Heinz Vogel

This article deals with the painter Heinz Vogel. For the journalist of the same name, see Heinz Vogel (journalist) .

Heinz Vogel (born May 31, 1898 in Königswinter , † September 21, 1977 in Garmisch ) was a local painter with the focus of his work in Mönchengladbach .

Life

Heinz Vogel came from a merchant family. After completing school in Bonn, he completed an apprenticeship as a drawing teacher at the Cologne School of Applied Arts during the First World War, and in 1920 acquired the qualification to teach grammar schools in Berlin . In 1921 he found his first job at the Stiftisches Humanist Gymnasium in Mönchengladbach , where he stayed until he retired in March 1961. He was nicknamed "Kuhschwanz Heini" by the students . The origin of this name is not entirely clear. Allegedly it is said to have originated because, as the lowest-ranking teacher, he came last when the college moved into the auditorium. Another interpretation traces the term back to the hair combed straight back, which ended in the suggestion of a pigtail - an unusual hairstyle for the time.

Heinz Vogel only interrupted his teaching activities during World War II when he was called up for military service.

After his retirement, the childless teacher moved to Bonn with his wife Clemence and lived there, interrupted by longer stays in Bavaria, in seclusion until his death.

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Heinz Vogel discovered painting for himself soon after completing his training as a drawing teacher.

One of his first projects after joining the Stiftisches Humanist Gymnasium in 1921 was to paint the school corridors across the board. After the building was destroyed during the war, nothing of this is traceable.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Heinz Vogel preferred oil painting; he found his motifs in the quiet landscapes of the Lower Rhine : small streams with poplars, lush green meadows with gnarled willows, winter landscapes. Still lifes with flowers were also part of his repertoire, mainly chrysanthemums. He repeated his favorite motifs in numerous variations.

Heinz Vogel also made etchings of local city scenes: Abteiberg von Mönchengladbach , City Hall in Viersen , Rheydt Castle and Moers were his favorites.

At the front, the artist temporarily switched to depictions of soldiers in the field, who were cannibalized at an exhibition by the Nazi press to propagate their "persevere slogans" ( Rheinische Landeszeitung from January 17 and March 28, 1943). Numerous pictures of the destroyed city of Mönchengladbach in 1945/1946 bear witness to the artist's clear disillusionment after the end of the war.

In the 50s and 60s, Heinz Vogel returned to home painting. Landscapes in the Allgäu were now also part of his repertoire, since the artist went there every year on summer vacation. He also made large-format watercolors, preferably still lifes, less often portraits. Critics have accused the "leisurely painter's corner" of the local artist group "Kante und Planke", who was close to Heinz Vogel, for not having learned anything from the tremendous political upheavals of their time ( Westdeutsche Zeitung of December 10, 1948).

After moving from Mönchengladbach to Bonn, things got quiet around Heinz Vogel.

Prints are still available today in galleries in Mönchengladbach; after the artist's death, his wife Clemence, who has since died and kept the printing plates, signed. Most of the oil paintings are now in private hands. Little hangs in public buildings in Mönchengladbach and the surrounding area (a café, a funeral home, a pub near Wegberg-Wildenrath ).

Exhibitions

• 1921 First exhibition of early works in Mönchengladbach
• 1930 Second exhibition
• 1943 “Soldiers create the image of our time”, House of Art
• 1946 "Artist of the Border District" in the Municipal Museum (3 oil paintings)
• 1948 Christmas exhibition "Artists of the Homeland" in the Municipal Museum (1 watercolor)
• 1961 Exhibition in the Krichel Gallery
• 1981 Posthumous further exhibition in the Krichel Gallery "Etchings - Aquarelle"