Herbert Pridöhl

Herbert Pridöhl in the Baden-Baden studio , 1979

Herbert Willy Pridöhl (born May 27, 1907 in Berlin-Friedenau , † February 19, 1984 in Baden-Baden ) was a German painter, draftsman, illustrator and designer.

From 1938 to 1943 he taught as a lecturer and professor at the State Art Academy in Berlin (today: University of the Arts). At the end of the Second World War , Pridöhl came to Baden-Baden . Here and temporarily in Frankfurt am Main , he worked as a freelance artist and designer from then on.

Family and education

Herbert Pridöhl grew up with two older brothers, Gerhard and Helmut, in Berlin-Friedenau. The father Carl Constantin Pridöhl, Olympic participant and sports educational author, taught as a sports teacher in Berlin. In 1925 Pridöhl graduated from the Rheingau-Gymnasium in Berlin-Friedenau with the Abitur . He then studied drawing, handicrafts and graphic techniques at the State University for Art Education in Berlin-Schöneberg between 1925 and 1929 . He graduated as an art teacher in 1929 with awards.

In 1938 Pridöhl married his colleague Charlotte Stavenhagen (* 1905 in Bauke / Kurland , † 1954 in Emmendingen ), who taught art at schools in Berlin-Grunewald and Berlin-Schöneberg from 1927 to 1938 . Charlotte Pridöhl followed her husband to Baden-Baden and wrote the handicraft book The four handicraft children here in 1952 . In 1958 Pridöhl married Dorothea Reinhardt (née Brandl, * 1915 in Karlsruhe-Durlach ; † 1980 in Baden-Baden). In 1959 the daughter Eva Charlotte was born. Herbert Pridöhl died in Baden-Baden in 1984.

Employment and participation in the war

Between 1929 and 1938 Pridöhl worked as an art teacher at various secondary schools in Berlin.

In 1938, the 31-year-old was appointed to the State University for Art Education in Berlin-Schöneberg. 1938–1941 he taught as a lecturer, 1941–1945 as a professor at the State Art Academy in Berlin (today: University of the Arts ).

As the son of a war widow, his father was killed in the First World War , Pridöhl was not drafted into the front in the Second World War . In 1939 he took over the civilian troop support in Lofoten and instructed soldiers, among other things, to build ships in bottles . In 1943 he was called up as a soldier and then did military service on the Eastern Front, on the Black Sea and in the Crimea . Serious wounds in 1944 limited the artist physically throughout his life: his right hand remained paralyzed due to a gunshot wound, and the right lower leg had to be amputated as a result of a grenade impact. Pridöhl managed to continue his excellent drawing skills with his left hand. In 1945 Pridöhl was released from French captivity to Baden-Baden. He lived here until 1957, then moved to Frankfurt / Main for two years, from where he returned to Baden-Baden in 1959.

to travel

Herbert Pridöhl: Nemonien , 1938, oil on wood

Pridöhl was fascinated by fishing and harbor life. From his youth he studied the different milieus of seafaring during numerous stays on the North and Baltic Seas , in Hamburg-St. Pauli (since 1932), on the Curonian Lagoon (1935), in Cuxhaven (since 1936), in Wismar and on Poel (1939) or on the Frischen Haff (1940). During the Second World War he came to Lofoten / Norway (1942) and the Dnieper / Russia (1943).

Since the mid-1960s, Pridöhl spent holiday weeks in Vorupor and the Ringkobingfjord in Denmark . As in his hometown Berlin, he recorded his spontaneous impressions in drawings and watercolors in all these places . In 1955/1956 Pridöhl undertook on behalf of Dr. August Oetker KG undertook a long study trip through South America , Brazil , Uruguay , Paraguay and Argentina on a cargo ship belonging to the Hamburg-South American Steamship Company . His drawn reports were published in the in-house newspaper of Dr. August Oetker KG, for which the artist created additional illustrations. The experience of this trip had a lifelong effect on the artist's work.

plant

Herbert Pridöhl: pub scene , oil on cardboard

"Herbert Pridöhl's art is one of the great pictorial and formal gestures that always leads to an embrace of life."

- Characterization of the set designer Teo Otto about the work of his friend.

