Hermann Geiger (painter)
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Hermann Geiger (born October 30, 1904 in Stuttgart ; † September 1, 1989 ibid) was a German painter and graphic artist who worked with various materials and techniques.
Career
Hermann Geiger studied painting and graphics at the Stuttgart Art Academy from 1933 to 1939 . The circumstances of the time with wars, hunger and lack of resources initially prevented a carefree development of his talent. It was only in his thirties that he was able to realize his desire to study. During his studies he worked at the post office at night to look after his wife and three children; during the day he attended college.
Geiger had a supporter in Hans Spiegel , the executive director of the Stuttgart Art Academy . From 1935 to 1939 Spiegel was Geiger's teacher, who inspired and strengthened him on his way and appointed him personal assistant.
Geiger had already spent his free time painting at a young age, developing a creative approach to using a wide variety of materials, which proved to be inexpensive painting utensils in the current scarcity of resources. Whether advertising posters, sacks of potatoes, wooden panels or curtains - Hermann Geiger managed to create something new from what was already there, namely an aesthetic work of art. His studies at the academy enriched this understanding of materials with another, because there he received training not only in painting, but also in dealing with graphics. In his oeuvre, Geiger worked not only on paintings on various bases but also on sgraffitos as well as on mosaics and church windows in public buildings.
His artistic development was initially interrupted in 1939 when the Second World War broke out. Geiger was hired as a radio troop leader for five and a half years after completing his studies. During the bombing of the place where he lived at the time, Geiger's apartment burned down completely, as a result of which he not only lost his home and all his belongings, but also the works he had created up to then. After his return Geiger kept himself and his family afloat with a wide variety of jobs, for example he exchanged landscape portraits in watercolors and oil for food and he also resumed his work in the local post office.
From the 1950s he was able to focus more on his artistic work and work on sketches and the resulting paintings, murals, mosaics and church windows. Geiger proved to be particularly productive here, developing new innovative techniques, for example, dealing intensively with contemporary artists and capturing character traits of humans and animals. The so-called “bizarre figures”, syntheses from person to animal or from animal to person, emerged from this occupation, which dominated his late work.
Motifs
- Portraits / portraits
- Nudes
- Landscapes
- Everyday scenes
- Christian representations
- human and animal
- "Quirky Figures"
- Character studies
Head of the Kunsthöfle gallery
In addition to his own artistic work, Geiger was committed to other artists, so Geiger mainly supported and encouraged like-minded people in the local area. His passion finally brought him to the Kunsthöfle, which he already toied with as a child. Together with Hermann Metzger he organized successful exhibitions and events here and after his death took over the management of the Kunsthöfles. Hermann Geiger himself described his first encounter with the Cannstatter Kunsthöfle, which he was to manage years later:
"When the Kunsthöfle came into being, I was a ten-year-old boy and in this centrally located open-air gallery I had my first encounters with the paintings by the Cannstatter 'Kunsthöfler', as they were called, that were displayed in deep shop windows in deep showcases ... It was (...) a good school for the eye and today confirms the unquestionably correct thesis that it is art, that it is these artists who teach us normal mortals to see. "
Geiger ran the Kunsthöfle gallery in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt on an honorary basis for eleven years (1971–1982) . The Kunsthöfle, which was founded as an open-air gallery in 1931, relocated under Geiger in 1973, initially to the rooms of the district library and later to the district court and district town hall. In 1983 Willy Wiedmann took over the position as Geiger's successor.
Selection of exhibitions
A small part of the complex collection has already been shown in numerous exhibitions in various cities in Germany such as u. a. Wiesbaden, Baden-Baden and Munich as well as in a non-European environment such as the USA. However, Geiger always focused on the local area - on Stuttgart and the surrounding area. In addition to numerous exhibitions in which primarily the graphic and painterly work were presented with drawings, prints and oil paintings, Geiger also executed wall paintings, mosaics, glass windows and sgraffitos for clients such as the state, city and municipalities in the Stuttgart area.
Selection of exhibitions:
- On the 100th birthday of HERMANN GEIGER, Kunsthöfle 2004
- Memorial exhibition, Atelier Sibylle Wolff 1996
- Stuttgart group exhibition, Kunsthöfle (district court) 1989
- Kunstverein Kehl-Hanauerland ev 1987
- Hotel Monrepos Ludwigsburg 1987
- Artist Association 1986
- VBKW "26 Artists" 1986
- Solo exhibition, Galerie Sailer, Ditzingen 1985
- Landesgirokasse Bad Cannstatt 1985
Awards
For his achievements and great commitment, Hermann Geiger received the Federal Cross of Merit on his 80th birthday .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Egon Geiger: "Hermann Geiger: Bizarre Figures"
- ^ Catalog for the exhibition "26 Artists from Stuttgart", With texts by Verena Richter, p. 24.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Geiger, Hermann |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German painter and graphic artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 30, 1904 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Stuttgart |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 1, 1989 |
| Place of death | Stuttgart |