Joseph August Beringer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ex-libris for Joseph August Beringer by Hans Thoma

Joseph August Beringer (born January 27, 1862 in Niederrimsingen , † December 6, 1937 in Mannheim ) was a German teacher and art historian .

Beringer's understanding of art was traditionally shaped. He clearly rejected the art movements that are now considered Classical Modernism . He published numerous publications that were valid for the Electoral Palatinate and Baden . His national commitment earned him a high reputation in the Third Reich , but from today's perspective, puts his life's work into perspective as one-sided.

Life

Joseph August Beringer was born in Niederrimsingen in 1862 as the son of Josef Beringer († 1872) and Maria Beringer (née Danner). From 1868 to 1875 he attended elementary school in Niederrimsingen and then, up to the secondary school leaving certificate in 1879, the secondary school in Karlsruhe . From 1879 to 1880 he completed the teachers' seminar in Ettlingen .

From 1880 to 1882 he worked at the higher middle school in Kenzingen . In 1882 he did military service with the 6th Baden Infantry Regiment. No. 114 in Constance . From 1882 to 1884 he worked at the high school in Hornberg . In 1884 he studied mathematics and natural sciences at the Technical University in Karlsruhe . In 1985 he graduated with the secondary school teacher examination. This was followed in rapid alternation by positions at the higher girls' school in Karlsruhe, in 1886 at the Karlsruhe secondary school and at the higher middle school in Schopfheim . From 1886 to 1888 he worked at the Realgymnasium in Mannheim, in 1888 at the Higher Girls' School in Freiburg im Breisgau , at the Realgymnasium in Ettenheim and from 1888 to 1890 at the Realschule in Karlsruhe.

In 1890 Beringer received a regular apprenticeship at the secondary school in Mannheim. In 1901 he married Auguste Florentine (1863–1952), née Stammel. The marriage remained childless. In 1902 Beringer taught at the secondary school in Mannheim. In the same year he switched to the Realgymnasium of the Lessing School in Mannheim. In 1924 he was retired, but from 1924 to 1925 he was again deputy at the Lessing School in Mannheim. In 1927 he retired again.

Beringer kept looking for other tasks outside of the teaching profession and found a new field of activity in art history. In addition to his work as a teacher, he studied art history , philosophy , literature and music history at the University of Heidelberg from 1897 to 1902 . In 1902 he completed his studies with Henry Thode . His dissertation dealt with the history of the initially private Mannheim drawing academy , which complemented his study of the life and work of its founder Peter A. von Verschaffelt .

Activity as an art historian

Among the numerous publications by Beringer, his book “Baden Painting in the Nineteenth Century” from 1913 was particularly well known, which was re-published in 1922 in an expanded version under the title “Baden Painting 1770–1920”. Beringer wrote about Hans Thoma in several books and essays and published his etchings , sketchbooks, memoirs and letters. Thoma made him the administrator of his estate. Beringer was one of the founders of the Hans Thoma Society and was its first chairman.

With over 60 articles on Baden artists (including his friend Hans Adolf Bühler ), Beringer was a committed collaborator in the Thieme-Becker artist lexicon . He wrote 16 articles in the Baden Biographies and was also active for other biographical reference works.

Beringer appeared as a critic in the field of völkisch art journalism since the early 1920s. So he assessed z. For example, in the Karlsruher Tagblatt of August 3, 1925, the acquisitions of the art halls and the exhibition New Objectivity organized by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub in Mannheim that year as “collections of evidence of mental and emotional illnesses”.

In the years from 1923 onwards Beringer held lectures in art history at the commercial college in Mannheim. In 1933 he was awarded the title of professor. In 1933 and 1934 he gave lectures at the University of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe on the history of painting in Baden.

Beringer was a member of the editorial committee of the magazine "Das Bild" published by the German Art Society. He took part in the organization of the exhibition "Culture Bolshevik Pictures", which opened on April 4th in the Kunsthalle Mannheim . As a forerunner of the later Degenerate Art exhibition, this “Chamber of Horrors” was the very first exhibition since the seizure of power that pursued an exclusively defamatory goal. Beringer was a member of the Mannheim Art Association and in the meantime took over its management in 1933/1934. In this function he opened the “I. Traveling exhibition of German art ”. On May 17, 1933, at the invitation of the Kampfbund for German Culture at the University of Heidelberg, he gave a lecture on the “degradation of German art in the years 1918 to 1933”, which was followed by the book burning on Universitätsplatz. Until 1935 he worked as a district curator of the art and old monuments for the Mannheim district.

literature

  • Meinhold Lurz: “Self-reflection on German art that suits us alone”: Joseph August Beringer, educator and art historian . In: Badische Heimat . 83rd volume, no. 3 , 2003, ISSN  0930-7001 , p. 497-506 .
  • Christoph award: Beringer, Josef August . In: "Degenerate Art". Exhibition strategies in Nazi Germany . Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1995, ISBN 3-88462-096-7 , p. 369 (biography).
  • Hans Adolf Bühler : Professor Joseph August Beringer [obituary] . In: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine . 91st year, 1939, ISSN  0044-2607 , p. 542-543 .
  • Gustav Jacob: Josef August Beringer in memory [obituary] . In: Mannheim history sheets . 38th year, 1937, ISSN  0948-2784 , p. 82-84 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Meinhold Lurz: "Self-reflection on German art that suits us alone": Joseph August Beringer, educator and art historian . In: Badische Heimat . 83rd volume, no. 3 . Rombach, 2003, ISSN  0930-7001 , p. 497 .
  2. ^ Joseph August Beringer: Bühler, Hans Adolf . In: Ulrich Thieme (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists from Antiquity to the Present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 5 : Brewer-Carlingen . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1911, p. 190 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  3. ↑ a b c Christoph hammer price: Beringer, Josef August . In: "Degenerate Art". Exhibition strategies in Nazi Germany . Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1995, ISBN 3-88462-096-7 , p. 369 (biography).
  4. ^ Christoph surcharge: Chambers of Terror and Shame Exhibitions: The forerunners of the Degenerate Art exhibition . In: "Degenerate Art". Exhibition strategies in Nazi Germany . Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1995, ISBN 3-88462-096-7 , p. 58-69 .
personal data
SURNAME Beringer, Joseph August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German teacher and art historian
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Niederrimsingen
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1937
Place of death Mannheim