Hugo Wilkens
Friedrich August Hugo Wilkens (born January 15, 1888 in Eilenburg , † February 7, 1972 in Simonstown , South Africa ) was a German painter and graphic artist .
Life
He was a son of the decorative painter Hugo Wilkens and of Elise geb. Horn. Wilkens attended the Dresden School of Applied Arts , the School of Applied Arts in Berlin , the Leipzig Academy for the Graphic Arts and Book Industry, and an unspecified academy in Paris. He took part in the First World War as a soldier. In the economically difficult period after the First World War, he took a position as a graphic designer in the artistic office of Scherl-Verlag and later switched to Ullstein-Verlag . With his Berlin friends Werner Ackermann and Max Bethke, he looked for opportunities to emigrate, which in 1923 led to the purchase and joint operation of Monte Verità in Ascona as a hotel, spa and restaurant. At the end of 1924 Wilkens left the company and tried to achieve artistic and economic success with a hand press ; he began in 1925 with a portfolio for the painter Walter Helbig , which was published by Officina Verbano in Ascona. He later moved to St. Moritz , tried to gain a foothold in Zurich and finally returned to Berlin. After the suicide of his first wife Gertrud Kolbe, he married Emmi Fürst, with whom he emigrated to South Africa in 1936 for political reasons. In Rustenburg he ran the Ascona Citrus Nursery until 1965. After the farm was sold, he and his wife moved to Simonstown to live with their son Achim from his first marriage. On the night of February 6th to 7th, he and his wife committed suicide. However, there is currently no reputable source for this representation.
Wilkens made a name for himself above all as an illustrator of numerous books. In the Munich publishing house Rösl & Cie. around 1920 he furnished eight volumes with hand-painted pictures and numerous decorative pieces: Alphonse Daudet's letters from my mill , Annette von Droste-Hülshoff's Jewish book , Wilhelm Hauff's fantasies in the Bremen Ratskeller , Heinrich Heine's book of songs and his journey to the Harz , ETA Hoffmann's elixirs of the devil and Views of the life of the cat Murr and Jean Paul's life of the cheerful schoolmaster Maria Wuz .
literature
- Wilkens, Hugo . In: Hans Wolfgang Singer (Ed.): General Artist Lexicon. Life and works of the most famous visual artists . Prepared by Hermann Alexander Müller . tape 6 : Second addendum with corrections . Literary Institute, Rütten & Loening, Frankfurt a. M. 1922, p. 299 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
- Hans-Joachim Böttcher : Wilkens, Friedrich August Hugo. In: Important historical personalities of the Düben Heath, AMF. No. 237, 2012, p. 107.
Web links
- Heine's Harzreise , illustrated by Albert Várady and Hugo Wilkens ( goethezeitportal.de )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wilkens, Hugo . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 36 : Wilhelmy-Zyzywi . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1947, p. 3 .
- ^ Letter from Werner Ackermann dated February 21, 1972.
- ^ Robert Landmann: Ascona - Monte Verità. In search of paradise. ( Edition revised and supplemented by Ursula von Wiese , with the assistance of Doris Hasenfratz, newly edited with an afterword by Martin Dreyfuss) Frauenfeld, Stuttgart / Wien 2000, p. 191 f. (in the first edition (Pancaldi Verlag, Ascona 1934) p. 161 ff.)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wilkens, Hugo |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wilkens, Friedrich August Hugo (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German painter and graphic artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 15, 1888 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Eilenburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | 7th February 1972 |
| Place of death | Simon's Town , South Africa |