Marcus Behmer

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Marcus Michael Douglas Behmer , pseudonyms Marcotino and Maurice Besnaux , (born October 1, 1879 in Weimar , † September 12, 1958 in Berlin ) was a German type and book artist, illustrator , graphic artist and painter .

Marcus Behmer 1947 (drawing by Dorothea Werner)
Marcus Behmer - De Kaiser (Ilsebill as Empress). Wax and colored pencil on parchment; 1914. Preparatory drawing for the etching for Phillip Otto Runge's "Von dem Fischer un syner Fru"

genealogy

Marcus Behmer was a son of the painter Hermann Behmer (born November 13, 1831 in Merzien ; † in July 1915 in Weimar ) and a grandson of the Merziener Oberamtmann Friedrich Behmer and his wife Elise Behmer, youngest daughter of the poet Philippine Engelhard . His uncle Rudolf Behmer (born November 13, 1831 in Merzien; † February 12, 1902 in Berlin ) - known as the breeder of merino meat sheep - was his father's twin brother. Her sister Luise, the aunt of Marcus, was married to Heinrich von Nathusius (1824–1890). His brother Joachim Behmer was also an artist.

Life

His artistic beginnings, as he writes in a letter, were around 1896, and he had his first great success with the illustrations for Wildes Salome published by Insel-Verlag in 1903. The early works bear witness to the influence of Aubrey Beardsley's illustration art . In the historical reception, this initial dependency in his Salome is his undoing, because numerous art historians also refer to Behmer as Beardsley epigones, but the later the more inappropriately. It is true that he soon broke away from this influence and, in parallel with the emerging expressionism and the new impulses of the Wiener Werkstätte, developed a formal language of his own.

Behmer entered the military on October 1, 1903, was promoted to private on June 10, 1904 and promoted to sergeant on September 22, 1907. From 1914 he took part in the First World War (in Flanders and Poland). In the summer of 1917 he fell seriously ill "after an operation in the field" and spent six weeks in the Jarny military hospital . During his time in the army, many so-called "comrade portraits" were created, mostly reduced, albeit finely worked out profile views of young soldiers.

In 1898 he met Karl Walser , with whom he had a lifelong friendship. Both adored the works of Aubrey Beardsley . From 1902, Behmer provided illustrations for books, designed initials and fonts and was responsible for carefully planned book layouts. He worked for Harry Graf Kessler's Cranach press and above all in numerous articles for the monthly “ Die Insel ”, published by Insel-Verlag . For this publisher he also designed a work that was particularly well known internationally, the series of illustrations for Philipp Otto Runges : Von dem Fischer un syner Fru and 1903 Art Nouveau drawings for Oscar Wilde's Salome . Behmer also worked for other publishers, such as B. for the Paul-Cassirer-Verlag , in which one of his main works, the 40 etchings on Voltaire's Zadig , made in 1912, was published. Like so many artists in the book art movement , Behmer ran into financial bottlenecks as early as the 1920s, but nevertheless stuck to (in his words) the “small format”, instead of a career as Alfred Kubin (with whom Behmer compared himself in later years) Strive for gallery artist.

Behmer was close friends, among others, with the family of the writer Ernst Hardt , with the painter Alexander Olbricht as well as with the sculptor and painter Dorothea Werner (née Leiding) and her husband.

Behmer had been a member of the world's first homosexual organization in Berlin since 1903. Behmer was sentenced to 19 months in prison by a court in Constance in December 1936, and he was imprisoned in Stockach, Constance and Freiburg. At times he was given the opportunity to work artistically in prison. The works created during this time are mostly calligraphic tablets with Greek text (prayers and biblical quotations), as well as drawings full of bitterness and irony.

Honorary grave of Marcus Behmer in the Heerstrasse cemetery in Berlin-Westend

From 1943 Behmer lived in the house of the family of Donata Helmrich, the daughter of Ernst Hardt , in Berlin-Charlottenburg. After it was bombed out in Berlin in November 1944 and lost almost all of his possessions, including hundreds of drawings, graphics and printing plates, he was initially housed on the Werner family's estate, the Groß Nuhnen domain near Frankfurt / Oder. He spent the rest of his life in poverty in West Berlin. Dorothea Werner looked after him there in 1958 until his death.

Marcus Behmer died three weeks before his 79th birthday on September 12, 1958 in Berlin. The burial took place in the state-owned cemetery Heerstraße in today's Berlin-Westend district .

In 1965, the Berlin Senate decided to dedicate the last resting place of Marcus Behmer (grave location: 8-C-54) as an honorary grave for the State of Berlin . This original dedication expired in 2011. However, in 2018 the Senate decided to rededicate the grave as a grave of honor - with the usual time limit of twenty years.

Renowned museums and collections such as the graphic collection of the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, the Klingspor Museum for Type Art and Typography in Offenbach or the Sternweiler Collection ( Schwules Museum ) in Berlin now house works by Marcus Behmer. A decisive appraisal of his work and its art-historical importance is still pending.

