Josef Scharl

Josef Scharl (born December 9, 1896 in Munich , † December 6, 1954 in New York City ) was a German-American painter and graphic artist of Expressionism .

Josef Scharl's work is characterized less by a stylistic variety than by a variety of motifs. In addition to numerous socially critical topics, he repeatedly turned to landscape painting , still life and portraits . After increasing popularity in the 1920s and 1930s, he was almost forgotten in Germany when he emigrated to the USA. Scharl did not return to Germany after the war.

Life

Childhood and youth

On December 9, 1896, Josef Scharl was born in Munich, the second of fourteen children. The father was initially a baker and later worked in an antique shop. In 1910 Scharl began his three-and-a-half-year training at the Munich School of Painting in Westenriederstrasse as a decorative painter . There Scharl gained practical experience in painting restoration and also attended evening courses in nude painting .

First World War and Weimar Republic

Josef Scharl took part in the war from 1915. In 1918, an injury with temporary paralysis of his right arm forced him to stay in various hospitals. In the same year he began studying at the art academy in Munich in the classes of Heinrich von Zügel and Angelo Jank . He left the academy prematurely in 1921 and continued his self-taught education . In 1922 he married Magdalena Gruber. In the same year the son Alois was born. Scharl's pictures were already well known to art lovers in the 1920s. The artist joined the new Munich Secession and the artists' association of the jury-free and successfully participated in their exhibitions. In 1930 he was awarded the Rome Prize . That is why Scharl was able to travel to Rome and Paris between 1930 and 1932, after which he returned to Munich. In Paris he got to know the works of the late impressionists . While at the beginning he still worked based on the painting of Cezanne and Van Gogh , the pronounced directness in his representations, which renounced everything decorative, increasingly prevailed in his works. During this time, the influences of Pablo Picasso's art , whom he admired, became recognizable. Josef Scharl was a member of the German Association of Artists . From 1930 he took part in the major DKB annual exhibitions until 1936.

National Socialism

The incipient National Socialist “cultural policy” brought about a decisive turning point after Scharl's return from Rome and Paris. His financial situation came to a head, sales and exhibition participation decreased, then he was banned from painting. In 1933, the year Hitler came to power, the brothers Karl and Josef Nierendorf dedicated a first solo exhibition to him in their gallery Neumann-Nierendorf in Berlin, which was followed by another in 1935. But Scharl, who had received several awards in the Weimar Republic, increasingly felt the National Socialist "cultural policy". He was defamed as early as 1929, and in 1935 Scharl's work was exhibited at the Nuremberg Party Rally of Honor and smeared by the National Socialists. Two years later, some of his works were also intended for the first official exhibition “ Degenerate Art ” in the Munich Hofgarten arcades, but were not exhibited after all. Scharl devoted himself to political and socially critical issues and showed in the 1930s in works such as Die Schreier (1932) and Die Verpottung (1933) a clear proximity to the work of Otto Dix . The invitation from the Museum of Modern Art in New York to take part in an international exhibition together with Max Beckmann , Georg Scholz , Erich Heckel and Karl Hofer encouraged Scharl to put his emigration plans into practice. In 1938 the artist emigrated to America via Switzerland without his family. For Scharl, emigration also marked an artistic turning point. His pictures lost their personal concern and directness. His style became more colorful and clear.

Scharl was supported not only financially by Albert Einstein , whom he had met in Berlin, but also in bringing about various exhibition projects. Scharl often visited Einstein, whom he painted several times, in Princeton and the two were in friendly correspondence from 1941 onwards. The years 1944–46 marked the height of his fame in America. Karl Nierendorf published the first US monograph on the artist in 1945 and presented Scharl's drawings on the Old and New Testaments in his New York gallery in 1947.

Post War and Death

Wolfgang Sauerländer , Scharl's closest friend, got him the contract for the publisher "Pantheon Books" to illustrate the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm . This book of fairy tales met with great public interest, and other commissions followed; the book was published in 1948. The death of Nierendorf, the concern for his family left behind in Germany and a stomach ailment weighed heavily on Scharl. The former employee of Nierendorf, Hilde Prytek, now looked after the artist. Various projects were considered, but could not be implemented. Scharl became a citizen of the United States in 1952. In the same year he traveled to Switzerland and took part in a group exhibition at the Georges Moos gallery in Geneva. Many new works were created. The Swiss air initially had a positive effect on his health, but the artist died on December 6, 1954 after a heart attack.

