Karl Einhart
Karl Einhart (born November 27, 1884 in Konstanz , † May 10, 1967 there ) was a German painter . He is known in his home country as a so-called “Lake Constance painter”. During his lifetime he was a member of numerous artists' associations in the Lake Constance area.
Life
Karl Einhart was born in Konstanz as the fourth of six children of the master fisherman and purveyors to the court of Baden and the royal Hohenzollers Karl Edmund Einhart and Paulina Einhart (née Burkart). The extensive family of boatmen and Lake Constance fishermen, the Einhart, had lived in Constance since the late Middle Ages .
Even before he left school, Einhart's talent for drawing made itself felt. After the family had moved to the neighboring town of Emmishofen in 1894 , he learned as a teenager from Ernst Würtenberger , who recommended him further artistic training. From 1900 to 1903 he attended the Karlsruhe School of Applied Arts . The aspiring artist acquired basic knowledge of painting skills from the Swiss painter Emil Thoma , who lives in Emmishofen . From 1904 to 1908 he studied at the Grand Ducal Baden Academy of Fine Arts . His teachers were Ludwig Schmid-Reutte , Caspar Ritter , Wilhelm Trübner and Ernst Schurth . In 1908 Karl Einhart moved to Munich and enrolled at Walter Thor's private school . He then moved to Zurich to take lessons from Ernst Würtenberger again. Study trips to Italy , Vienna and Paris followed . From 1910 to 1911 Einhart studied at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Charlottenburg . One of his teachers was Julius Ehrentraut . However, the artist did not feel at home in the big city.
"How happy I am to come back to our landscape in spring, where you can breathe again."
Around 1911, at the end of his training, the painter visited the Dachau artists' colony for a few weeks . Already during his studies he established close relationships with Gottlieben , where an artist and writer colony had formed around Emanuel von Bodman , Wilhelm (Willy) Hummel , Emil Thoma and Robert Weise .
From 1911 Karl Einhart worked as a freelance artist and began to exhibit publicly. In the same year he married Berta Jacques, the sister of the writer Norbert Jacques, in Luxembourg . They had two children (Rainer * 1912 and Elisabeth * 1921). The couple lived alternately in Berlin and Gottlieben, where they lived in an extension of the “Drachenburg” restaurant.
In 1915 Karl Einhart received the draft order and moved to the Baden Infantry Regiment No. 114, which fought east of Reims in the second year of the First World War . Despite the difficult time, he had a solo exhibition in the Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz in 1916 and began to work in the field of book illustration . He designed 12 cover drawings for the field-compatible “Zeitschriften” published by Konstanzer Verlag Reuss & Itta, including for Hermann Hesse's story “Am Weg”. From 1916 onwards, he often provided the “Bodenseebücher”, which also appeared there, with vignettes , calendar drawings and small picture additions. In 1917 he divorced his wife, who he remarried in 1921.
After the First World War, the painter finally returned to Constance and began to make many contacts with artists and cultural workers in the region, for example Hans Breinlinger , Wilhelm von Scholz , Kasia von Szadurska , Rudolf Wacker , and Walter Waentig . In 1921 he painted a ceiling for the publisher Oskar Wöhrle in the entrance to the house at Hussenstrasse 18.
Throughout his life he was a member of various artists' associations. In 1919 he was a founding member of the Breidablik Expressionist Association , in 1921 he joined the Artists' Association of Lake Constance , and in 1923 the New Painters Group on the Lake . From that time on he had a close friendship with the Jewish painter Gustav Wolf . In 1925, Karl Einhart and his brother-in-law Norbert Jacques founded the cross-border artists' association Der Kreis , which existed until 1937 and organized more than 30 exhibitions. Over 36 members wanted to create a forum in the Lake Constance area to make their art known to people on all shores.
