Kurt Wendlandt

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Kurt Wendlandt (born August 13, 1917 in Wreschen ; † February 13, 1998 in Berlin ) was a German painter , graphic artist , author and book illustrator . His work includes paintings , drawings, sculptures, photograms and light graphics. Books illustrated by Wendlandt have appeared in Germany as well as in Great Britain , the Netherlands , Austria , Sweden , Switzerland and the GDR .

biography

Kurt Wendlandt was born the son of a violinist and an office worker in Wreschen / Posen . In 1923 the family moved to Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg , where Wendlandt grew up in simple circumstances. As a child he was still active as a choirboy in the Staats- und Domchor Berlin , but as a teenager he devoted himself more and more to painting . A meeting with Käthe Kollwitz in 1935, according to his own statement, had a great influence on his later work. Between 1937 and 1943 he studied at the State University of Fine Arts (today: University of the Arts Berlin ) with Erik Richter and Gustav Hilbert . In 1938, Wendlandt won the Berlin Christmas market competition. Shortly afterwards he turned down a master studio offered by Hans Meid in order not to be committed as an illustrator .

Since he was called up for military service in 1940, his studies were limited to temporary study vacations between war missions. As a soldier in Holland , he was awarded first prize in a painting competition for the picture: “The German soldier sees Holland”. From 1940 to 1942 he commuted between Berlin and Holland. In 1943, he and his fellow students were evacuated from the University of the Arts to the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , where he also continued his painting studies. In the following years he was increasingly used as a soldier in the Soviet Union , where he was shot and as an invalid was taken prisoner of war . In 1945 he was released from this.

From 1946 he earned his living mainly as a copyist of old masters, newspaper illustrator and portraitist . A portrait of the conductor Sergiu Celibidache was also created during this time . From 1947 he was intensively involved in color theory , inspired by his painting teacher Hans Szym , a student of Johann Walter-Kurau's studio . Between 1950 and 1952 he worked a. a. in Juro Kubicek's studio . During this time, Wendlandt developed the first illustrations for children's books, such as in 1954 when Droemer Knaur Verlag commissioned him to illustrate the book “Die Lederstrumpf-Erzählungen”. At the same time, Wendlandt became increasingly active as an author himself. Together with his wife Elfi, he immortalized the impressions of their travels to Yugoslavia in the children's book "Elisa" (1960), which is set on the island of Rab .

From 1958 Wendlandt developed the first light graphics and décollage as well as light pictures, diaphanous reliefs and three-dimensional light walls. He was the first to discover the possibility of combining film collages with Plexiglas, which enables colored spatial presentations. During this time he also met the photographer Heinz Hajek-Halke , which resulted in a friendship. Hajek-Halke and Wendlandt belonged to the avant-garde of the Berlin light graphics scene in the 1960s. In 1961, Wendlandt had his first light graphics exhibition in the Galerie am Abend (an exhibition space in Vera Ziegler's private apartment at the time ) and in the Spandau town hall . Between 1960 and 1963 Wendlandt worked as a lecturer in graphic design at the TU Berlin . And illustrated u. a. the children's book “Tales from a Thousand and One Nights”, which was published in 1963. One topic that Wendlandt dealt with at the time was the impact of humans on nature . Together with his wife he wrote and illustrated, "Fumo, der Rauchgeist", a children's book about environmental pollution , which appeared in 1962. The book was later expanded into a film and broadcast on television by Bavarian Radio. Akwarax, a second book on pollution, was also written around this time.

During this time, Wendlandt was increasingly looking for inspiration in foreign cultures and developed the cycle “Exotic Love Stories”. a. busy with Genji Monogatari .

At the same time, Wendlandt continued to deal intensively with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Wassily Kandinsky's thoughts on the character of colors, as well as the modern color psychology of Max Lüscher . During this time he wrote the first manuscript parts of the color fairy tale "The Three Kingdoms", which was published in 1971. The book contains a foreword by Walter Scheel and in the international edition a foreword by Yehudi Menuhin .

Another area of ​​interest of Wendlandt was the work of Karlfried Graf Dürckheim , who invited him to organize an exhibition in the "existential psychological education and meeting place" in the Black Forest .

The study of Jean Gebser's cultural anthropology had a major influence on Wendlandt's artistic work . Gebser agreed to any form of cooperation but died a short time later in March 1973. Shortly afterwards, Wendlandt began working on the first version of his "Gebser wall" entitled "The unfolding of human consciousness". Wendlandt finished working on the wall in the late 1980s. The International Gebser Society invited him to the symposium and entrusted him with a lecture. In 1988 he exhibited the wall in the Spandau Citadel . In 1997, a year before his death, he gave her the wall.