Even during his lifetime, his work was closely connected to the Nierendorf Gallery, which still looks after his work with exhibitions to this day.

Works (selection)

• Self-portrait, 1929, oil on canvas, 80.5 × 65.5 cm. Municipal gallery in the Lenbachhaus , Munich
• Der Holzträger, 1931, India ink brush on sketchbook sheet, 445 × 337 mm
• Whore, 1931, oil on canvas, Hartwig Garnerus Collection, Munich
• Resting potato picker, 1932, etching (drypoint) on paper, 118 × 118 mm
• Workers (II), 1933, oil on canvas, Hartwig Garnerus Collection, Munich
• Seated woman with her face buried in her hands, 1937, woodcut on Japanese paper, 442 × 300 mm
• Kohlenschlepper, 1932, tempera on paper, 443 × 336 mm
• Portrait of a man, 1932, oil on canvas, 47.3 × 37.2 cm
• Self-portrait, 1935, woodcut on firm paper, 394 × 2815 mm
• Dead Soldier, 1944, oil on canvas, 30.7 × 40.8 cm
• Portrait of Albert Einstein, 1951, ink on parchment, 393 × 298 mm

Illustrations

• Grimm's fairy tales . Revision of Margaret Hunt's translation by James Stern . 212 illustrations by Josef Scharl. New York: Pantheon Books, 1944

Exhibitions

During his lifetime

• 1930 Participation in the DKB annual exhibition, exhibition building on the Interimtheaterplatz, Stuttgart
• 1931 Norbertstrasse exhibition halls, Essen
• 1932 watercolors and drawings , Museum Danzig / Städtische Kunsthalle Königsberg
• 1935 Solo exhibitions in the Kunstzaal van Lier / Amsterdam and in the Galerie Nierendorf / Berlin. Special exhibition in the Neue Pinakothek / Munich.
• 1935 Scharl is represented with pictures in a preliminary exhibition on the subject of " Degenerate Art " on the occasion of the Nazi party rally in Nuremberg and is named in the press. His pictures are smeared with Nazi slogans.
• 1936 Exhibition together with Fritz Faiss in the Graphisches Kabinett Günther Franke / Munich
• 1936 Last annual DKB exhibition at the Hamburger Kunstverein (forced to close after 10 days)
• 1941 Solo exhibitions in the Nierendorf Gallery / New York
• 1943 Solo exhibitions at the University of Louisville
• 1944–1945 Solo exhibitions in the Pinacothek / New York, in the Museum of Modern Art / San Francisco, in the Galerie Nierendorf / Hollywood, hand drawings in the MW Proctor Institute / Utica, drawings for Grimm's fairy tales in the Galerie Nierendorf / New York, in the MH de Young Museum / San Francisco and the Denver Art Museum.
• 1946 Solo exhibitions in the Nierendorf Gallery / New York and the Clasing Gallery / Münster (Otto Schmidt Collection)
• 1947 Exhibition of the 50 drawings for the Old and New Testament in the Nierendorf Gallery / New York. Exhibition of tempera sheets and drawings in the Kunsthaus Beisel / Karlsruhe.
• 1949 Solo exhibition of new pictures at JB Neumann, New Art Circle / New York. Exhibition of tempera sheets and hand drawings from USA in the Badischer Kunstverein / Karlsruhe and in the Galerie Günther Franke / Munich. Painting exhibition at the Collecting Point / Munich.
• 1950–1952 Solo exhibitions at the Heidelberger Kunstverein, the Kölner Kunstverein, the Art Museum / Boston, drawings in The Little Gallery / Princeton.
• 1953 Exhibition of works up to 1938 in the pavilion of the Alter Botanischer Garten / Munich. Solo exhibitions in the Galerie Georges Moos / Geneva and with Dr. Otto Kallir , Galerie St. Etienne / New York.
• 1954 graphic exhibition in the pavilion of the old botanical garden / Munich. Exhibition of temperas and drawings in the Gallery St. Etienne / New York.