“The painter, who works in his little house hidden in the folds of a Lake Constance hill, cannot expect his meadow or orchard to become an exhibition space […] Therefore, the circle tries to give its members the opportunity to exhibit their works to bring before the eyes of the people for whom they were created. "
During these years Einhart was closely connected to the painter Waldemar Flaig . In the “circle” he also got to know the urbane artist Hans Purrmann , who became his friend, correspondent and, with his light-flooded pictures, an admired role model.
Although Einhart was recognized as an artistic institution in his environment, it was always difficult for him to make a living from his art. The 1920s to late 1940s, in particular, were a time of financial and family problems. He was forced to take on various sideline jobs, gave painting lessons or designed house drawings in the old town of Constance . In 1927, for example, he painted the two oriels of the head building of the Hindenburg block, an urban housing estate built in Konstanz-Petershausen in 1927. On the occasion of his 50th birthday, the Kunstverein Konstanz organized a solo exhibition in autumn 1934 and the chairman, high school teacher Julius Hollerbach, started the initiative of a Karl Einhart Foundation, the aim of which was to raise money for a representative painting by the artist for the city Acquire collection.
Einhart's naturalistic art did not provoke and therefore after 1933 proved to be in conformity with the National Socialist conception of art. In 1934 the painter became a member of the Reich Chamber of Culture (RKK) and in 1940 a member of the NSDAP . In 1934 Einhart received an invitation to participate in a painting competition from the HIAG (Holzverkohlungs-Industrie-AG) association in Frankfurt, which he did not, however, win. In 1936 the artist owed his brother, who worked for the food wholesaler Koch & Mann (KOMA) in Wuppertal-Elberfeld, the commission to paint a painting for the company. In 1937 Einhart visited Hans Purrmann in Florence , a trip that left a lasting mark on him. With financial support from her family, Karl Einhart's wife bought a house in Konstanz-Allmannsdorf from Elisabeth Holzheu in 1939, who was married to the Jewish art historian Adolf Katzenellenbogen.
Karl Einhart was deployed as a block manager helper and senior customs secretary during World War II . During the war he designed covers for books by Wilhelm von Scholz . In 1945 he was drafted into the Volkssturm and was briefly captured by the French. Because he was a party member, his house had been confiscated by the French occupiers - it was not until 1953 that the Einhart family returned after negotiations on compensation.
The painter remained well connected, however: in 1948 he was a founding member of the Kulturbund Konstanz eV , in 1962 he joined the Small Circle , a German-Swiss artists' association. In 1965 he became an honorary member of the International Bodensee Club eV He was often represented in exhibitions in and around Constance. He remained artistically active until his death.
The painter was honored in several anniversary exhibitions before and after his death. The city of Konstanz took care of his grave in the Allmannsdorf cemetery .
“He probably dreamed his life more than he lived it. He spun it off like a thread from heavenly air. His profession as a painter gave him permission to do so. "
Work and style
According to self-assessment, Karl Einhart created over 1000 oil paintings and hundreds of watercolors and drawings, primarily landscapes , but also portraits , nudes , genre scenes, still lifes and interiors . Since he often did not date or sign his works, the stylistic classification is often difficult. Few works have survived from the early days of his work. In his work from the 1920s and 1930s, influences of the New Objectivity can be heard. It is primarily his work, created after the Second World War, that defines the image of the artist today. His palette initially tended to darker, earthy tones, only in later work did it become increasingly lighter and more colorful.
"A picture by Karl Einhart brings the sun [...] into a room, [...] suddenly everything starts to flicker and shimmer."
Impressed by his teachers, Swiss painters like Ferdinand Hodler , the French Impressionists , Paul Cézanne and from the 1930s above all by Hans Purrmann, Einhart remained connected to the representational throughout his life and based himself on the natural model.
"I surrender myself completely to nature, I am completely absorbed in it and understand when I paint not with my head but with my eyes."
As a painter on Lake Constance, Einhart loved to capture the view over the water and the landscape of his homeland into old age.