Herbert Pridöhl was a painter, draftsman, illustrator, graphic artist and designer. His in-depth education and keen interest spanned a wide spectrum. The tall artist, trained in boxing by his father, was captivated by the milieu of pubs and nightlife, to which the atmosphere of the Swinging Twenties of his hometown lured him early on . He was fascinated by the world of funfairs and circus as well as shipping and harbor life. Literature occupied him intensely throughout his life.

By drawing, Pridöhl acquired the diverse external and internal appearances. With a precise line he traced the organic-technical structure of the subjects. In doing so, his vital and at the same time highly sensitive feeling transformed the presentations into expressive mood reports. The drawing remained the basis of his painting throughout his life. In the beginning, Pridöhl wanted a precise grasp of reality, be it in toned, restrained or strong, trumpet colors. Later, more and more personal experiences mix in his pictures with fantasies, which are often stimulated by the elementary spirituality of the folk cultures of South America.

“There are things with a double bottom - full of directly experienced reality, blown by the breath of one's own adventure in foreign countries, or borne by literary allusions - such as when a sheet is called“ Pushkin Carriage ”- on the other hand everything that is tangible [...] is transformed and alienated through the pure artistic means, which lift and remove everything that is apparently only depicted into the world between the symbolic and the subtle. "

- Art historian Günter Busch 1962.

In addition to his teaching activities, Pridöhl conceived and designed numerous exhibitions on the subject of the navy and, inspired by the Berlin educator and cultural politician Adolf Reichwein , on ethnology, which were shown with great success in Potsdam, Berlin and Weimar. (see Hans Degenhardt 1988) Like most of his pictures, all designs from this period were destroyed: A fire bomb hit the private studio in Berlin-Friedenau in 1943, and an aerial mine destroyed the studio at the Berlin Art Academy. Many other works were lost in 1945 when the painting depot in the basement of the art college was looted.

Herbert Pridöhl Standing Nude , 1930, oil on canvas

Pridöhl turned down a return to the Berlin professorship after 1945, as did a later course offer at the Konstanz art school. He was now creative in many areas. The artist designed wallpapers (company Gebr. Rasch, Bramsche) and samples for fabrics, on behalf of various companies, exhibition stands and accompanying printed matter, he equipped hotels and bars, some with his own series of images. In 1953 Pridöhl created murals for the tourist exhibition in Munich, and at the end of the 1950s he was commissioned with graphic designs for the Göppinger Kaliko- und Kunstlederwerke / Göppinger Plastics. Pridöhl worked as an artistic advisor to newspapers, magazines, publishers and companies, e. B. the Dr. August Oetker KG and BASF (Badischen aniline and soda factory in Mannheim - Ludwigshafen ). He captured industrial workflows precisely and at the same time atmospherically dense. As the long-time director of the Baden-Baden Film Club, Pridöhl has designed around 130 posters for French feature films since the 1950s. He was a member of the BDG (Association of German Graphic Designers).

On his own initiative, the artist drew around 400 illustrations for Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick between 1947 and 1953 . The German book club was encouraged to do a new edition of the novel (1954), a new translation with 282 of Pridöhl's illustrations. The artist also demonstrated his special knowledge of the Nordic seafaring milieu when depicting texts by Hans Leip , Herbert Wendt and Friedrich Böer (see illustrations).

In addition to commissioned work, Pridöhl continued to develop his free painting. He valued etching, lithography and monotype printing techniques. He found the new Black & White for himself : white drawing lines stand on a black (Indian ink) background and convey the spontaneity and flexibility of the design in a strong black and white contrast . For his vital access to the world and life, Pridöhl could only think of an objective imagery. This did not correspond to the then dominant trend towards abstraction. Pridöhl's artistic expression was therefore not considered topical in post-war Germany .

The artist was a captivating storyteller, both in writing and orally. Since the 1960s, in addition to his artistic work, he has written short autobiographical texts and the novel Pico, in which he processed memories of pre-war Berlin (manuscript, not published).

