Josef Fruth

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Josef Fruth in his studio, around 1934

Josef Fruth (born July 31, 1910 in Fürsteneck ; † July 21, 1994 there ) was a German painter , graphic artist , poet and writer as well as an illustrator of newspapers and books.

Life

Josef Fruth, brave little tailor , behind glass technology

During his life, the artist Josef Fruth worked as a painter, graphic artist and poet in the living space between Großer Ohe and Ilz in the southern Bavarian Forest in Fürsteneck. His studio is still in the Alte Wache at Schloss Fürsteneck today . He grew up in the Moahof , the abandoned Säumerwirtshaus on a former side branch of the Goldener Steige in the village of Fürsteneck. Here he was shaped in his childhood by the historical events and the traditional village life, such as the old masks of the thresher soup.

In his book Mein Lebensweg , he described the path to becoming an artist in the following words:

“When I started primary school, I was lucky enough to find an arts teacher. He encouraged my desire to draw and I was allowed to prepare a historical copy for history class. I was able to write exemplary essays in German. Later I was very encouraged by Prof. Bruno Mauder from the Zwiesel Glass School, which at the time was addressed as the German master school for glass. For me, Prof. Mauder was mainly through his aesthetic drawings, shaped by Art Nouveau, the great magician in glass. After four semesters in the arts and crafts, I unfortunately had to interrupt my training due to a protracted illness. During this time of infirmity I found a creative way out through literature. My first poems were published in a union newspaper 'Einigkeit' in Berlin. Max Peinkofer , von Schrönghammer-Heimdal supported me in writing about articles in a church newspaper, in the 'Heimatglocken', the Donauzeitung and the East Bavarian border brands. In painting and graphics, I was able to bridge my training with a four-year private study in Munich's artistic circles, which was recognized as a freelance professional. At this level my greatest supporters were the academic painters Karl Alexander Flügel and Prof. Edmund Steppes. The colleague Wilhelm Niedermayer from the Munich school had also contributed. "

- Josef Fruth : My path in life

Despite illness, Fruth was called up to serve in the Wehrmacht in a field camp in the annexed Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in 1944 . This in connection with a subsequent imprisonment of war left deep marks in the soul of the artist.

After the war, Fruth first focused on the people of his homeland. The rough working life and the world of customs are z. B. in wood carving studies or the moving dance images of the thresher soup come alive. The proximity to the religious annual cycle is also reflected in some of the works.

In 1966 he was a founding member of the artist group "Bayerwaldkreis", in 1981 he was accepted as a member of the Academia Italia.

From the 1970s, mythological representations and the warning against the threat of environmental destruction fundamentally come to light in his statement. Hubert Weinzierl , a companion of Josef Fruth's, describes the artist's living space as follows: “Leo Tolstoy's question 'how much earth do humans need?' Josef Fruth answered in his own way. It was the small studio in the 'Alte Wache' in Fürsteneck, surrounded by the canopy of elms, maples, ash trees and alders that lined the river of his life, the Ilz, and the constant home of his family, the studio cats and forest owls when the nocturnal window guests belonged equally and returned in numerous of his drawings, reverse glass pictures or poems. "

In his literary work, Fruth often addresses the elementary questions of humanity, such as: B. in one of his most famous poems under the title

We are the leaves
Above the dust
rustles the leaves.
Between the steps
lost wanderer.
We are the leaves
tomorrow in the dust
under the kicks;
but the wanderer
is a completely different ...

With his compositions in pictures and text he left a portrait of this landscape and its people for posterity.

Atelier circle Josef Fruth

Friends, connoisseurs of the art scene and his family founded a studio group on March 18, 2006 in Fürsteneck, which looks after the work for the future and tries to present it to the public. The association now has over 80 members, some of them far beyond the borders of the Bavarian Forest as far as Italy. The managing director of the Josef Fruth studio group is Gunther Fruth, the first director is Franz Brunner.

Aims and tasks of the studio group:

  • Preservation of the studio rooms in the "Alte Wache" at Fürsteneck Castle.
  • Publication of books, currently the seven-volume series.
  • Initiative and support of the Josef Fruth Künstlersteig with the community of Fürsteneck.
  • Organization of exhibitions on the artist's work and social events, for example the annual poets' hike on the Künstlersteig or the Hiagstsuppn at Fürsteneck Castle.
  • Preservation of endangered Fruth works in public spaces, for example the numerous works in schools in the southern Bavarian forest. In this way the large wall frieze in the Hutthurm school was preserved.