Works (selection)

Graphics

  • Numerous New Year's greetings sent to friends, mostly erased, with both metaphorical and political motives (this is how critical comments emerged between 1931 and 1934 on the rise of the National Socialists).
  • Numerous erotic works, often etchings, with gay symbols that are as clear as they are imaginative.

Book illustration

  • Annemarie von Nathusius : Free words . Berlin, Eckstein, (1902).
  • Oscar Wilde: Salome . Leipzig, Insel, 1903.
  • H. de Balzac : The girl with the golden eyes . German Transfer from Ernst Hardt. Leipzig, Insel Verlag 1904.
  • Ernst Hardt: Ninon von Lenclos . Drama in one act. Insel Verlag, Leipzig, 1905.
  • Ernst Hardt: Tantris the fool . Drama in 5 acts. Breitkopf & Härtel for Insel Verlag, Leipzig, 1907.
  • Voltaire: Zadig . IX. Pan-Presse work, published by Paul Cassirer, Berlin, 1912.
  • Brothers Grimm: Six fairy tales . Brandus, Berlin, 1918.
  • Ecclesiastes or the preacher Solomon . Holten, Berlin, 1920.
  • From the fisherman un syner Fru . Leipzig, Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1920 ( Insel-Bücherei No. 315), also handset by Behmer.
  • Euphorion Verlag: Publisher's report on the year it was founded . With an original title etching by Marcus Behmer and an original lithograph by Hermann Struck. Berlin 1920.
  • The prophet Jonah after Luther . Insel Verlag, Leipzig, 1920–30, reprint 1983: Insel-Bücherei No. 1018/2.
  • Johannes Secundus (di JN Everaerts): Basia . Officina Serpentis, Berlin, 1921.
  • Enno Littmann : From the oriental flea . Poetry and truth about the flea among Hebrews, Syrians, Arabs, Abyssinians and Turks. With 13 orig. Etchings. Insel, Leipzig 1925

Work editions

  • Five letters on the Effi-Briest cover. (Berlin-Schöneberg, Labisch, undated (1927). - Private print in very small print runs (25 copies).)
  • Ten paper cuttings by Marcus Behmer. Produced by W. Büxenstein as an annual gift for the Friends of the State Art Library. Berlin 1930.

Musical compositions / songs based on poems by

  • Eduard Mörike : Think it, oh soul! (Berlin, Birkholz, 1922; written in 1917 in Jarny's field hospital ).
  • Paul Verlaine : Le ciel est, pardessus le toit ... (Berlin, Birkholz, 1925).
  • Emil Kuh : Little deer went for a walk in the forest. (Based on the children's song, set for voice and piano by Marcus Behmer). On '19. ', July 22, 1943. (Small edition private print for Konstantin [Greiff-Helmrich]).

Drafts for the Reichsdruckerei

  • Ten Mark banknote, 1919 (using a silhouette).
  • Various invitation and program cards.

Exhibitions (selection)

Solo exhibitions

  • 2018 - (July 11th - September 2nd) Dolphins in Offenbach. Marcus Behmer. Master he small formats. Klingspor Museum, Offenbach am Main, on the 60th anniversary of death.
  • 2009 (October 1st) For his 130th birthday - gallery in the antiquarian bookshop Marcus Haucke, Berlin.
  • 2008 (July 24th - September 2nd) - Galerie Buchholz , Berlin.
  • 2008 - "Täfele". Antiquariat & Galerie Marcus Haucke, Berlin.
  • 2000 - Antiquariat & Galerie Marcus Haucke, Berlin.
  • 1979 - City Museum, Weimar
  • 1979 - City Library, East Berlin.
  • 1979 - Klingspor Museum, Offenbach.
  • 1978 - Werner Kunze Gallery, Berlin.
  • 1978 - 1979 - Art Circle Novo Industrie, Mainz.
  • 1958 - Klingspor Museum, Offenbach.
  • 1958 - 1959 - Formerly the Berlin State Museums / Art Library, Berlin
  • 1956 - Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main.
  • 1954 - Charlottenburg Art Office, Berlin.
  • 1952 - "50 years of work", Horst Stobbe Bücherstube, Munich.
  • 1951 - Galerie Springer , Berlin.
  • 1950 - Galerie Rosen , Berlin
  • 1947 - A. Wollbrück & Co. bookstore and antiquarian bookshop, Berlin.
  • 1927 - Art Library, Berlin.
  • 1912 - "An exhibition of drawings, etchings and ex libris by Marcus Behmer", Berlin Photographic Company, New York.
  • 1910 - Exhibition in Alexander Olbricht's studio, Weimar.
  • 1904 - "Marcus Behmer, drawings, watercolors, woodcuts", Kunstverein, Jena.

