Leonhard Schmidt

Leonhard Schmidt (born January 19, 1892 in Backnang ; † August 13, 1978 in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim ) was a German painter. He was one of the first Stuttgart secessionists .

Life

Leonhard Schmidt was the oldest of five children of a shoemaker . He began his apprenticeship as a decorative painter in Backnang and passed his journeyman's examination in 1909. From 1910 to 1915 he was on the move, from 1915 to 1918 in the Landsturm and guarding prisoners in Darmstadt. His first drawings were made during this time. From 1919 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart, where he studied with Robert Breyer and Heinrich Altherr .

In 1923 he took part in the first exhibition of the Stuttgart Secession, where he was given his own room. During his lifetime, Schmidt's art was recognized through acquisitions by major museums such as the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and the Berlin Nationalgalerie . At the time of National Socialism , however, some of his works were declared “degenerate” and could no longer be shown in public.

In 1943 his apartment was bombed out and part of his early works destroyed. After the war his wife moved with their two daughters to Allmersbach im Tal . Schmidt, however, stayed in Untertürkheim. In 1970 he received the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class . In 1974 he was awarded the title of professor and in 1975 he was made an honorary member of the Artists' Association of Baden-Württemberg .

Leonhard-Schmidt-Platz was inaugurated in Untertürkheim in 2000. In 2008 the city of Backnang named a path in the Katharinenplaisir after him, the Leonhard-Schmidt-Weg. In 2011 the "Association for the Promotion and Maintenance of the Work of Leonhard Schmidt eV" was founded in Untertürkheim.

Web links

• Literature by and about Leonhard Schmidt in the catalog of the German National Library
• Newspaper article about Leonhard Schmidt

Individual evidence

1. ^ Leonhard Schmidt - Association for the promotion and maintenance of the work of Leonhard Schmidt eV Accessed on July 25, 2017 .