Heinrich Wallau

Heinrich Wallau (born September 19, 1852 in Mainz , † April 13, 1925 in Zwingenberg , Bergstrasse ) was a printer and art lover.

Live and act

Heinrich Wallau was the son of the printer's owner and later Lord Mayor of Mainz, Carl Wallau . At the age of 23 he took over his father's print shop, in which he had received his training as a printer and which he managed until he suffered from a nervous disease in 1894; it was then taken over by the printer of his friend Victor von Zabern .

As a young man, Wallau listened to the lectures of the art historian Anton Springer and developed a love and taste for art; In particular, he devoted his life to the artistic aspect of printing. The paternal “book and lithographic printing shop” became the “Typographische Kunst-Anstalt” and in 1889 the “Art Print Shop”. The commercial mainstay of the company were commercials , i. H. Advertising, price lists, stationery, business cards, tables etc. His clients included respected companies such as the A. Bembé furniture factory and the Kupferberg sparkling wine producer in Mainz, Dyckerhoff AG in Biebrich near Wiesbaden and Villeroy & Boch in Mettlach. The Mainz city administration entrusted him with the printing of currency papers , contracts and drafts for the city nursery; The Mainz garrison was also one of the customers. For the Mainz publishing house Diemer, Wallau u. a. "The Roman Rhine Bridge near Mainz" (1884), "The Landgraves and Hesse-Darmstadt" (1894), for the Kirchheim-Verlag 1887 "The legend of St. Rupert near Bingen", a facsimile print of a work published in Oppenheim in 1524, and for Herder in Freiburg 1888 Wedewer's work on “Johann Dietenberger 1475–1537. His life and work ”, to name just a few notable examples from his workshop.

For the graphic design of his prints, Wallau mostly employed freelance artists, such as the graphic artist Peter Halm , who was born in Mainz and lives in Munich, and later also Conrad Sutter and Otto Hupp . Wallau had a long-standing friendship with the Mainz clergyman and art historian Friedrich Schneider , who placed him with commissions, ordered personal items such as ex libris and letterheads from him, and used him to print smaller essays and more extensive works such as the "Festgabe zuropening des Paulus- Museums in Worms 1882 "and the" memorial sheets for the Gutenberg celebration on the 50th anniversary of the erection of the Gutenberg monument in 1837 "in 1887.

Heinrich Wallau was a typical representative of historicism in that he preferred patterns from bygone eras for the graphic design of his prints, such as the Rococo , mainly by Halm, and the Renaissance, for example represented by Otto Hupp. After the closure of his office, he stood by his successor von Zabern in an advisory capacity, was an honorary member of the Artistic Advisory Council of the German Reich Printing House in Berlin from 1905 to 1924 and published research on printing and writing such as "The Facsimile of the Stone Inscriptions of the Mainz Museum " 1900, and "Gutenberg, Techniker und Künstler", 1905. Heinrich Wallau has been a member of the board of the Mainz Gutenberg Society since it was founded , where he worked as an incunabula and Gutenberg researcher.

Two printing principles were used in the Wallausch Offizin : letterpress, mainly for work printing, and lithography for commercial printing; Zinkotypie and photogravure have also been used.

In honor of Wallau, the font foundry of Karl Klingspor, who was friends with Wallau, in Offenbach brought out a font designed by Rudolf Koch , the "Wallau". It uses the Gothic circular script.

Appreciation

In 1995, the Gutenberg Museum of the City of Mainz organized an exhibition “The Wallau Printing Works. Company portrait of a Mainz store in the 19th century ”.

Publications (selection)

• Aesthetik der Druckschrift, in: Gesammelte Studien zur Kunstgeschichte. A festive edition on May 4, 1885 for Anton Springer, pp. 151–156, with 8 plates.
• About punctures in old prints . In: Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen , Vol. 5, 1888, pp. 91–92 ( online ).
• The facsimile of the stone inscriptions in the Mainz Museum , in: West German Journal for History and Art XIX, Trier 1900, pp. 180–196
• Gutenberg, Techniker und Künstler , in: 4th annual report of the Gutenberg Society for 1904/05, also as a special edition of 20 pages
• Artistic typeface and Hupps "Liturgisch" , in: Archiv für Buchgewerbe 43, 1906, pp. 467–468
• Early forms of the Semitic-Greek letter writing and the writing of the Minoan culture , in: Friedrich Schneider, for his 70th birthday, studies from art and history, 1906, pp. 577-582, with 1 plate

literature

• The Mainz book printers and bookshops and their staff. In: United Mainzer Buchdrucker u. Bookseller (ed.): Memorial sheets for the Gutenberg celebration on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Gutenberg monument in Mainz on August 14, 1837. sn, Mainz 1887, separate count.
• Friedrich Schneider: Mainz and its printers. In: United Mainzer Buchdrucker u. Bookseller (ed.): Memorial sheets for the Gutenberg celebration on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Gutenberg monument in Mainz on August 14, 1837. sn, Mainz 1887, separate count.
• Friedrich Schneider : Peter Halm and his print decorations. In: Friedrich Schneider: Art history studies. Collected Essays. Volume 1: Kurmainzer Art. Staadt, Wiesbaden 1913, pp. 59–72.
• Annemarie Meinen: The printer Heinrich Wallau. A picture of life. In: Gutenberg yearbook. 1937, ISSN  0072-9094 , pp. 239-251. This contains a complete list of the essays and reviews of Heinrich Wallau.
• Doris Hodel (Hrsg.): The legacy of Gutenberg multiplied. The Wallau printing works: Company portrait of a Mainz printing press in the 19th century. Gutenberg Museum, Mainz 1995 (catalog for the exhibition, Mainz, Gutenberg Museum, February 7 to May 28, 1995).

E-books

1. ↑ Peter Halm and his print decorations as an e-book (PDF; 698 kB)