Illustrations

• The ship in a bottle in: Köhler's fleet calendar , 37th year, or Köhler's illustrated fleet calendar for 1940 , 38th year, Minden.
• Mark Twain : The adventures of Huckleberry Finn , translated by SL Sigwart, Hebel Verlag Baden-Baden 1948.
• Ivan Krylow : Russian Fables , Kairos Verlag, Baden-Baden 1949.
• Alphonse Daudet : Letters from my Mill (1869), Hebel Verlag, Baden-Baden 1949.
• Kurt Zentner : The first fifty years of the XX. Century . A show in pictures and words in three volumes, Offenburg 1950, volume 2
• Friedrich Böer : The port, a Hamburg book about loading and unloading ships …., Hamburg, Schiffahrts Verlag "Hansa" 1950, 1956.
• Hermann Melville : Moby Dick, (1851), translated by Richard Mummendey (Bonn), Deutsche Buchgemeinschaft , Berlin and Darmstadt 1954, 1957. 284 illustrations, drawn from 1947 to 1953 after the translation by Thesi Mutzenbecher / Ernst Schnabel (1946).
• Hans Leip : The great talks of the Admiral from and to Rabums , Munich 1953.
• Herbert Wendt : Santa Rita , 1954.
• Friedrich Böer: Everything about a ship, A small ship customer , Herder Verlag Freiburg / Breisgau 1955, 1957.
• The bright head , employee magazine of Dr. August Oetker KG , 1955/56 and 1957.
• Friedrich Böer : Everything about a ship and its cargo: 85 years in liner service with the East Coast of South America , Herder Verlag Freiburg / Breisgau 1955/56.
• Karl Hirtler / Heinrich Abele u. a .: Haus in der Heimat , reader for the fourth year of primary school in Baden-Württemberg, published by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Culture, pictures and drawings by Herbert Pridöhl, 6 editions, Stuttgart 1957 to 1965.
• BJ Kreuzberg, AH Scheffbuch: Francais modern , Edition B, For French as a second foreign language , T 1, Frankfurt / Berlin a. a. 1962.
• Herbert Wendt : On Noa's footsteps, The discovery of animals , Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg 1967.

Own texts

In: Herbert Pridöhl: Hafen und Fischerleben , pictures and reports from the years 1932–1977, Stiftung Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum , Bremerhaven 1979, with a foreword by Gert Schlechtriem and numerous illustrations.

• P. 09 - Drawing in St. Pauli (from 1932)
• P. 19 - A horror bar in St. Pauli (1936), first published in: Der Türmer , 1941, pp. 254-258
• P. 22 - How does the ship come into the bottle (1950), first published in: 7 Tage , Nr. 42, October 20, 1950, p. 5
• P. 25 - Drawing on the Curonian Lagoon (1935)
• P. 36 - HF 321 Cuxhaven (1936)
• P. 41 - Drawing in Wismar and Poel (1939)
• P. 46 - Drawing in Bodenwinkel (1940)
• P. 51 - From the Lofot diary (1942), first published in Der Türmer , April 1943, pp. 359–362
• P. 55 - Dnieper River (1943)
• P. 61 - Brazil (1956)
• P. 65 - Cuxhaven (1966)
• P. 69 - Vorupor (1968/1969)

Pico , novel manuscript, unpublished, Pridöhl family archive, Nuremberg

Publicly owned works

• German Maritime Museum Bremerhaven
• German Wallpaper Museum Kassel
• Morgenstern Museum Bremerhaven

Exhibitions / catalogs

• 1956: Curtain and wallpaper , Stuttgart State Trade Office, 1956.
• 1962: Herbert Pridöhl - Graphics , Frankfurt Zoo Society House, Frankfurt / Main, leaflet with texts by Teo Otto and Günter Busch.
• June 18 - September 19, 1976: Illustrations for Melville's Moby - Dick , Schleswig-Holstein State Museum, Gottdorf Castle / Schleswig. Catalog with texts and a. by Joachim Kruse and Herbert Pridöhl (diary entries).
• 1977: Herbert Pridöhl , Rathaus-Galerie, Bad Harzburg.
• 1978: Bremer chasing Moby Dick , special exhibition of the German Maritime Museum Bremerhaven, Bremer Landesvertretung, Bonn.
• April 7 - June 17, 1979: Herbert Pridöhl , Harbor and Fisherman Life, pictures and reports from the years 1932–1977 , German Maritime Museum Bremerhaven, paintings, drawings and graphics, catalog with an introduction by Gert Schlechtriem and diary entries by Herbert Pridöhl.
• 1984: Herbert Pridöhl - Wallpaper , German Wallpaper Museum, Kassel.
• July 24th - October 25th 1987 and 1988: East Prussian fishing life - Kurenkähne , German Maritime Museum Bremerhaven, paintings and drawings.
• August 4 - September 25, 1988: Herbert Pridöhl , stations of an adventurous life , Morgenstern Museum Bremerhaven, booklet with texts by Eva Pridöhl, Brigitte Reinhardt, Hans Degenhardt and diary entries by Herbert Pridöhl.
• January 21 - April 17, 1995: Haffsegler between Oder and Memel , German Maritime Museum Bremerhaven.
• April 15 - July 17, 2016: Moby Dick by Hermann Melville, The illustrated editions of German publishers , University and City Library.