“Thanks to the sovereign handling of the laws of painting [...] Karl Einhart succeeds with economical means to tame the sometimes downright dismaying flood of light of Lake Constance and its gifted shoreline landscapes under his brush. The broken values of his sublime palette appear born of light, as do the thousandfold oscillating refractions of the mighty water level, over whose distant shores dark foehn clouds rise. "
He was already working as a book illustrator during the First World War. The artist also designed wall paintings and house signs for his hometown. The second series in the book and art publisher Konstanz by Oskar Wöhrle was six postcards showing watercolors by Karl Einhart. After the Second World War he created small ceramics, for private use or as gifts.
Art and cultural associations
- 1919 " Breidablik "
- 1921 "Artist Association of Lake Constance"
- 1923 "New group of painters at the lake"
- 1925–1937 "The Circle"
- 1927–1933 "City Acquisition Commission Konstanz"
- 1948 "Kulturbund Konstanz eV"
- 1962 "Small Circle"
- 1965 "Internationaler Bodensee-Club eV"
Exhibitions (selection)
- 1911 First solo exhibition, Constance, Wessenberg House
- 1918 Solo exhibition, Karlsruhe, Galerie Moss
- 1925–1937 Regular participation in the exhibitions of the artists' association “Der Kreis” in various cities
- 1929–1950s summer and Christmas exhibitions at the Kunstverein Konstanz
- 1946 Konstanz Art Weeks “New German Art from Konstanz Private Ownership”, Konstanz, Wessenberg House
- 1951 Einhart as a guest at an exhibition of the Badische Secession, Munich, Haus der Kunst
- 1953–1967 Regular participation in the Singen art exhibitions
- 1954 "New German Art on Lake Constance (Painting and Sculpture)", Schaffhausen, Museum Allerheiligen
- 1954 Solo exhibition for his 70th birthday, Konstanz, Wessenberg-Haus
- 1964 Solo exhibition for his 80th birthday, Konstanz, Wessenberg-Haus
- 1984 “Pictures from Lake Constance”, commemorative exhibition for the 100th birthday, Wessenberg-Haus
- 2017 “Loyal to the lake. Karl Einhart (1884-1967) and his companions ”on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death, Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz
Selection of works
- Without year: Copy after Honoré Daumier's painting “The copper engraving collector”; Oil on canvas; 40.5 × 32.6 year cm; Privately owned
- 1927 still life; Oil on canvas; 70 x 97.5 cm; Municipal Wessenberg Gallery Constance
- 1927 facade of the Hindenburg block, Hindenburgstrasse 2; Constance-Petershausen
- Without year: Portrait of Gustav Wolf; Oil on canvas; 37.7 x 28.5 cm; Municipal Wessenberg Gallery Constance
- 1940 portrait of Norbert Jacques; 1940; Oil on canvas; 45 x 36.3 cm; Municipal Wessenberg Gallery Constance
- 1950s: bowls and ashtrays; Clay, glazed and fired; Private ownership and Wessenberg Municipal Gallery in Konstanz
- Without a year: look out of my window; Oil on canvas; 55 × 65 cm; Municipal Wessenberg Gallery Constance
- 1953 willow; Oil on cardboard; 60.5 x 80.5 cm; Municipal Wessenberg Gallery Constance
- Without a year: fishermen on the ice gambling; without year; Oil on canvas; 34.8 x 45.2 cm; Privately owned
Book illustrations (selection)
- 1915–1918 12 cover designs for Die Zeitschriften, Verlag Reuß & Itta, Konstanz.
- 1915 to around 1953 vignettes and other picture additions for the Bodenseebuch, Verlag Reuß & Itta, Konstanz.
- 1922/1923 Draft cover (portrait Martin Andersen Nexö) KK Nicolaisen, Martin Andersen Nexö, Oskar Wöhrle Verlag, Konstanz 1923.
- 1926 Draft cover of the youth red cross magazine "Ich diene". Youth Red Cross Austria. Booklet Bodensee, edition 55,000, self-published, summer 1926, title (Am Bodensee).
