Herbert Beck (artist)

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Herbert Beck (born January 29, 1920 in Leipzig ; † December 28, 2010 in Tegernsee ) was a German artist and watercolor painter.

life and work

Herbert Beck, Harlequin with mask, watercolor on paper, 71 × 50 × 50 cm
Herbert Beck: The card player (variation of a self-portrait), watercolor on paper, 74 × 54 cm
Herbert Beck: Burning City, watercolor on paper, 1995, 69 × 89 cm

Herbert Beck completed an apprenticeship as a goldsmith in Leipzig and took drawing lessons from Professor Max Schwimmer at the School of Applied Arts for Graphics and Design. In 1948, after fleeing the Soviet zone to the Tegernsee, he began to paint as an autodidact. In the 1950s, the Commeter Gallery in Hamburg exhibited his oil paintings several times. Also Hanna Bekker vom Rath Beck promoted early and taught him in the 1960s several exhibitions.

The acquaintance with Emil Nolde influenced Beck's artistic work. Fascinated by the bright colors in Nolde's watercolors, Beck began to develop his own strong watercolor technique. In oil painting, too, he achieved a watercolor-like character through extreme dilution with turpentine.

Beck's works are in a German tradition of expressionism and show tendencies towards myth and magic. Thematically, the oeuvre includes landscapes, still lifes and figurative compositions. Religious topics have played an important role over the decades; the examination of his war experiences are reflected in numerous works. Beck's preference for jazz and classical music also permeates the entire work as formal inspiration.

In the late 1970s, Beck developed a special technique that was based on the principle of chance. This resulted in the “miniatures”, small-format watercolors with a poetic and narrative character.

In 1984 Beck became seriously ill from many years of inhaling turpentine fumes while working on his oil paintings. After his recovery, he concentrated only on watercolor painting. In the last years of his creative life he created a cycle of watercolors which he called “Faces of the World”. With the often shocking, unmasking depictions of perpetrators and victims, he formulated his idea of ​​the human being in the 20th century. He also developed his landscape depictions into the abstract “meditative landscapes” consisting of spatial color levels.

In 2010 the artist died in Tegernsee at the age of 90 after a short illness.

Exhibitions (selection)

Herbert Beck: Meditative landscape, watercolor on paper, 2000, 72 × 86.5 cm
  • 1952 Commeter Gallery, Hamburg
  • 1954 Art Museum, Norrköping
  • 1956 Marcel Bernheim Gallery, Paris
  • 1961 Hanna Bekker vom Rath, Frankfurt
  • 1961 Galerie Utermann, Dortmund and Kunsthaus Bühler, Stuttgart
  • 1984 Archeus Fine Art, London
  • 1985 Adelhoch Gallery
  • 1989 Leonard Hutton Gallery, New York
  • 1996 Art Museum, Ahlen
  • 1997 Lesly Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles
  • 2000 Dobe Gallery, New York
  • 2002 Beck & Eggeling, Düsseldorf
  • 2009 MIA Art Foundation, Beijing
  • 2012 Connaught Brown, London
  • 2013 Schussenried Monastery
  • 2014 Connaught Brown, London
  • 2015 Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Düsseldorf
  • 2018 Herbert Beck meets Emil Nolde. Inspiration and implementation, Olaf Gulbransson Museum, Tegernsee

literature

  • Hans Kiessling: Encounters with painters. Munich art scene 1955-1980. A documentation by 128 painters with 384 color plates and short biographies , St. Ottilien 1980, pp. 144–147. ISBN 3-88096-081-X .
  • Hans Kiessling: painter of the Munich art scene 1955-1982. A documentation by 88 painters with 440 plates and short biographies , St Ottilien 1982, pp. 32–37. ISBN 3-88096-175-1 .
  • Verena Schmidt-Bauer: Herbert Beck. Retrospective , Leipzig 1996. ISBN 3-930919-08-7 .
  • Herbert Beck. From the landscape to the open space. With texts by Werner Becker and Ralph Dosch, Düsseldorf 2000. ISBN 3-930919-28-1 .
  • Herbert Beck. Faces of the World. With a foreword by Mia Jin and a text by Gertrud Peters, Düsseldorf 2009. ISBN 3-930919-56-7 .
  • Andrea Knop (Ed.): Herbert Beck. Magic of color . Catalog for the exhibition in Schussenried Monastery, State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg, Düsseldorf 2013. ISBN 3-930919-84-2 .
  • Herbert Beck Estate (Ed.): Herbert Beck. Miniatures. With contributions by Ina Ewers-Schultz, Andrea Knop and Regina Landherr, Munich [Hirmer-Verlag] 2014. ISBN 978-3-7774-2352-4 .
  • Herbert Beck meets Emil Nolde. Inspiration and implementation, ed. by Ute Eggeling and Michael Beck (exhib.-cat. Olaf Gulbransson Museum, Tegernsee), Bönen 2018. ISBN 978-3-946063-17-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Herbert Beck is dead. Merkur-online.de, December 30, 2010, accessed on April 29, 2013 .
personal data
SURNAME Beck, Herbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German artist and watercolor painter
DATE OF BIRTH January 29, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH December 28, 2010
Place of death Tegernsee