literature

• Eberhard Hölscher , in: Nutzgraphik , 22.Jg., 1951, No. 9, p. 22 ff.
• Utility graphics , No. 1, January 1957, p. 72
• Tapeten-Zeitung , 68th year 1959, issue 7, p. 40 f.
• Magnum , issue 23, April 1959, p. 59.
• Schnell: artist collection 1960
• Wallpaper today. Die achievement , 11th year, 1961, issue 87, p. 20.
• hr: Moments der Welt, graphic by Herbert Pridöhl in the Zoo-Gesellschaftshaus , in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 1962.
• Teo Otto , Günter Busch in the leaflet for the exhibition Herbert Pridöhl Graphics in the Society House of the Frankfurt Zoo, 1962.
• Kürschner's Handbook of Fine Artists, 1967, p. 232.
• NN: Artists saw his life in the fate of Captain Ahab , in: Nordsee-Zeitung , August 2, 1977.
• NN: Herbert Pridöhl exhibits , in?, “From Goslar and the Harz”, June 22, 1977.
• Claus Petersen: Pridöhl's ships swim , in: Bremerhavener Sonntagsjournal , Vol. 3, No. 14, April 8, 1979.
• W. Wessendorf: The ´Zille´ from St. Pauli in Bremerhaven , in Die Welt , No. 84, April 9, 1979.
• Gert Schlechtriem : Pridöhl's topic: Ports and fishermen , in: Bremerhaven LIVE , No. 23, April / May / June 1979, pp. 6–9.
• Schweers , Volume 2, 1982.
• Barbara Murken: Friedrich Böer , biography, in: Children's book collection Dr. Barbara Murken, compiled and bibliographed May 2001
• Maria Schamoni : Meine Schamonis , Munich 1983, pp. 77, 101, 111, 153.
• Lars U. Scholl: Marine painting at the German Maritime Museum . An overview of 30 years of research, in: Deutsches Schiffahrtsarchiv 25, 2002, pp. 364, 367
• Jutta Beder : Lexicon of Textile Designers 1950–2000 , Paderborn 2003.
• Gernot Gabel: Hermann Melville-Moby Dick. The illustrated editions from the German-speaking countries. In preparation, planned publication year 2018.

Archives

• Universität der Künste (UdK) Berlin, University Archives, Best.9, No. 50, IV B; No. 51, IV B
• BBF, library for research on the history of education, archive database, personal data of teachers in Prussia.
• Company archive Dr. August Oetker KG .
• Rasch archive of the wallpaper factory Gebr. Rasch, Bramsche.
• Family archive Pridöhl, Nuremberg.

Web links

Commons : Herbert Pridöhl  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Charlotte Pridöhl: The four handicraft children , Robert Bartenschlager Verlag, Reutlingen 1952.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} 1979, April 7th – June 17th, Herbert Pridöhl , Hafen- und Fischerleben, pictures and reports from the years 1932-1977 , Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum Bremerhaven, paintings, drawings and graphics, catalog with an introduction by Gert Schlechtriem and diary entries by Herbert Pridöhl.
3. ↑ Company archive Dr. August Oetker KG .
4. ↑ ^{a b} 1962, Herbert Pridöhl - Graphics , Society House of the Frankfurt Zoo, Frankfurt / Main, leaflet with texts by Teo Otto and Günter Busch.