- 1929 Illustration: Ulrich Blum and Eberhard Schwarz, register of all fools, Elefanten AG, publisher: Christiani GmbH, Konstanz without year (presumably 1950s)
- 1940 28 hand-colored drawings: Friedrich von Schiller, The young Eros. Early poems by Friedrich von Schiller, introduced and selected by Norbert Jacques, Darmstädter Verlag, Handpresse Joseph Würth, 1940.
- Around 1942 draft cover and four illustrations: Wilhelm von Scholz, Der Patrouillenritt. Based on a true story, Die Novelle 5., ed. from the Air Force Command Staff Ic / VIII, Wilhelm Limpert, Berlin, no year (1942).
- 1944 Binding design: Wilhelm von Scholz, Ayatari, Velhagen & Klasing, Bielefeld and Leipzig 1944.
- Around 1949 cover design and 42 illustrations: paperback for Lake Constance visitors. Compiled by Willy Mayer and Rainer Einhart, Arta, Konstanz, no year (around 1949).
- 1955 An illustration: Max Rieple , Reiches Land am Hochrhein. A contemplative home guide from Lake Constance to Basel, Rosgarten-Verlag Konstanz, Konstanz 1955.
literature
- T. Rehse: Karl Einhart, a painter from Lake Constance . In: Art and Life. Supplement to the Baden regional newspaper . 1st year. No. 10 , March 5, 1921, pp. 1 f .
- Julius Hollerbach: The Constance painter Karl Einhart . In: The beautiful Konstanz on Lake Constance and the Rhine, the old city in the south of Germany . 23rd volume, issue December 12, 1936, p. 235-240 .
- Julius Hollerbach: The painter Karl Einhart . In: Karl Höhn (Ed.): The Bodenseebuch 1938 . No. 25 . Dr. Karl Höhn, Ulm / Lindau 1938, p. 89 f .
- Werner Schenkendorf: Karl Einhart, the painter of Lake Constance, 70 years old . In: Bodensee-Hefte . 5th year, issue 11 November 1954, p. 358 f .
- HF ( Heinz Finke ): The portrait of the week: Karl Einhart . In: Südkurier . No. 275 , November 27, 1959.
- Ludwig Emanuel Reindl: Karl Einhart the painter . Speech at the opening of the exhibition on the painter's 80th birthday. Südkurier, Konstanz (reprint published as a private print for the members and friends of the Kunstverein Konstanz, no year [1964]).
- Heinz Finke: The Lake Constance painter Karl Einhart 80 years old . In: Konstanzer Almanach 1965 . Friedr. Stadler, Konstanz 1965, p. 84 f .
- Eva Moser: Karl Einhart on the 100th birthday . In: Hegau-Geschichtsverein e. V. (Ed.): Hegau. Journal for the history, folklore and natural history of the area between the Rhine, Danube and Lake Constance . tape 41/42 (1984/85) , pp. 253 ff .
- District Office Bodenseekreis, City of Friedrichshafen, Vorarlberger Landesmuseum (ed.): The artists' association "Der Kreis". Painter and sculptor on Lake Constance 1925–1938 . Friedrichshafen 1992, p. 60-63 .
- Edeltraut Fürst: The correspondence between Hans Purrmann and Karl Einhart . In: Beautiful Swabia . 2nd year 1993, p. 46-51 .
- Rosgarten Museum Konstanz (Ed.): Ceramic Center Konstanz. Art Nouveau until the 50s . 1997, p. 35–39 (exhibition catalog).
- Manfred Bosch : Bohème on Lake Constance. Literary life at the lake from 1900 to 1950 . Lengwil 1997, p. 76, 81, 213, 229, 361, 424, 434, 456, 469, 474, 480, 552 .
- Thurgauische Bodman Foundation (ed.): Emanuel von Bodman and Gottlieber artists' colony in 1902 -1905 . Frauenfeld / Stuttgart / Vienna 2000, p. 42, 46 f .
