Jan Oeltjen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Oeltjens in Italy, 1913

Jan (Johann) Georg Oeltjen (born August 15, 1880 in Jaderberg , † February 13, 1968 in Ptuj , German: Pettau, Slovenia ) was a German painter who was mainly expressionist .

Life

Education and early years

Oeltjen came from a wealthy farming family from the Jader area and attended the Varel secondary school and the upper secondary school in Oldenburg . From 1900 he studied architecture at the University of Hanover . He soon discovered that he was more interested in painting and moved to Berlin that same year . There he attended the painting school of Franz Lippisch , who directed the preparatory class at the Berlin Art Academy and later was one of the founders of the Berlin Secession .

In 1904 Oeltjen went to Munich , where he worked in the teaching and experimental studios for applied and free art of Wilhelm von Debschitz and Hermann Obrist , the founder of German Art Nouveau . Oeltjen, too, committed himself entirely to this art direction and was active in arts and crafts in addition to painting . His graphic work during these years is based on Italy , which Oeltjen had been introduced to by Lippisch and where he often stayed in 1909 and 1910. In addition, meticulous plant studies have been handed down.

Activity in Italy, Vienna and Oldenburg

In Rome, where Oeltjen lived for some time in 1909, he married the painter Johanna Feuereisen (1873–1947), the daughter of the teacher Johannes Feuereisen, on June 21, 1909. The marriage, which was divorced shortly afterwards, came from their daughter Leni, born in Rome in 1910, who later attended school by the sea . In 1909/10 Oeltjen was in Paris and evidently occupied himself intensively with pointillism , which was already in decline at this time. On Ischia , Oeltjen met the artist Elsa Kasimir (1887–1944), the daughter of the painter Alois Kasimir (1854–1930) and sister of the well-known Viennese graphic artist Luigi Kasimir (1881–1962). The couple married in 1911, moved to Vienna for two years and cultivated relationships with some well-known representatives of Viennese Expressionism . Oeltjen also met Oskar Kokoschka through his wife . The friendship with him was particularly formative for Oeltjen and his works. From Kokoschka, Oeltjen took over the strong emotional empathy in his portraits and the psychological self-exploration in his self-portraits. However, he also developed this style further, for which his watercolor self-portrait from 1917 ( Landesmuseum Schleswig ) is an example, as it moves away from the representation of Kokoschka in realism and thus gives the portrait its independence. In 1913 and 1914 Oeltjen painted again with his wife in Italy and South Tyrol . During the First World War , Oeltjen served as a soldier in the Royal Bavarian Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 2 from 1915, but continued to work as an artist. In 1916 he exhibited in Paul Cassirer's prestigious gallery in Berlin. The lithographed cycle Delousing I-IV ( Stadtmuseum Oldenburg ) was created in 1917 , in which Oeltjen processed his experiences as a soldier in an expressive manner. Shortly after the end of the First World War, the woodcut cycle Weinlese (Stadtmuseum Oldenburg) was created, which, in its sharp contrasts in light and dark and in the stylization of the forms, shows Oeltjen's increasing liberation from Kokoschka's excessive influence and an independent graphic and artistic expression. The painting Landscape with Cows (private property) was created at the same time, which shows the influence of Franz Marc in its composition . In the following years, Oeltjen created the most convincing works of his work with his landscapes with animal subjects. In 1919 he also created the realistic and cautiously expressionist painting Tischrunde (Stadtmuseum Oldenburg) and worked on various woodcut cycles between 1919 and 1923. During this time he met Karl Schmidt-Rottluff , as evidenced by mutual portrait sketches of the two artists.

The first solo exhibition also took place in Oldenburg in 1922. In 1926 Oeltjen painted a large-format and multi-figure altarpiece for the Protestant church in jade with the title Resurrection of Christ . A year later, a double portrait was created with his wife (Landesmuseum Oldenburg), which already takes account of the New Objectivity in the representation . In 1928, during the exhibition in the Oldenburg City Museum, critics noted that Oeltjen had already moved away from the formal values ​​of Expressionism in favor of a more objective look in the design process.

In 1938, Oeltjen created large-format wall paintings for the state parliament building and the State Ministry of Oldenburg , which are now covered by wall coverings. Even if Oeltjen was not associated with National Socialism , these paintings can be assigned to the representational art of this time and show the questionable adoption of National Socialist ideas for their design.