Posthumously

• 1956 commemorative exhibition in the St. Etienne Gallery / New York
• 1958 Exhibition of drawings in the art association of Chautauqua / New York
• 1959 Solo exhibition in the Galerie St. Etienne / New York
• 1962 Solo exhibition at Barnard College, Columbia University / New York
• 1964 Memorial exhibition on the 10th anniversary of his death in the Nierendorf Gallery / Berlin
• 1967 Memorial exhibition for his 70th birthday in the Nierendorf Gallery / Berlin
• 1967/1968 Traveling exhibition made available by Galerie Nierendorf with paintings, temperas, drawings and prints from all creative periods: Städtisches Museum / Wiesbaden, Städtisches Museum / Trier, Kunstverein / Heidelberg, Galerie Alex Vömel / Düsseldorf, Städtisches Gustav-Lübcke-Museum / Hamm and in the Kunstverein / Herford.
• 1969 Solo exhibition at Dorothee Carus-Isserstedt, Carus Gallery / New York
• 1971 Exhibition of the paintings newly acquired in the USA in the Nierendorf Gallery / Berlin
• 1973 Exhibition of temperas and drawings from all creative periods in the Nierendorf Gallery / Berlin
• 1976/1977 Exhibition of 94 paintings in the Museum am Ostwall / Dortmund and in the Saarland Museum / Saarbrücken with a joint catalog
• 1981 Solo exhibition in the Hermeyer Gallery / Munich
• 1982 Works from Munich private collection in the Stadtsparkasse Schwanthaler Straße / Munich. Exhibition of drawings in the Rose Lörch Gallery / Munich. Comprehensive presentation of the complete works in the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus / Munich
• 1983 Solo exhibition in the Hermeyer Gallery / Munich. Exhibition of paintings, temperas and drawings from three decades in the Galerie Nierendorf / Berlin
• 1987 Solo exhibition in the Hagemeier Gallery / Frankfurt am Main
• 1991 Solo exhibition at Galerie Nierendorf / Berlin
• 1995 Solo exhibition in the Gemäldegalerie Neue Meister in Dresden
• 1996 Solo exhibition in the Hagemeier Gallery in Frankfurt am Main
• 1996/1997 solo exhibition in the Nierendorf Gallery / Berlin
• 1999 Solo exhibition in the Axel Harmstorf Gallery / Munich.
• 1999/2000 Kunsthalle Emden
• 2008 Expressionale Berlin
• 2016/2017 Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt a. M., "Gender Struggle"
• 2018 Ernst Barlach House, Hamburg

Prices

• 1929 Dürer Prize of the City of Nuremberg
• 1930 Rome Prize and a Prize from the City of Munich
• 1931 Prize from the Munich Academy
• 1932 Prize of the City of Essen

literature

• Art papers from Galerie Nierendorf, 3. Josef Scharl , Verlag Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin 1964.
• City Museum Trier. Catalog. No. 32. Josef Scharl , Städt. Museum, Trier 1967.
• Aloys Greither, Armin Second: Josef Scharl 1896-1954 . Catalog of the exhibition in the Lenbachhaus Munich from December 15, 1982 to January 30, 1983, Prestel, Munich 1982.
• Josef Scharl and Andrea Firmenich : Josef Scharl. Monograph and catalog raisonné , Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2002.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 10, 2015 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. 
2. ↑ kuenstlerbund.de: Full members of the German Association of Artists since it was founded in 1903 / Scharl, Josef ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on January 14, 2016)  
3. ^ Deutscher Künstlerbund: 34th annual exhibition in Bonn. Pictures forbidden in 1936 , Berlin 1986. (pp. 84/85: Josef Schad (1896–1954) )
4. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 10, 2015 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. 
5. ↑ Einstein's certificate for the naturalization application
6. ↑ Between the Times, June 17 - October 21, 2018

Web links

• Literature by and about Josef Scharl in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Josef Scharl  in the German Digital Library
• Search for Josef Scharl in the SPK digital portal of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
• www.josef-scharl.de
• Gallery Nierendorf
• Jörg Schuhmacher: The thirties, 2005 (PDF file; 3.2 MB)