Kurt Wendlandt's final resting place is the grave of the Steier / Wendlandt family in the Heerstraße cemetery in Berlin-Westend .

Kurt Wendlandt died in February 1998 at the age of 80 in Berlin. He was buried in the joint grave of his parents-in-law and parents in the state-owned cemetery in Heerstraße in Charlottenburg in today's Berlin-Westend district (grave location: 12-B-19/20). A marble band of inscriptions on the grave pedestal of Harry Steier's father-in-law commemorates Kurt Wendlandt.

Wendlandt's estate is u. a. owned by the Berlinische Galerie , the Moritzburg Art Museum in Halle and the Spandau Citadel, as well as privately owned in and outside Europe.

Private

Wendlandt married his fellow student Elfi Steier in 1942, the daughter of the opera singer Harry Steier. The two remained married until Wendlandt's death and had three children.

Exhibitions (selection)

Publications

As an author (selection)

  • Elisa (together with Elfi Wendlandt), Herold, 1960.
  • Fumo, der Rauchgeist (together with Elfi Wendlandt), Parabel Verlag, 1962.
  • The Three Kingdoms , Sellier, 1971.
  • Contributions to the integral worldview. Vol. VI. , International Jean Gebser Society, Schaffhausen (ed.), Willi Schlichter Atelier, 1986.
  • The "disarmament" of Athena. The unfolding of human consciousness , Fuhl & Hornung printing works, 1999.

As an illustrator (selection)

Literature (selection)

  • Fabrics are made transparent (Kurt Wendlandt exhibition) . In: Die Welt from June 11, 1964.
  • AB: Photo art in new ways . In: Berliner Morgenpost from September 3, 1969.
  • Making the unconscious visible (Wendlandt creates the fantastic) . In: Kölner Stadtanzeiger from June 16, 1972.
  • Who's who in the arts . Who's Who-Book & Publishing GmbH, Ottobrunn 1975, ISBN 9783921220078 .
  • Interview with Berlin Artists Volume 2 , Dieter Biewald , Verlag AF Koska, Vienna / Berlin 1975.
  • MK: Unity in diversity (forum presents “Transperenz und Reflexion” by Kurt Wendlandt) . In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of March 15, 1977.
  • Horst Hartmann: Mystic of Light (Kurt Wendlandt from Berlin with light graphics in Mannheim) . In: Baden's latest news from June 10, 1977
  • Studia Mystica Volume VI, Number 3, Fall 1983 , California State University .
  • Interferences: Art from West Berlin 1960–1990 , Nishen-Verlag , 1991, ISBN 3889400698 .
  • Floris M. Neusüss, Renate Heyne: The photogram in the art of the 20th century . DuMont Buchverlag , Cologne 1990, ISBN 3770117670 .
  • Lynne Warren: Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Photography, Volume 1 . Routledge , 2005.
  • Gottfried Jäger, Rolf H. Krauss, Beate Reese: Concrete Photography. Concrete photography . Kerber, Bielefeld 2005, ISBN 3-936646-74-0 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst Hartmann: Das Ende der Galerie Clarissa (retrospective in Regensburg) In: German General Sunday Gazette No. 16, 1968
  2. ^ EL: Center of Art Technology (on an exhibition in the "Haus am Lützowplatz") In: AH from August 31, 1969
  3. ↑ Book of fairy tales for children , Die Zeit of November 22, 1963 (accessed October 11, 2013)
  4. ^ Wall relief exhibited in the citadel - artist donates his life's work to the district , Berliner Zeitung, August 16, 1997 (accessed October 11, 2013)
  5. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 . Pp. 495, 497.
  6. ^ Estates and archives in the Photographic Collection , Berlinische Galerie, 2011 (accessed October 11, 2013)
  7. ^ Collections , Berliner Zeitung, October 20, 2004 (accessed October 11, 2013)
  8. ↑ Photographic processes from 100 years , halle.de, December 14, 2010 (accessed October 11, 2013)
  9. ↑ The Spandau Art Collection: Paintings, Graphics, Sculpture , Kulturpur (accessed on October 11, 2013)
personal data
SURNAME Wendlandt, Kurt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, graphic artist, author and book illustrator
DATE OF BIRTH August 13, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Wreschen , poses
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 1998
Place of death Berlin