walter Rau 1969
• Sparkasse Kulmbach, new building, meeting room: murals, metal montages 1970
• Stadtschänke Kulmbach, Holzmarkt: facade image as metal montages, copper 1970
• Realschule Kulmbach, new building: murals 1972
• Kulmbach special school, new building: murals, orientation system as symbols 1973
• Federal Institute for Meat Research, new building: series of panels on the history of meat processing 1974
• Mangersreuth Church: picture cross 1978
• Collection of Upper Franconian artists on the Plassenburg in Kulmbach: paintings, oil and mixed media: Ash Wednesday 1964
• Entries in the Golden Book of the City of Kulmbach from 1958 to 1985

literature

• Sylvia Claus: Harry Rosenthal (1892-1966) architect and designer. Zurich 2006, p. 104.
• Archdiocese of Bamberg (ed.): Church leaders, chronicle of St. Kunigund, work of the architect Josef Lorenz.
• Hans M. Wingler: The Bauhaus. 4th edition, Cologne 2002, p. 552.
• Hans Lewerenz †. In: Bayerische Rundschau of February 9, 2006, p. 10.
• Evangelisch in Kulmbach , No. 101, from March 2006, p. 2, farewell
• Sunder whybe. Hans Lewerenz In: ibd. No. 94, from May / June 2005, p. 3
• Christ sketch in St. Petri. In: Bayerische Rundschau of May 9, 2007, p. 13.
• AWO Kulmbach (Hrsg.): Art and culture in the Karl-Herold-Seniorenwohnanlage. Brochure, 2005, pp. 20-23.
• Sparkasse Kulmbach (Ed.): Our district of Kulmbach. Verlag EC Baumann, Kulmbach 1985, p. 89 u. 92, painting “Ship of Fools”, 1969.
• A sign calls a church. In: encounter. Letter from the Evangelical Lutheran parish of Seibelsdorf. No. 9 of November 27, 1974, pp. 1-3.
• Zeitschrift für Erlebnispädagogik, May 2006, pp. 16-18, Outward Bound international global players, obituary a. Fig. V. Symbol for Collegium Martinum eV Kulmbach.
• Martin Heidegger: Serenity. Günther Neske Verlag, Pfullingen 1959.
• Hans Sedlmayr: loss of the middle. Otto Müller Verlag, Salzburg 1948.