Helfried Weiss

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Helfried Weiß (born August 8, 1911 in Kronstadt , Transylvania , then Kingdom of Hungary , † December 6, 2007 in Röhrmoos near Munich ) was a painter, draftsman and art theorist.

Life

Helfried Weiß was born on August 8, 1911 in Kronstadt, where he attended the Honterus High School and was encouraged by the painter Heinrich Schunn at an early age. He began his art studies in Cluj, continued it in Paris and Bucharest, before completing it in 1937 at the Academy of Applied Arts in Munich. Afterwards Helfried Weiß, who had to support a large family, was an art teacher at various schools in Romania, especially in Kronstadt, most recently at the grammar school he had left when he was eighteen. As a freelance artist, he has never been able to afford to devote himself exclusively to his visual work. In 1988 he moved to Germany as a pensioner, first living in Munich and finally in Röhrmoos. After the death of his wife in 1989 he was paralyzed, but numerous trips to Italy, which he undertook with a new companion in the nineties, the shimmering light on the southern landscape and its colorful vibrancy awakened his creative power anew: It was optimistic cheerful watercolors and works in mixed media that give no indication of the age of the person who created them.

In memories that he spoke to the journalist and art historian Claus Stephani on tape in 2004, Helfried Weiß also briefly commented on what his origins meant to him, and laconically stated that Kronstadt, the place of his birth, with few interruptions Even that of his life and work for over 75 years is now "like a phantom pain" for him, that is the sore of limbs that have long been amputated and yet report painfully from time to time.

So in the self-image of this artist there must have been a very close, intimate, almost organic connection to the region of his origin, such as from the trunk to the leg or to the arm and hand. And this type of bond apparently lasted until late, even if the painter turned to other landscapes and other objects in the years after his departure in 1988. From the beginning and until the very end it was probably part of the supporting ground on which the seeker, who is every artist, always found support and from which he could go on to new shores.

plant

Among the Transylvanian-Saxon artists, Helfried Weiß is the undisputed master of material-appropriate black and white graphics. In his work he deals with numerous techniques: linocut, wood engraving, collage, screen printing, stencil printing, monotype and drawing. His art reaches its climax in compositions that are not bound to specific objects and follow spontaneous inspiration.

literature

  • Claus Stephani: Once a day to the Palais du Louvre. Romanian artists in France / On a book by Gabriel Badea-Păun. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung für Romania (Bucharest), December 30, 2015, p. 11.
  • Gabriel Badea-Păun: Pictori români în Franța, 1834–1839. Noi Media Print: București, 2012, p. 279 ISBN 978-606-572-014-5
  • Gertrud Lexen-Linsenmaier: I can only bow deeply. On the occasion of the vernissage of the painter and graphic artist Helfried Weiß. In: Neue Kronstädter Zeitung (Munich), Vol. 27, Volume 3, October 7, 2011, p. 3.
  • Exhibition in Dachau: On the 100th birthday of Helfried Weiß. In: Siebenbürgische Zeitung (Munich), July 27, 2011.
  • Hannes Schuster: Helfried Weiß - World depicted with the claim to truthfulness. In: Siebenbürgische Zeitung (Munich), August 13, 2008.
  • Claus Stephani : “I was never afraid.” (II) Review of a life. Prof. Helfried Weiß / memories of the war. In: Neue Kronstädter Zeitung (Munich), 4/2004, December 15, 2004, p. 1 u. 3.
  • Claus Stephani: "I was never afraid." (I) Review of a life / Prof. Helfried Weiß on his 93rd birthday. In: Neue Kronstädter Zeitung (Munich), 3/2004, September 20, 2004, p. 1 u. 3.
  • Brigitte Nussbächer-Stephani: “A sequence of thoughts and memories.” About the drawings by Helfried Weiß. In: Neue Kronstädter Zeitung (Munich), 18/4, December 20, 2002, p. 4.
  • Rohtraut Wittstock-Reich: See the world in a picturesque way. A studio visit to the graphic artist Helfried-Weiß. In: Brigitte Stephani (ed.): They shaped our art. Studies and essays. Dacia Verlag, Cluj-Napoca, 1985, pp. 269-270.
  • Brigitte Stephani: As long as there are people . Visiting Helfried Weiß. In: They shaped our art. Studies and essays. Dacia Verlag, Cluj-Napoca, 1985, pp. 271-273.
  • Günther Ott: Helfried Weiss . In: East German memorial days 1986. Personalities and historical events. Bonn 1985, pp. 140-142.
  • Claus Stephani: Fruits from ten years. Retrospective exhibition Helfried Weiß in Kronstadt. In: Neue Literatur (Bucharest), 17 / 5–6, 1966, p. 142.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hannes Schuster: Helfried Weiß - World depicted with the claim to truthfulness. Transylvanian Newspaper , August 13, 2008.
  2. ^ Lexicon of the Transylvanian Saxons. Wort und Welt Verlag, 1993, p. 569.
personal data
SURNAME White, Helfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian-German painter, draftsman and art theorist
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Kronstadt , Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 2007
Place of death Röhrmoos , Munich