Jean-Jacques Waltz

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Hansi (1914)
The Zabern incident , drawn by JJ Waltz in 1916 (from L'histoire d'Alsace racontée aux petits enfants )

Jean-Jacques Waltz (born February 23, 1873 in Colmar ; † June 10, 1951 there ) was an Alsatian graphic artist , draftsman and local history researcher . He was best known under his stage name Hansi .

Life

Jean-Jacques Waltz was born as the youngest of four children of master butcher Jacques André Waltz and Rosalie Clémence Dunan. His father became the city librarian of Colmar in 1881 and curator of the Unterlinden Museum in 1891 . This awakened his son's enthusiasm for history and art from an early age. Even while he was still at high school in his Alsatian homeland, Waltz was often punished for his anti- German attitude. Then he went to Lyon to train as a technical draftsman. He returned to Alsace and became famous as a postcard draftsman . His motifs often combine idyllic village scenes with biting anti-German caricatures . Therefore, the German security authorities of the Reichsland Alsace-Lorraine accused and convicted him several times . In June 1914 he was sentenced to 15 months in prison, which he evaded by escaping to Switzerland and then emigrating to France, where he joined the army.

Waltz was one of the sponsors of the Musée d'Unterlinden in Colmar. With his L'Histoire d'Alsace racontée aux petits enfants par l'oncle Hansi , he published an illustrated story of Alsace for children in 1912, which is also marked by an anti-German attitude. During the First World War he fought as a volunteer on the French side. His citizenship in Alsace-Lorraine was revoked in 1916.

After the end of the war and the reintegration of Alsace-Lorraine into France, Waltz warned against what, in his opinion, would quickly strengthen the cultural influence of Germany on Alsace. After the German invasion in World War II , he first fled to Agen in southern France. However, Gestapo officers were able to track him down there, who beat him up and ultimately believed him to be dead. He then fled to Switzerland . In 1946 he returned to Colmar.

A museum ( Musée Hansi ) was set up in his honor in the town of Riquewihr . On the 50th anniversary of his death, his hometown Colmar erected a monument in honor of "Uncle Hansi" opposite his last house on the Boulevard du Champ de Mars .

reception

In the opinion of the educational scientist Gerhard Schneider, some drawings show his "hostility that is sometimes beyond measure" towards Germany. While uninhibited viewers mostly perceive Waltz's postcard motifs as harmless scenes from Alsace, Gerhard Schneider points to the traces of a deep dislike for the Germans in many motifs, which, however, could only be recognized on closer inspection and under the guidance of an expert.

In contrast, the Strasbourg historian Georges Bischoff praises Waltz's art of drawing as an "art of ridicule and as a genius of cheek". In his drawings a “laughter of the weak against the illegitimate powerful” would come into their own. In particular, the graphic novel Professor Knatschke Waltz would be "snappy without really evil" to be ( féroce sans être vraiment méchant ). The draftsman and illustrator Tomi Ungerer saw Waltz as an artistic role model.

Waltz shaped the French idea that the storks came from Alsace.

Works (excerpt)

  • Vosges pictures / Hansi / Series 2: The Hohkönigsburg in the Wasgenwald and its inauguration. Bahy, Mulhouse in Alsace 1908, XVI p., 16 images
  • L'Histoire d'Alsace. Racontée aux petits enfants d'Alsace et de France par l'oncle Hansi. Avec beaucoup de jolies images de Hansi et de Huen. Floury, Paris 1913, 99 pp.
  • Professor Knatschke. Oeuvres choisies du grand savant allemand et de sa fille Elsa. Recueillies et illustrées pour les Alsaciens par Hansi. Floury, Paris 1912, 140 pp., Ill.
    Professor Knatschke. Selected writings of the great German scholar and his daughter / The Alsatians communicated and illustrated by Hansi. Bahy, Mulhouse in Alsace 1913, 141 p., Ill.
    Professor Knatschké. Le roman de l'Alsace 1900. Suivi de "Madame Bissinger prend un bain" and "Le premier phonographe". Translated from the German by Henri P. Colli. With a foreword by Georges Bischoff: L'art de la dérision et le génie et l'impertinence. Reissue. Édition du Rhin, Strasbourg 2003, 301 pp., Ill., ISBN 2-7165-0559-4
  • Tours et portes d'Alsace. Aquarelles by Jean-Jacques Waltz (Hansi). Introduction and notes from Georges Bischoff. Herscher, Paris 1989, 70 p., Numerous. Ill., Cardboard, ISBN 2-7335-0174-7
  • Enfants d'Alsace. Edited by Georges Bischoff. La Nuée Bleue, Strasbourg 2003, 62 pages, ISBN 978-2716506052
  • Jean-Jacques Waltz: My village: Alsace as it once was. Translated by Corinna Tramm, Urachhaus, Stuttgart 2008, hardback, 40 pages, ISBN 978-3-8251-7639-6 , review:
  • Yannick Scheibling and Roland Muller: Tout Hansi. Son œuvre complète en 1500 images. Avec un texte de Benoît Bruant: Hansi de A à Z. La Nuée Bleue, Strasbourg 2009, 304 pages, ISBN 978-2-7165-0733-2 (complete works of all drawings)
  • Hansi (Jean-Jacques Waltz): Happy Alsace. Urachhaus, Stuttgart 2011, hardback, 32 pages, ISBN 978-3-8251-7757-7 .

literature

  • Benoît Bruant: Hansi, l'artiste tendre et rebelle. La Nuée Bleue, Strasbourg 2008, ISBN 978-2716505642
  • Michel Loetscher et Yannick Scheibling: Hansi. Une vie pour l'Alsace. Avec Jacques Féger. La Nuée Bleue, Strasbourg 2006, 23 p., Numerous. Ill., ISBN 2-7165-0318-4

Web links

Commons : Jean-Jacques Waltz "Hansi"  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Hansi's drawings
General

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.deuframat.de
  2. ↑ According to Elsässer Kurier No. 179 of September 13, 1916, see archived copy ( Memento of the original of May 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.deuframat.de
  3. ^ Gerhard Schneider: "Pack the Schwab on the collar" ( Memento from August 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) under: Department of Geography, University of Marburg (archived)
  4. ↑ Gerhard Schneider: Roots of Hate ( Memento from August 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) under: Department of Geography, University of Marburg (archived)
  5. ↑ Georges Bischoff: blurb (back of the cover) of the reprinted picture novel Professor Knatschké from 2003 at La Nuée Bleue
  6. ↑ Tomi Ungerer and his masters , Musées de la ville de Strasbourg
  7. ↑ Arte Karambolage, November 20, 2016, 7:35 p.m., 10 min., Accessed on November 22, 2016
  8. ↑ bex: “Alsace as it used to be” , Badische Zeitung , November 26, 2009
personal data
SURNAME Waltz, Jean-Jacques
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hansi (stage name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Alsatian graphic artist, draftsman and local history researcher
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Colmar
DATE OF DEATH June 10, 1951
Place of death Colmar