Karl Hils

Karl Hils (born November 29, 1889 in Thann , Alsace , † October 1, 1977 in Stuttgart ) was a German sculptor , art educator , author and university lecturer .

Live and act

Karl Hils was born as the son of the cathedral builder and sculptor Karl Hils of the same name in Thann in Alsace. After high school and training as a sculptor, he attended the Landeskunstschule in Strasbourg from 1909 to 1913 , where he trained as a drawing teacher for secondary schools. After his legal clerkship in 1914 at the grammar school in Mulhouse , the First World War interrupted his educational career - Hils was taken into civilian captivity in France. After the war ended as a drawing teacher in Strasbourg, he soon came to Stuttgart via Schramberg , where he was still a guest student with Arnold Waldschmidt and Adolf Hölzel at the age of thirty . Throughout his life he emphasized the importance of meeting Hölzel.

From 1921 to 1946, Karl Hils, a committed representative of the reform pedagogy and art education movement , was an art teacher at various high schools in Stuttgart. This was a time rich in activities, not only in terms of his ongoing artistic and art-pedagogical experimentation with various materials: From 1922 to 1933 he held courses at the Württemberg drawing teachers' association under the direction of Gustav Kolb , was involved in the traineeship training and was involved the magazine "Kunst und Jugend" with articles and editorial work. Numerous study trips took him to Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, England, North Africa, the Scandinavian countries, Slovakia and Hungary, where he studied folk art. As a trade representative, he took part in international congresses in Locarno and Prague, was temporarily Staff at the labor school in Jena and from 1932 to 1933 also Trainer at Pestalozzianum in Zurich .

On November 1, 1946, Karl Hils was appointed as an artistic teacher for the field of handicrafts and at the same time as head of the pre-sculpting class at the Stuttgart State Academy of Fine Arts, which was newly constituted by Theodor Heuss in the building of the former Kunstgewerbeschule am Weißenhof . Appointed a lecturer in 1949, he received the title of professor that same year. At the end of the winter semester 1954/55 - the work class, which he built up with great spatial and equipment difficulties, which the teacher trainee candidates in the art education course had to go through for two semesters and to complete with the "works test", had become the main focus of his teaching post - he entered retirement. During this time, during which he found a “comrade” in Willi Baumeister at the academy and support from Gerhard Gollwitzer in organizational issues, he did widely recognized training work for young art educators, craft teachers and sculptors. His students adored him, they called him "Papa Hils". Horst Bachmayer , Gerlinde Beck , Emil Cimiotti , Emil Jo Homolka, Jörg Kicherer, Sieger Köder , Ottmar Mohring , Georg Karl Pfahler and his successor at the academy, Christoff Schellenberger , are a few names from a large group of graduates.

“But even after his retirement,” said the Stuttgarter Nachrichten on November 28, 1969 on the occasion of his 80th birthday, “he did not indulge in idle seclusion. He held and holds courses, lectures, gives suggestions in the 'parents' school', is a guest lecturer at the Institute for Depth Psychology and Psychotherapy. He also sees a task in this: to make the healing powers of shaping and working fruitful for the sick. And finally his work at the Neurosis Clinic: work with patients, painting and modeling, above all, the results of which give the doctor who analyzes the patient an insight into the condition and progress of the patient Book publication "Therapeutic factors in works and forms" published by the scientific book society in Darmstadt. Previously there were books such as “Formen in Ton”, “Gekundliche Werkarbeit”, “Werken für alle” - a book that was also published in English with a foreword by the art historian Herbert Read - or the “Werkbuch für die Familie”, translated into several languages ", Which made him popular as a" pioneer in the field of art education ". In his obituary, Academic Rector Wolfgang Kermer , who had seen Karl Hils shortly before his death at the opening of the great Oskar Schlemmer retrospective at the Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart "in his enthusiastic manner and apparently in the best of health", wrote: "An extraordinarily creative one The life prescribed for design, education and upbringing is extinguished. We will miss Karl Hils. "

Karl Hils was an honorary member of the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart and was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class

Fonts (selection)

• The wood u. Linocut - a short guide f. Pupil u. Teacher . JFSchreiber, Eßlingen / Munich 1922.
• Silhouette art for young and old . JFSchreiber, Eßlingen / Munich 1925.
• Karl Hils, Erwin Silber: Geographic work . JFSchreiber, Eßlingen / Munich 1928.
• Homemade toys . Siegle-Verlag, Stuttgart 1939.
• Works for everyone . Otto-Maier-Verlag, Ravensburg 1953.
• Do-it-yourself toys . Otto Maier Verlag, Ravensburg 1956.
• Shapes in clay . Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel 1961.
• Workbook for the family . Otto Maier Verlag, Ravensburg 1965.
• Therapeutic factors in works and forms . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1971, ISBN 3-534-03351-5 .

Translations

• The Toy Its value, construction and use . Ward, London 1959, OCLC 721289454 (English, German: do-it-yourself toys . Translated by Edward Fitzgerald).
• Crafts for all. Crafts for all . 2nd Edition. Routledge & Paul, London 1960 (English, German: Works for all .).
• Creative Crafts . Batsford, London 1966 (English, German: workbook for the family .).
• Saamen to het work . Cantecleer, De Bilt 1966 (Dutch, German: workbook for the family . Translated by Marian van Vliet-Dönszelmann).
• Manual activities en famille . Dessain & Tolra, Paris 1967 (French, German: workbook for the family . Translated by Wim. F. Sornin-Lassche).
• Actividades manuales en el hogar . Editorial Bouret, Paris 1969 (Spanish, German: workbook for the family . Translated by G. Llopis).

literature

• State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart 1761–1961: for the 200th anniversary of the academy: the teachers 1946–1961 . State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, Stuttgart 1961, OCLC 637644073 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Professor Emil Cimiotti ( Memento of August 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Familiengeschichtsforschung Cimiotti.
2. ^ Pfahler, Georg Karl. In: Kotte Autographs. 1986, archived from the original on December 17, 2012 ; Retrieved on May 5, 2011 ( autograph ).  
3. ↑ Quoted from: Akademie-Mitteilungen 8: State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart: for the period from June 1, 1976 to October 31, 1977. Ed. By Wolfgang Kermer , Stuttgart: State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, March 1978, p. 92.
4. ↑ See: References to literature . In: Akademie-Mitteilungen 2: State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart: for the period from April 1, 1972 to September 30, 1972. Ed. By Wolfgang Kermer, Stuttgart: State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, October 1972, p. 7– 8th
5. ↑ See: Exhibitions by former academy graduates . In: Akademie-Mitteilungen 8: State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart: for the period from June 1, 1976 to October 31, 1977. Edited by Wolfgang Kermer, Stuttgart: State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, March 1978, p. 134– 135.
6. ↑ Akademie-Mitteilungen 8: State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart: for the period from June 1, 1976 to October 31, 1977. Edited by Wolfgang Kermer, Stuttgart: State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, March 1978, p. 92.