Karl Köster (painter)

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Karl Köster (born September 1, 1883 in Mönchengladbach ; † March 2, 1975 in Boisheim ) was a German painter and graphic artist . He is considered to be an important book designer who worked for renowned publishers before the First World War and, among other things, shaped the design of the series of “ The Blue Books ”.

life and work

Karl Köster was the oldest child of a master shoemaker. He did an apprenticeship as a lithographer and then attended the Düsseldorf School of Applied Arts ; his main teacher was Fritz Helmuth Ehmcke , who involved him in the work for a project for the 1904 World Exhibition in St. Louis and who led him to work in the applied arts. For his book covers he received the silver medal at the German Art and Industry Exhibition in Dresden in 1906. During his studies he was friends with August Macke . From 1907 to 1958 he worked as a book designer for the Karl-Robert Langewiesche-Verlag . He shaped the appearance of the popular “Blue Books” through a classically dignified design that conveyed a high standard and corresponded to the goals of the Deutscher Werkbund . In 1912 Köster was made a member of the "Association of German Book Trade Artists". From 1910 to 1918 Köster lived intermittently in Munich. He studied there from 1915 at the art academy and made, among other things, book designs for the Insel Verlag and the Bruckmann Verlag .

In 1921 he married, moved to Schaag and began painting with the Lower Rhine motifs, which are the content of many of his 300 or so paintings. He designed altar rooms; In 1934, for example, he took over the color scheme of the interior of the Kaldenkirchen parish church. From 1935 on he lived in Boisheim, now part of the city of Viersen . Artistically he had only developed further until the 1920s, he then remained in self-chosen seclusion and a simple understanding of nature, and after the Second World War his painting was considered “completely out of date”. Influenced by late impressionism, he endeavored "to create a harmonious, often lyrical overall impression". His book design work is more numerous and important, especially for the series of the “Blue Books” and the Langewiesche library “Eiserner Hammer”, which are now in the Langewiesche archive in Königstein. Köster was the house graphic artist of the Volksverein-Verlag Mönchengladbach and Langewiesche-Verlag. He belonged to the Mönchengladbach artist group "Die Planke", founded in 1951. Koester's works can be found in the collections of the Mönchengladbach Museum Abteiberg , the Municipal Gallery in Viersen Park and the Katharinenhof Museum in Kranenburg.

Exhibitions (selection)

Secondary literature

  • Köster, Karl . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists of the XX. Century. tape 3 : K-P . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1956, p. 82 .
  • Johann Heinrich Gillessen: Karl Köster. A painter from the Lower Rhine. In: Heimatbuch des Kreis Kempen-Krefeld. Kempen 1953
  • Gabriele Klempert: The world of beauty. A century of publishing history in Germany: The Blue Books 1902–2002. Königstein im Taunus 2002, ISBN 3-7845-3570-4
  • Barbara Maiburg: Edge and plank. Artist groups in Mönchengladbach. Mönchengladbach 2000
  • Joseph Popp: Karl Köster as a book artist. In: The art. No. 20, 1909
  • Wilhelm Schmidtbonn : Karl Köster. In: The Rhineland. Monthly magazine for German art and poetry. Dusseldorf. Issue 12, 1911
  • Eva-Maria Willemsen: Karl Köster 1883–1975. Hans Füsser 1898–1959. Life and work of Lower Rhine artists. Series of publications by the “Nature and Culture” foundation in the Viersen district of the Sparkasse Krefeld. Vol. 6, Krefeld 2008, ISBN 978-3-933969-92-7

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Eva-Maria Willemsen: Karl Köster. Hans Füsser. Krefeld 2008
  2. ↑ Sandra Conradt: The "Blue Books" and the "Iron Hammer". Göttingen 1999
  3. ^ Eva-Maria Willemsen: Karl Köster. Hans Füsser. Krefeld 2008
  4. ↑ Barbara Maiburg: Edge and Plank. Artist groups in Mönchengladbach. Mönchengladbach 2000

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Köster, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH September 1, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Mönchengladbach
DATE OF DEATH March 2nd 1975
Place of death Boisheim