Josef Sauerland

Josef Sauerland (born January 13, 1922 in Warburg ; † October 30, 1991 ibid) was a German painter and sculptor .

Live and act

As the son of the sculptor Christian Sauerland and his wife Christine, b. Wünnenberg, he grew up in Warburg, where he initially trained as a painter after leaving school. At the age of sixteen he was accepted into the Folkwang School in Essen , where he began to study art. Drafted as a soldier in 1941, he was seriously wounded in World War II and released in 1944. At first he tried to continue his painting studies at the Folkwang School until a bomb attack made this impossible. He switched to the Hamburg Art Academy , where he completed his studies.

He then lived as a freelance painter and sculptor in Warburg. He built a house and a workshop on Osterberg . In 1963 he married Margarete Bergmann, who gave him three children. During those years he created a number of outstanding portraits and dealt with the views of the city in a painterly manner. His style was initially still associated with German Impressionism , but his pictures were more structured using clear color surfaces. In addition, he created a number of building sculptures and designed, among other things, the entrances to the Marianum high school and several fountains in the public urban space of Warburg.

After the age of sixty, he devoted himself entirely to painting. His style was slowly changing. The color as an independent matter gained in importance, the application of paint became thicker and thicker, the surface of the picture almost a relief. He no longer juxtaposed colored surfaces, but worked with massive, short brushstrokes. He began to use external conditions to depict internal states and became an expressionist , his pictures mirroring his soul. The reproduction of external reality in the sense of realism clearly took a back seat.

Josef Sauerland died on October 30, 1991 and was buried in the old town cemetery in Warburg. Over 160 oil paintings were then given by the artist's heirs to the care of the Museum Association in Warburg .

Exhibitions

2011 Museum im Stern in Warburg: "Josef Sauerland - A Warburg Painter"

literature

• Rudolf Bialas: The Museum in the Stern and its Warburg Painters Collection , in: Supplement to the annual report of Sparkasse Höxter, Issue 1, Warburg 1999
• Neue Westfälische : A favorite motif returns , Warburg, February 22, 2010
• Westfalenblatt : Set a monument with his work , Warburg, July 25, 2011

Web link

• City of Warburg: Announcement of the 2011 exhibition with images of selected works