Group exhibitions

  • 1997 - “Goodbye to Berlin. 100 Years of the Gay Movement ", Schwules-Museum, Berlin
  • 1984 - "Eldorado", Berlin Museum, Berlin
  • 1980 - "The curved horizon - Art in Berlin 1945-1967", Akademie der Künste, Berlin
  • 1929 - "The German illustrated book from 1880 to 1929", Horst Stobbe Bücherstube, Munich.
  • 1909 - "Winter Exhibition of the Secession" (graphics), Akademie der Künste, Berlin.
  • 1905 - "Alexander Olbricht, Marcus Behmer (drawings, etchings, woodcuts)", Kunstverein, Jena.
  • 1903 - Secession, Berlin.
  • 1902 - "Vienna Secession 13th Exhibition", Vienna
  • 1900 - "Vienna Secession 8th Exhibition", Vienna

literature

  • Max Deri: Marcus Behmer - Berlin . In: German Art and Decoration , Vol. 30, April 1912 - September 1912, pp. 415-423 ( digitized version ).
  • Reichs Handbuch der Deutschen Gesellschaft - The handbook of personalities in words and pictures . First volume, Deutscher Wirtschaftsverlag, Berlin 1930, new edition Munich undated , Saur, ISBN 3-598-30664-4 .
  • Birnbaum, Martin, Marcus Behmer. New York 1912.
  • Book covers by Marcus Behmer. In: Stammtisch Blätter der Maximilian-Gesellschaft, born 1927, pp. 53–87
  • Hans Vollmer , General Lexicon of Fine Artists, Vol. I, p. 155f.
  • Roditi, Edouard, Marcus Behmer, a Master of Art Nouveau. In: Arts in Society, 7, 1970, pp. 268-275.
  • Halbey, Hans Adolf, Marcus Behmer as illustrator / hand-held binding by Frieda Thiersch for printing by the Bremen press. Neu-Isenburg 1970 (with bibliography of the works illustrated by Behmer; incomplete).
  • Hans Adolf Halbey and Richard von Sichowsky: Marcus Behmer in his letters as a book designer, illustrator and draftsman. From the typography to the West-Eastern Divan, the etchings to the Ilsebill, the woodcuts to Petronius and the Hebrew script. Hans Christians publishing house, Hamburg 1974.
  • MARCUS BEHMER. (Catalog of the exhibition & attempt to create a catalog raisonné ). With texts by Marcus Behmer, Benno Meyer-Wehlack a. a. Edited by Marcus Haucke. Berlin, Galerie im Antiquariat Haucke, (September 12th) 2000 to (February 14th) 2001. Gr8 °. With approx. 95 illustrations, 80 p. OKtn. with ill. the bookbinder's stamp a. Portrait v. MB. - Content: biography (biographical sketch), texts by Marcus Behmer (Alexander Olbricht, Insel-Baedecker, poems etc.), Blake, Goethe, Haucke, Graf Kessler, Benno Meyer-Wehlack. With a directory of the writings (A1-A56 = 56 entries), the illustrated books and original graphic articles in magazines and books (C1-88 = 88 entries), the folders (D89-D100 = 12 entries), the New Year's wishes (E181-E217 = 37 entries), numerous drawings, the erotic or orgiastic work "(in overview), so-called book smudges, selection of ex-libris as well as a list of exhibitions and a bibliography. In a small connection there are also small biographical sketches of Hermann Behmer (Father), Alexander Olbricht and Benno Meyer-Wehlack (friends). Haucke is the owner of the right to follow-on rights for Marcus Behmer and works on the catalog raisonné of printmaking and book art.
  • Peter Christian Hall: Dolphins in Offenbach. Marcus Behmer. Master of small formats, Klingspor Museum, Offenbach am Main 2018 and article "Fromm und Schwul" in chrismon , August 2018 issue, page 42.
  • Renate Müller Krumbach: Marcus Behmer, illustrator, book artist, letter writer In: Journal of the Swiss Bibliophile Society, Vol. 47, 2004, pp. 66–78.
  • Renate Müller-Krumbach: Marcus Behmer (1879-1958). Ouvre gravé - handwritten catalog raisonné . In: Society of Bibliophiles (Hrsg.): Imprimatur  : a yearbook for book lovers . NF 19. Harrassowitz, 2005, ISSN  0073-5620 , p. 289-307 .

Web links

Commons : Marcus Behmer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Verena Senti-Schmidlin: The artist friendship Karl Walser-Marcus Behmer. Retrieved October 27, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Dorothea Werner was a descendant of the north German composer Georg Dietrich Leyding (also: Leiding)
  3. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 . P. 483.
  4. ↑ Honorary graves of the State of Berlin (as of November 2018) (PDF, 413 kB), p. 5. Accessed on November 19, 2019. Recognition and further preservation of graves as honorary graves of the State of Berlin . (PDF, 369 kB). Berlin House of Representatives, printed matter 18/14895 of November 21, 2018, p. 1 and Annex 1, p. 1. Accessed on November 19, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Behmer, Marcus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Behmer, Marcus Michael Douglas (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German illustrator, book artist and painter
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Weimar
DATE OF DEATH September 12, 1958
Place of death Berlin