Karl Frech

Karl Frech, self-portrait

Hugo Karl Frech (born September 9, 1883 in Gaisburg , Württemberg ; † July 27, 1945 on the run in a camp near Steyr , Upper Austria ) was a German painter, draftsman and graphic artist.

Life

Nothing is known about his parentage and childhood. Frech received his first training in lithography at the renowned Schreiber-Verlag in Esslingen am Neckar, which at that time was an important graphic arts establishment. Between 1903 and 1905 he attended the technical school for graphic arts and the arts and crafts school in Stuttgart . He then studied at the Art Academy of Karlsruhe . The well-known German painter Hans Thoma also gave him lessons . Extensive trips through Europe followed; Italy and Sweden in particular were countries that made a strong artistic impression on him. A milestone in his life was a train journey to Tyrol : during this journey he met his future wife, the Pressburg 'vineyard daughter' Rosina Albrecht, who was on a vacation trip to Tyrol. In 1914 he moved to Pressburg and on February 15, 1915 the wedding took place. He did his military service as a medic in hospital trains during the First World War .

Personalities of the city of Pressburg (from left to right) Karl Frech, Dr. Ovidius Faust , Josef Hofer, young man (unknown) in St. Georgen around 1928

After the war, Frech developed a distinctive artistic activity in Preßburg (now Bratislava), joined the 'Preßburger Kunstverein', which was founded in 1895, and was one of the most important representatives of the Bratislava art scene between the two world wars . In the Bratislava City Gallery ( Slov . 'Galéria mesta Bratislavy') around 700 works of art by Frech are kept today. His paintings , watercolors , drawings and graphics are not only of high artistic value, but are valuable documents of the times in which the original face of many parts of Pressburg is recorded, which no longer exist or have been fundamentally changed.

Naughty was also a gifted illustrator in magazines and books. After he got to know Carl Angermayer , the editor of the Pressburg newspaper at the time , he became an employee of this paper. He regularly illustrated articles in the Pressburger Zeitung but also in the 'Grenzbote'. He also illustrated almost all of the books by the Pressburg author Karl Benyovszky ; Numerous illustrations are also in the two-volume history of the city Bratislava by Emil Portisch to find.

Bookplate by Frech

His extensive bookplate , which is almost unexplored today, is also of great importance . Many important personalities of the city of Pressburg (including Dr. Ovidius Faust , Karl Benyovszky) received corresponding graphically designed templates from Frech. In the German-language bookplate literature, Frech is almost unknown, which is certainly unfortunate.

As a German, Karl Frech was also affected by the sanctions imposed by the restored Czecho-Slovakia . The announcements in the Kascha government program of April 5, 1945 as well as the Beneš decrees also referred to him. Having lost his homeland, he fled to Austria and died on the run in a camp near Steyr ; his remains were taken to the cemetery in neighboring Ortisei , where his grave is still located today.

literature

P. Rainer Rudolf, Eduard Ulreich: Karpatendeutsches Biographisches Lexikon. Association of Carpathian Germans from Slovakia, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-927096-00-8 , p. 88.
Exhibition catalog Karl Frech: Medzivojnová Bratislava, 1994.
Ernst Hochberger: Karl Frech, in Carpathian Yearbook 1996, Stuttgart 1995, p. 5.

Web links

Patrícia Ballx: Karl Hugo Frech, in 'Galeria meta Bratislavy'; online: www.gmb.sk; Slovak, accessed September 23, 2017

[1] CV with pictures (Slovak; accessed on May 25, 2019)

Individual evidence

^ Gaisburg was incorporated into Stuttgart in 1901; today: Stuttgart - Gaisburg
↑ daughter of a winemaker
↑ Josef Hofer (* 1883, † 1967) was a museum photographer for the city of Pressburg between the two world wars . He came from a German family from Schilder on the Great Schüttinsel . As a German, he and his entire family had to leave Pressburg in 1945, and all of his fortune was lost. After the war he settled in Nürtingen , where he died in 1967. He left a huge photo archive (around 10,000 photos). Most of them were recordings from Pressburg and today's Slovakia . The Bratislava City Museum still has more than 3,000 photos.
↑ Carl Angermayer the Elder J. (* 1877 in Preßburg, † 1938 ibid.) Printer, publisher. From 1907 editor and responsible publisher of the Preßburger Zeitung ( Karpatendeutsches Biographisches Lexikon , p. 21)

personal data
SURNAME	Naughty, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Naughty, Hugo Karl (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German painter, draftsman and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH	September 9, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH	Gaisburg , Württemberg
DATE OF DEATH	July 27, 1945
Place of death	near Steyr , Upper Austria

[1] Gaisburg was incorporated into Stuttgart in 1901; today: Stuttgart - Gaisburg

[2] ughter of a winemaker

[3] Josef Hofer (* 1883, † 1967) was a museum photographer for the city of Pressburg between the two world wars . He came from a German family from Schilder on the Great Schüttinsel . As a German, he and his entire family had to leave Pressburg in 1945, and all of his fortune was lost. After the war he settled in Nürtingen , where he died in 1967. He left a huge photo archive (around 10,000 photos). Most of them were recordings from Pressburg and today's Slovakia . The Bratislava City Museum still has more than 3,000 photos.

[4] Carl Angermayer the Elder J. (* 1877 in Preßburg, † 1938 ibid.) Printer, publisher. From 1907 editor and responsible publisher of the Preßburger Zeitung ( Karpatendeutsches Biographisches Lexikon , p. 21)