Publications

  • Josef Fruth: Above the source of the forests . Ed .: Morsak Verlag Grafenau. 3. Edition. 1980, ISBN 3-87553-131-0 .
  • Konrad Lorenz, Enoch zu Guttenberg, Hubert Weinzierl: Grace for creation . Ecology and theology in conflict. Ed .: Morsak Verlag Grafenau. 1981, ISBN 3-87553-164-7 (illustrations by Josef Fruth).
  • Reinhard Haller: Nature and Landscape Legends . from the bay. Forest. Ed .: Morsak Verlag Grafenau. 1983, ISBN 3-87553-200-7 (illustrations by Josef Fruth).
  • Hubert Weinzierl among others: turning mark . New paths for the ecology movement. Ed .: Hubert Weinzierl. Natur- und Umwelt Verlags-GmbH, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-924749-07-8 (Dedicated to the illustrator Josef Fruth, the seer from the primeval ground of the forests, on his 75th birthday).
  • Josef Fruth: Magic and Color . Ed .: Morsak Verlag Grafenau. 1990, ISBN 3-87553-360-7 (The book about reverse glass painting by Josef Fruth).
  • Gunther Fruth, Josef Fruth: face of a landscape . Forests and expanses in the Bavarian-Bohemian border mountains. Ed .: Morsak Verlag Grafenau. 2nd Edition. 1996, ISBN 3-87553-488-3 (poetry and prose by Josef Fruth on the photographs by Gunther Fruth).
  • Hans Würdinger: From death to new life . The Way of the Cross by Josef Fruth in Erlau-Zwiesel. Ed .: Hans Würdinger. Tutte, Salzweg, 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-028962-0 (Meditation on the Way of the Cross on glass pictures by Josef Fruth).

Series of works by Josef Fruth in seven volumes and biography

  • Josef Fruth: But God stayed in the middle . Volume I religious. Ed .: Atelierkreis Josef Fruth. Druck & Service Garhammer, Regen 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-029633-8 (preface by Bernhard Kirchgessner).
  • Josef Fruth: In the border district of the feasible . Volume II Environment. Ed .: Atelierkreis Josef Fruth. Druck & Service Garhammer, Regen 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-032979-1 (preface by Hubert Weinzierl).
  • Josef Fruth: Beauty can embrace your gaze . Volume III Landscape. Ed .: Atelierkreis Josef Fruth. Druck & Service Garhammer, Regen 2011, ISBN 978-3-00-036474-7 (preface by Harald Grill).
  • Josef Fruth: Our thoughts have no barriers . Volume IV Poetry and Prose. Ed .: Atelierkreis Josef Fruth. Druck & Service Garhammer, Regen 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-041590-6 (preface by Stefan Rammer).
  • Josef Fruth: Wild horses full of cloud foam . Volume V animals. Ed .: Atelierkreis Josef Fruth. Druck & Service Garhammer, Regen 2014, ISBN 978-3-00-045552-0 (preface by Hans Würdinger).
  • Josef Fruth: With sinewy hands . Volume VI work. Ed .: Atelierkreis Josef Fruth. Druck & Service Garhammer, Regen 2015, ISBN 978-3-00-051730-3 (preface by Martin Ortmeier).
  • Josef Fruth: You lure with the sweet trains . Volume VII work. Ed .: Atelierkreis Josef Fruth. Druck & Service Garhammer, Regen 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-054885-7 (preface by Prof. Dr. Reinhard Haller).
  • Stefan Rammer: The guardian over the primeval ground . Biography. Ed .: Atelierkreis Josef Fruth. Druck & Service Garhammer, Regen 2018, ISBN 978-3-00-059215-7 (preface by Franz Brunner).


In 1990, on the artist's 80th birthday, the CD Josef Fruth reads his own poetry was released . Concept and realization Dieter Oehms, mixes: language music in the Arcostudio Munich, production Polygram , Hamburg, 846614-2

Exhibitions

Exhibitions for the 100th birthday

  • Kunstverein Passau eV - Sankt Anna-Kapelle: Josef Fruth - For his 100th birthday (June 25th to July 25th 2010). Over 130 loans from public and private collectors present a cross-section of the artistic work of Josef Fruth in the Sankt Anna-Kapelle. Paintings depicting rural life from the Bavarian Forest are lined up alongside lithographs and drawings of people, animals and the landscape. Luminous pictures behind glass cast a spell over the visitor, as does Fruth's large-format tempera paintings from the Finsterau open-air museum. Illustrations for books document the diversity of the artist. Selected lyrical and literary works complement the exhibits.
  • Zwiesler Great Spotted Woodpecker , July 31, 2010
  • Forest History Museum St. Oswald , September 2010

Further exhibitions

  • Josef Fruth - his connection to Obernzell. Exhibition in Obernzell Castle from October 18, 2014 to January 4, 2015
  • Artist of the first hour - pioneer of the BBK Niederbayern-Oberpfalz. From May 4 to June 16, 2016, in the district gallery at Neuburg Castle for the 70th anniversary of the Professional Association of Visual Artists Niederbayern / Oberpfalz e. V. honored important pioneers and founders of the BKK with some of their works in the exhibition Artists of the First Ten Years .
  • Permanent exhibition in the newly created "Fruth Room" on the ground floor of Obernzell Castle, opening on November 20, 2016
  • Permanent exhibition of the Art Collection of Eastern Bavaria in the Hengersberg Hospital
  • Permanent exhibition Art Dreams Bayerisch Eisenstein
  • Art exhibition "God is the middle", June 23 - October 13, 2019 in Rinchnach

Honors

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Atelierkreis Fruth under new management. In: Passauer Neue Presse . March 15, 2015, accessed May 30, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Information from the Federal President's Office

Web links

Commons : Josef Fruth  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Fruth, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, graphic artist, poet and writer as well as illustrator of newspapers and books
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Fürsteneck
DATE OF DEATH July 21, 1994
Place of death Fürsteneck