- Barbara Stark: Karl Einhart . In: Günter Meißner (Hrsg.): General artist lexicon: the visual artists of all times and peoples . tape 33 . KG Saur Verlag, Munich / Leipzig 2002, ISBN 978-3-598-22740-0 , p. 10 .
- Norbert Jacques: Lived with pleasure . Novel of my life. Ed .: Hermann Gätje, Germaine Goetzinger, Gast Mannes a. Günther Scholdt. St. Ingbert 2004, p. 13, 74, 156, 288, 294, 327, 387 f., 397, 409 f., 417 f., 504, 579 .
- Andreas Gabelmann: The moderate modern age . The artist group “Der kleine Kreis” was founded 50 years ago in Constance. A look back at the development and workings of regional modernity. In: Südkurier . December 4, 2012 ( suedkurier.de ).
- Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie (Ed.): Faithful to the lake . Karl Einhart (1884–1967) and his companions. Konstanz 2017, ISBN 978-3-929768-44-2 (exhibition catalog).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ ER, The Einhart come from Hagnau. First mentioned in 1470 - Karl Einhart, the painter from Lake Constance. In: Südkurier, October 18, 1952;
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m loyal to the lake. Karl Einhart (1884–1967) and his companions, exhibition catalog, Konstanz (Städt. Wessenberg-Galerie) 2017
- ^ Ernst Würtenberger estate, private property. In: Faithful to the lake. Karl Einhart (1884–1967) and his companions, exhibition catalog, Konstanz (Städt. Wessenberg-Galerie) 2017, p. 8
- ↑ Emanuel von Bodman and the Gottlieber Künstlerkolonie 1902-1905, ed. v. Thurgauische Bodman Foundation, Frauenfeld / Stuttgart / Vienna 2000, pp. 42, 46 f.
- ↑ Barbara Stark, "We saw nothing of weapons." The fine arts on Lake Constance in the First World War. In: The Frontier in War. The First World War on Lake Constance, ed. v. Tobias Engelsing, Konstanz 2014, p. 183
- ^ Anne Langenkamp, German Expressionist Artists on Lake Constance. In: Expressionism on Lake Constance. Literature and fine arts. Exhibition cat. City Wessenberg-Galerie, Konstanz 2001, pp. 97 ff., 105, 110.
- ↑ The artists' association "Der Kreis". Painter and sculptor on Lake Constance 1925–1938, ed. v. District Office Bodenseekreis, City of Friedrichshafen, Vorarlberger Landesmuseum, Friedrichshafen 1992, pp. 60–63.
- ^ Edeltraut Fürst, The Circle - Painter and Sculptor at Lake Constance. In: The artists' association "Der Kreis". Painter and sculptor on Lake Constance 1925–1938, Friedrichshafen 1992, p. 13.
- ^ Edeltraut Fürst, The correspondence between Hans Purrmann and Karl Einhart. In: Schöne Schwaben, 2nd year, 1993, pp. 46–51.
- ↑ Maré Stahl, painter Einhart and the "Small Circle". In: Bodensee-Hefte, Vol. 15, H. 12, Dec. 1964, pp. 39-42.
- ↑ Norbert Jacques. Lived with pleasure. Novel of my life, ed. v. Hermann Gätje, Germaine Goetzinger, Gast Mannes a. Günther Scholdt. St. Ingbert 2004, p. 504.
- ↑ We visit Konstanz artists. Karl Einhart paints his great love . In: Konstanzer Zeitung . June 28, 1937.
- ^ Heinz Finke: The Lake Constance painter Karl Einhart 80 years old . In: Konstanzer Almanach 1965 . Friedr. Stadler, Konstanz 1965, p. 84 f .
- ↑ Constance Ceramic Center. Art Nouveau until the 50s. Exhibition cat. Rosgartenmuseum, Konstanz 1997, pp. 35–39
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Einhart, Karl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 27, 1884 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Constancy |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 10, 1967 |
| Place of death | Constancy |