Hans Potthof

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Hans Potthof , also Johnny Potthof , was born in Hans Potthoff (born January 24, 1911 in Zug ; † March 29, 2003 there ), was a Swiss painter and graphic artist .

Life

Hans Potthoff's father was a textile merchant from Westphalia, and his mother was born in Zug. Born in Zug, Hans Potthoff spent his earliest youth in Zurich , where he attended the first two primary classes. Then the family moved to Lucerne and after secondary school, Potthof attended the Lucerne School of Applied Arts , which was then headed by Joseph von Moos , because he enjoyed drawing . He received a scholarship, but he should learn a job. So he did an apprenticeship as an automobile mechanic in Kriens. After two and a half years he got tired of them and in 1929 went to the technical center in Winterthur, where he graduated as a structural engineer with a diploma in 1933.

Until 1936 Potthoff worked in Heinrich Peikert's architecture office, now Peikert Contract AG, in Zug. He took part in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin as a kayaker (single kayak, 1000 meters: prelims) and was nicknamed "Johnny" because he resembled swimming world champion Johnny Weissmüller . Together with the graphic artist Karl Steichele, Potthof founded the advertising graphics studio "Stepo" in Zug in 1936 as an autodidact.

For him, who had meanwhile deleted the second f of his name, a four-month stay in Paris in the winter of 1938/1939 was formative. He had gone to Paris to become a good graphic artist, discovered color and oil painting, and decided to become a painter. He draws nudes at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière , lived in a studio in Montparnasse and occasionally met the painters Henry Wabel (1889–1981) or Christian Staub (1918–2004) from Switzerland. He experienced and recognized the Impressionists as his closest relatives of painters and France repeatedly attracted and inspired him.

From 1939 he lived in Zug as a freelance painter. In 1940 he was a founding member of the "Free Zug artists" association. In 1942 Potthof married Brigit Sohn-Rethel (1921–1995), the eldest daughter of Alfred Sohn-Rethel from his first marriage. This marriage lasted until 1948

His friendship with the Austrian sculptor Fritz Wotruba , who lived in Zug from 1939 to 1945 and who set the trend for him as a role model, brought him to know the collector Oskar Reinhart in Winterthur. He bought several of his paintings. Potthof had lived and worked in a simple 400-year-old farmhouse from 1944, which he had renovated over the years.

In 1945 Potthof received a scholarship from the Gottfried Keller Foundation and in 1946 and 1947 federal art scholarships. Acquisitions by the Swiss Confederation and the Aarau, Chur, Glarus, Lucerne, Winterthur and Zug art museums strengthen Potthof's public recognition. He became a member of the VSG (Association of Swiss Galleries), the Swiss Werkbund and the GSMBA (Society of Swiss Painters and Sculptors). In 1954 he married the dance teacher Martha Schärer (1926–2004).

Since 1945 he made frequent trips to Geneva, France, Spain, Italy, Greece and England. The experience of the sea left clear traces in Potthof's painting. Numerous sketchbooks and watercolors with everyday scenes were created.

plant

The focus of Potthof's painting was on landscapes and everyday scenes. In sketches that were quickly thrown down, he left people standing very small in nature. He painted southern landscapes and Lake Zug in large-format pictures, he was out and about at the Stiermarkt with pen and drawing pad or spontaneously portrayed people in cafes.

Hans Potthof had mainly done watercolors in three periods: in the period up to his first stay in Paris in 1938, on his trip to Greece in 1962 and in the winter of 1966. In 1968 the gouaches took over the painting function of the watercolors. The watercolors of this time show a strong colourfulness and a colorful unity of composition.

«Potthof's work was subject to only minor changes. With the same themes, the lines of the drawing became freer over time, and with increasing distance from the impressionistic manner, the brushwork gained in generosity, the color surfaces in strength and homogeneity. He carries out the designs for art in architecture by hand using all techniques: sgraffito, ceramic mosaic, metal sculpture, acrylic and dispersion painting. "

literature

  • Simone Thalmann: Potthof, Hans. In: Sikart
  • E. Bénézit: Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays par un groupe d'écrivains spécialistes français et étrangers. Nouvelle édition entièrement refondue sous la direction de Jacques Busse. Gründ, Paris 1999, 14 vol.
  • Hans-Jörg Heusser: Lexicon of contemporary Swiss artists. Dictionnaire des artistes suisses contemporains. Catalogo degli artisti svizzeri contemporanei. Swiss Institute for Art Research, Zurich and Lausanne, 1981.
  • Georg M. Hilbi: Hans Potthof. Early painting and photography , Chronos, Zurich ISBN 978-3-0340-1570-7 .
  • Artist Lexicon of Switzerland. XX. Century. Ed .: Association for the publication of the Swiss artists' lexicon, editors: Eduard Plüss, Hans Christoph von Tavel. Huber, Frauenfeld 1958–1967, 2 vols. [Unchanged reprint 1983]
  • Hans Potthof. Paintings, gouaches, drawings. Kunsthaus Zug, 1981. Texts: Peter Dalcher, Edi Wolfensberger. Zuger Kunstgesellschaft, Zug 1981.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joseph von Moos, SIKART Lexicon on Art in Switzerland
  2. ↑ Artist studio Potthof Zug: House Brüschrain 26
  3. ^ Zug digital library: Potthof-Schärer, Martha (Zug; 1926–2004)
  4. ^ Simone Thalmann: Potthof, Hans. In: Sikart
personal data
SURNAME Potthof, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Potthoff, Hans (maiden name); Potthof, Johnny (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH train
DATE OF DEATH March 29, 2003
Place of death train