Hans Theo Richter

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Hans Theo Richter (born August 7, 1902 in Rochlitz , † September 14, 1969 in Dresden ) was a German painter and graphic artist.

life and work

Richter lost his father early in 1903. In 1907 the mother moved to Niederlößnitz (now part of Radebeul ). After graduating from secondary school in Radebeul in 1918, he studied painting and graphics at the Dresden Applied Arts Academy from 1919 to 1923 under Paul Hermann, Arno Drescher and Georg Erler and in 1923 under Josef Goller and Max Frey . In 1922 he met Georg Richter-Lößnitz , in whose workshop he was allowed to print his first etchings. From 1926 to 1931 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden with Richard Müller , from 1928 as a master student of Otto Dix . In 1929 he moved to a studio in Dresden, where he worked freelance from 1932. He kept artistic contact with Karl Kröner and Paul Wilhelm .

In 1930 he married Gisela Hergesell from Breslau , who made a living with arts and crafts. Since then, both of them have spent long periods of the year in Wroclaw. The first works were purchased by the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wroclaw.

In 1932 he received the anniversary prize of the city of Dresden, at the same time he became a member of the German Association of Artists . That year Richter held his first solo exhibition in Dresden in the Galerie Neue Kunst Fides . In 1933 he was awarded the Rome Prize of the German Association of Artists. The associated stay in Rome was prevented by the National Socialist authorities. Otto Dix portrayed the Richter couple in the same year.

In 1935 he met Gerhard Marcks , went to the International Graphic Exhibition of the Art Institute in Chicago the following year and visited Franz Marc's widow in 1937 . In 1938 he received the first prize for graphics at the International Graphics Exhibition in Chicago.

Grave of Hans Theo Richters in the Loschwitz cemetery

Released from military service because he was physically unfit, he was able to continue working and received the Albrecht Dürer Prize of the city of Nuremberg in 1941. In 1943 judge Käthe visited Kollwitz in Berlin. In the following year he was appointed lecturer for graphics at the State Academy for Graphic Arts and Book Industry in Leipzig by Arno Drescher . His wife Gisela died in the bombing of Dresden on February 13, 1945 , and at the same time he lost most of his previous artistic work.

Richter was appointed professor of graphics at the Dresden University of Fine Arts in 1947, which he remained until his retirement in 1967. In that year he also made friends with Josef Hegenbarth and Wilhelm Lachnit and married his student Hildegard Fausten. In 1950 he met Gustav Seitz .

In 1955 he received the silver medal at the International Exhibition of Graphics in Warsaw. In 1956 he traveled with Gerhard Marcks to the Rembrandt exhibition in Amsterdam. In the same year he received the appointment as a full member of the German Academy of the Arts in Berlin.

Richter traveled to Moscow and Leningrad with Otto Nagel in 1958. Later that year he went to Holland for three weeks to see the Van Gogh exhibition in Amsterdam and the Kokoschka exhibition in The Hague. In 1959 Richter was elected a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, after which he traveled to the documenta II in Kassel. In 1963 he was present at the opening of his exhibition in the Muzeum Śląskie in Breslau, and a year later at the documenta III in Kassel. In 1965 he was awarded the Burda Prize for Graphics in Munich and the National Prize of the GDR .

Richter fell seriously ill in 1966 and suffered a heart attack. The following year he retired as a professor at the Dresden University of Fine Arts.

Hans Theo Richter died on September 14, 1969 in Dresden. His grave with the sculpture Christ made of Saalburg marble by Friedrich Press from 1972 is in the Loschwitz cemetery .

Hans Theo Richter Prize

The widow of Hans Theo Richter donated the Hans Theo Richter Prize to the Saxon Academy of the Arts . It is awarded for special achievements in the fine arts, especially in the field of drawing and graphics, and is endowed with 20,000 euros. The winners are determined by the decision of a jury consisting of members of the visual arts class of the Saxon Academy of the Arts , the board of the Hildegard and Hans Theo Richter Foundation and the director of the Kupferstich-Kabinett of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

Prize winners are 1998 Max Uhlig , 1999 Jiri Kolar , 2000 Paula Ribariu and Werner Wittig , 2001 Peter Graf , 2003 Thomas Ranft , 2005 Lutz Fleischer , 2007 Wolfram Adalbert Scheffler , 2010 Dieter Goltzsche , 2012 Hanns Schimansky , 2014 Claus Weidensdorfer , 2017 Marlene Dumas .

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Richter, Hans Theo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH August 7, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Rochlitz
DATE OF DEATH September 14, 1969
Place of death Dresden