Karl Holstein

This article deals with the painter and graphic artist. You also Karl Holstein (industrialist)

Karl Holstein (born October 1, 1912 in Hamburg ; † March 1, 2003 ibid) was a German painter and graphic artist .

Life

Karl Holstein was born the son of a blacksmith . This forbade him to become a painter because he was supposed to learn a “real” trade. So he began an apprenticeship as a craft painter , which he also successfully completed. In the meantime he worked on the side in order to be able to afford the money for expensive drawing lessons with Carl Otto Czeschka and Professor Schröder as well as the art teacher Korf.

In 1932 Karl Holstein went to one of Hamburg's leading department stores with a portfolio full of drawings, which had advertised a position as a decorative painter. He was selected from more than 60 candidates. After working there for some time, he was appointed studio manager. He carried out this activity until the beginning of the war in 1939 .

Karl Holstein lost an eye during the war. This deprived him of the opportunity to see spatially, but not of his courage. So he trained his remaining eye by initially drawing large posters that he hung in front of the destroyed window panes of the bombed houses so that they could be recognized as advertising space. More and more often he took on orders for illustrations and graphics and in 1948 he went freelance as a commercial graphic artist and illustrator.

In the following time, Karl Holstein designed brochures for companies such as Aral , HEW , VW and one of the leading fashion houses.

During the years in which Karl Holstein worked as a commercial graphic artist, free painting was always on the side for him. Due to his great modesty, his pictures remained hidden for a long time and thus unknown to the public. So it was a difficult decision for him to exhibit his pictures for the first time in 1965 at an invitation from the city of Tours in France and thus make them accessible to the public. Further exhibitions followed in Barcelona , Girona , Frankfurt , Hamburg , Munich , Bad Nauheim , Kiel , Cologne , Sylt and Fehmarn .

In 1970 Karl Holstein opened his own studio, which he ran until his death.

Karl Holstein died of heart failure.

Exhibitions

• 1921 First prize in the drawing competition in Hamburg Schools
• 1963 First exhibition of free works, watercolors and oil paintings in Spain
• 1964 Exhibition of watercolors and oil paintings in Barcelona, ​​Spain
• 1965 Exhibition in Tours (France) at the invitation of the city
• 1968 exhibitions in Gerona (Spain) and Schleswig-Holstein
• 1970 Establishment of his own studio with exhibition rooms
• 1970/1971 exhibition in the Vereins- und Westbank, Hamburg
• 1972 Exhibition in his own studio - watercolors and oil paintings
• 1973 Exhibition at the Institut Francais, Hamburg - Tours and the Touraine - watercolors and drawings from France
• 1975 Exhibition in Pinneberg
• 1075 Exhibition in his own studio, oil paintings and watercolors - Hamburg theme
• 1976 Exhibition in Tornesch
• 1977 Exhibition in Tours (France) at the invitation of the city
• 1977 Exhibition in Refrath in the Anastasia Gallery - symbolic pictures that deal with the environment and watercolors from the Bergisches Land
• 1978 Exhibition in Heidenheim / Brenz in the town hall at the invitation of the city
• 1978 Exhibition in the sports center Hamburg-Mundsburg - watercolors
• 1978 Exhibition in his own studio - pen drawings Hamburg
• 1979 Exhibition in Pinneberg in the Landdrostei
• 1980 Exhibition in Leverkusen in the Koppelmann gallery
• 1980 Exhibition in his own studio - France trip
• 1981 Exhibition in Leverkusen at Deutsche Bank
• 1981 Exhibition in Irschenhausen in the Hollerhaus
• 1981 Exhibition in Leverkusen at Deutsche Bank
• 1982 Exhibition in Hamburg, Deutsche Bank
• 1982 Exhibition in Leverkusen in the Winkel Gallery
• 1982 Exhibition in Kiel in the Böttcher gallery
• 1982 Exhibition in Munich at the Mohr and Ch. Sieber art studio
• 1987 Exhibition in Burg auf Fehmarn, gallery - watercolors
• 1989 Exhibition in Bad Nauheim - Trinkkurhalle - watercolors and pen drawings
• 1989 Exhibition in Kiel, Deutsche Bank, watercolors on the subject of Schleswig-Holstein and ink drawings
• 1989 Exhibition at Deutsche Bank Cologne-Leverkusen - watercolors, drawings and miniature oil paintings
• 1989 Exhibition in Hamburg, Galerie am Tibarg - Hamburg watercolors, oil paintings, subject of landscape impressions and graphics
• 1982 to 2002 changing exhibitions in his own studio

literature

• Gunnar F. Gerlach: From Where From Where To. Notes on the art of the draftsman Karl Holstein . In: Graphic Art . Issue 25/2. Issue 1985. Memmingen 1985, p. 65ff. ISSN  0342-3158