In Yugoslavia

From 1930 Oeltjen stayed mainly in his wife's homeland, in the newly founded Kingdom of Yugoslavia , and together with her they ran their joint Vareja winery in addition to their art . After his wife's death in 1944, Oeltjen was unable to return to Germany due to the turmoil of the war and acquired both Slovenian and Yugoslav citizenship. His work after the end of the war went largely unnoticed in the young Federal Republic . He maintained intensive correspondence with Gerhard Marcks . In 1957 he created an impressive portrait of Oeltjen. In 1956 he created an impressive self-portrait in watercolor. The effect of this picture due to Oeltjen's new adopted home is determined on the one hand by the Mediterranean serenity of the colors, but on the other hand by the deep seriousness of the facial expression, which is linked to the bridge's painting tradition. In 1955 and 1959 he traveled to the Federal Republic and also visited Oldenburg. In 1961, while he was still alive, a major exhibition took place in Maribor . Since the extensive retrospective that took place there on the occasion of his 100th birthday in November 1981, he has been counted among the first Slovenian artists.

Honors

  • According to him, the Jan-Oeltjen Street in Jade , a town in Lower Saxony Wesermarsch named.
  • The artist house Jan Oeltjen in Jade also bears his name.

War diary

literature

  • Jörg Michael Henneberg: Oeltjen, Jan (Johann) Georg. In: Hans Friedl u. a. (Ed.): Biographical manual for the history of the state of Oldenburg . Edited on behalf of the Oldenburg landscape. Isensee, Oldenburg 1992, ISBN 3-89442-135-5 , pp. 533-534 ( online ).
  • Meta Gabršek-Prosenc (Ed.): Jan Oeltjen. leta potovanj 1904-1930. Umetnostna Galerija Maribor, 16.6. - 16.9.2007. Umetnostna Galerija, Maribor 2007, ISBN 978-961-6489-13-3 . (Text in German and Slovenian)
  • Luise and Lür Steffens (arrangement): "Traces of a friendship". Correspondence between Gerhard Marcks and Jan Oeltjen. On the occasion of the exhibition "Traces of a Friendship" from 20.09. until 03.11.2002 in the artist house Jan Oeltjen. Artist house Jan Oeltjen e. V., Jade-Jaderberg 2002. (1 CD-ROM 12 cm + supplement ([2] sheets))
  • Ewald Gäßler (ed.), Marjeta Ciglenečki u. a. (Contributions): Jan Oeltjen. 1880-1968. The graphic work [on the occasion of the exhibition in the Oldenburg City Museum and Künstlerhaus Jan Oeltjen e. V. from September 21 to November 2, 1997]. Isensee, Oldenburg 1997, ISBN 3-89598-466-3 . (= Publications of the City Museum Oldenburg, Vol. 28 / Publications of the Künstlerhaus Jan Oeltjen eV, Vol. 14.)
  • Ruth Irmgard Dalinghaus, Peter Reindl (Hrsg./Red.): Jan Oeltjen. 1880-1968. A painter between Jaderberg and Ptuj [on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Oldenburg Art Association]. Oldenburger Kunstverein / Landesmuseum Oldenburg, Oldenburg 1993. (exhibition catalog)
  • Krimhild Stöver. With a foreword by RZ: Jan Oeltjen. 1880-1968. A painter's life between Oldenburg and Slovenia. Hauschild, Bremen 1992, ISBN 3-926598-70-0 .
  • Ulrich Hollweg: In search of yourself. Jan Oeltjen's series of images “Die Weite” and “Pferdeweide” [on the occasion of the exhibition in the Künstlerhaus Jan Oeltjen e. V. from July 4 to August 31, 2003]. Artist house Jan Oeltjen, Jaderberg.
    • [Part 1]. Text tape. 2003
    • Part 2. Illustrations. 2003

Web links

Commons : Jan Oeltjen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Website of Künstlerhaus Jan Oeltjen e. V.
personal data
SURNAME Oeltjen, Jan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Oeltjen, Johann Georg (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German expressionist painter
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Jaderberg
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 1968
Place of death Ptuj