Heinz-Karl Kummer

Heinz-Karl Kummer (born March 13, 1920 in Bernsdorf (Oberlausitz) , † March 2, 1987 in Lauchhammer ) was a German artist. In the GDR he worked as a freelance painter and graphic artist, mainly in Lauchhammer. His mosaics on prefabricated buildings , among others in Hoyerswerda and Elsterwerda and a school in Ortrand , are particularly well known to the public.

Life

Kummer learned the craft of a decorative painter from the age of 14. In 1938 he was accepted at the painting school in Buxtehude near Hamburg. But as early as 1939 he was called up for labor service and shortly afterwards for military service in the Wehrmacht . In the Second World War he was used in the war against the Soviet Union . He was wounded and taken prisoner of war. After his return he became a student with Walter Prescher van Ed in Dresden in 1951 and began studying at the Art Academy in Berlin-Weißensee with Arno Mohr , Theo Balden and Bert Heller , of whose Berlin artist collective Kummer became a member in 1953. In 1952 he became a member of the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR . This commitment to the developments of his time is reflected in his works. From 1954 he worked as a freelance painter and graphic artist in Lauchhammer in what was then the Cottbus district . In 1956 he married Irene Schmalfuß.

Create

Kummer came from a family of miners. His early works, woodcuts , oil paintings and watercolors , are shaped by his experiences during the war and the post-war period. In the 1950s, he mainly created portraits and pictures of the industrial landscape, in particular the open-cast mine landscape around Lauchhammer. Kummer created many of his works, often watercolors and gouache, also outside of the studio in the places where he was and which he captured, for example in the great outdoors or in the mining industry.

In the GDR he mostly carried out commissioned works for the construction industry. This is how the well-known murals and mosaics were created . Due to the demolition of many prefabricated buildings in East German cities, some of these works were either destroyed or threatened with destruction. Kummer was also a technically versatile painter who worked in a wide variety of techniques. In addition to drawings, he created gouaches and pastels , worked with ceramics , and made inlay work , created posters and, in addition to his artistic work, was also a restorer for museums at home and abroad.

On June 3, 2000, Christine Przybilski opened an exhibition on sorrow in the Senftenberg jewelry and gallery .

Pictures (selection)

Couple in a lovely autumn landscape (1976)
Hand - Stop Industry (1987) (watercolor)
Self-portrait (painting on oil, 1986)
Head (tempera, 1984)

Awards

In 2010 the PDS / PUR-Lauchhammer parliamentary group applied for Kummer to be given honorary citizenship of the city. But there are allegations that Kummer was a "system loyal GDR artist". Formally, honorary citizenship fails due to the statutes of the city of Lauchhammer, which, after the last change, do not provide for the posthumous award of honorary citizenship.

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Tragedy about Heinz Karl Kummer . Part of a work was integrated into a mural by another artist
^ Exhibition about grief in the >> Jewelery and Gallery Senftenberg by Christine Przybilski <<

personal data
SURNAME	Grief, Heinz-Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German artist
DATE OF BIRTH	March 13, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH	Bernsdorf , Upper Lusatia
DATE OF DEATH	March 2nd 1987
Place of death	Lauchhammer

[1] Tragedy about Heinz Karl Kummer . Part of a work was integrated into a mural by another artist

[2] Exhibition about grief in the >> Jewelery and Gallery Senftenberg by Christine Przybilski <<