Marianne Snow Goose

Marianne Snow Goose

Marianne Schneegans (born December 10, 1904 in Kreuznach ; † August 15, 1997 in Meisenheim / Glan ) was a German painter and children's book illustrator.

biography

Childhood and youth

Marianne Schneegans was born on December 10, 1904, the third of four sisters. The mother, Clara Schneegans geb. Behler, came from a Koblenz merchant family. The father Ferdinand Schneegans was a wine commissioner in Kreuznach . His customers included the first hotels in Berlin. The family lived in the prestigious Bäderviertel in Kreuznach, the sculptor family Cauer was one of their closest friends.

The sisters had a carefree childhood in which imagination, visual design and music were cultivated. Like her sisters, Marianne Schneegans attended the local lyceum , which, under the direction of Lina Hilger, was an exemplary progressive reform school.

Flowers

Education 1925–1929

After the depressing years of the First World War and after several life-threatening illnesses, Marianne Schneegans was accepted at the Berlin Art Academy . She got her first contact with flower painting under Professor Ludwig Bartning . After an interlude in 1928 as a drawing teacher at her former school, she moved to the Stuttgart Academy in the class of Prof. Hans Spiegel, where the focus was on the representation of figurative and pictorial objects. Here she met her future husband, the Maulbronn artist Robs Mayer . The couple married on September 19, 1931 and tried to establish a living as a freelance artist. In the beginning there was self-publishing, such as greeting cards that Marianne Schneegans designed, Robs Mayer executed as a copperplate (he was an engraver ) and the father Robert Mayer printed in his newspaper printer.

Flowers

Professional success with children's book and art publishers

The children's book publisher Thienemann Stuttgart became aware of Marianne Schneegans during her studies , the beginning of decades of collaboration. Published by several publishers, illustrated by her, 18 picture books, 19 children's books, 19 advent calendars, 35 dust jackets, as well as two illustrated volumes of poetry Joy with Flowers and Joy in Animals . The most famous book was probably the Rätselstiege . The Rudolf Schneider Verlag Reichenau / Sachsen, the Thienemann Verlag Stuttgart, Ackermanns Kunstverlag Zurich and Munich, the Michel Verlag Nuremberg, the Korsch Verlag Gilching and numerous other publishers were among their regular long-term clients.

She also worked through articles in the school magazines Der Sommergarten and Jugendlust as well as in Auerbach's children's calendar . From 1936 to the 1950s she created imaginative Advent calendars that were widely used. The dwarf calendars, of which she painted several years for various publishers (Michel, Korsch) after 1950, were also very well received. Almost simultaneously with the figurative work, Marianne Schneegans was hired as a flower painter. The popular flower postcards at Ackermann Kunstverlag developed into the second pillar of their work and achieved international distribution. From 1936 until the end of her artistic career, over 200 pieces of flowers were created. Orders from industry and business were added, for which Marianne Schneegans designed packaging and designed advertisements and advertising, which were often characterized by subtle humor.

The riddle stairs

1939-1997

From 1939 to 1948, Marianne Schneegans and her daughter (* 1941) were on their own, as her husband Robs Mayer was first in the war and then in French captivity. During these years she managed to earn a living for herself and her child exclusively from painting.

Marianne Schneegans no longer made the stylistic change in children's book illustration in the early 1960s, especially since her hands were affected by a rheumatic disease. During this time, in collaboration with Michel Verlag Nürnberg , she resumed the dwarf calendars, first published in 1953, and painted three more years (1967–1969) that hung in many children's rooms. Her husband Robs Mayer found a job as an art teacher at the Paul Schneider Gymnasium in Meisenheim am Glan, where the couple lived from 1959. She painted and drew until the 1970s. Marianne Schneegans died on August 15, 1997 in Meisenheim. The artistic estate is in the hands of the daughter Irmgard Bossert.

advent Calendar

Honors

• In 2011, in the "Rheingrafenblick" development area in Bad Kreuznach, a street was named Schneegansstraße in memory of Johann Wilhelm Schneegans, Ferdinand Schneegans and Marianne Schneegans. It was officially inaugurated on March 12, 2013.

Press reviews

• “Your representations in Christmas calendars, children's and fairy tale books are characterized by empathy and cheerfulness, show the world of children and fairy tales in the form of delicate drawings and watercolors. The small-format flower pieces, which are preferably published in flower calendars or as postcards, testify to the loving attention to detail and impress with their old master-style reproduction. ”Angela Nestler-Zapp, Bad Kreuznach Castle Park Museum
• The artist with the light hand: Marianne Schneegans is celebrating her 80th birthday in Meisenheim; Exhibition of her life's work [source:] Rhein-Zeitung, Ed. E. - 137 (1984) from December 8th / 9th.
• “In her imagination, pictures and figures come to life, she sees the children as they live .... She understands what is so rare, the soul of the child she draws and his special way; because she loves the child ...... She loves the naive more than the constructed, the graceful more than the rumbling, the romantic more than the heroic. She prefers movement to rest. She shapes her little pictures according to the law in her, not according to external models. "
• Regarding the flower postcards: "Anyone who buys and loves postcards or flowers knows them, these" weeds "from alpine flora to plantain that Marianne Schneegans paints with so much love and meticulous care." WO in Württembergisches Abendblatt No. 299, December 24, 1952, p. 12.
• In the end, he (Dr. Frank) expressed what each of the visitors to this exhibition thought from the first moment they encountered these pictures: “The pictures are a dismaying memorial for what we have made of this world. Here the view into God's creation, there the threatening chaos. ”Mühlacker Tagblatt May 6, 1985.

Exhibitions

• 1984 Sparkasse Bad Kreuznach, exhibition for the 80th birthday
• 1985 Sparkasse Meisenheim / Glan, exhibition for the 80th birthday
• 1985 Sparkasse Maulbronn, exhibition on the occasion of its 80th birthday
• 1997 Maulbronn fruit box, 850 years Maulbronn Monastery
• 2004/2005, exhibition for the 100th birthday in the Schlossparkmuseum Bad Kreuznach
• 2010 Krüger Maulbronn bookstore, flower watercolors by Marianne Schneegans
• 2012/2013 Museum in Bad Pyrmont Castle, life and work of picture book artist Marianne Schneegans
• 2013 Stadthalle Maulbronn Advent calendar collection Esther Gajek , plus almost all Advent calendars by Marianne Schneegans

Sources and individual references

• Biographical record by the daughter Irmgard Bossert in 1994 authorized by Marianne Schneegans.
• Reto Krüger: Flowers & Blossoms. In: Flowers & Blossoms. Watercolors by Marianne Schneegans. An exhibition by the Krüger Maulbronn bookstore. Verlag am Klostertor, Maulbronn 2010, ISBN 978-3-926414-28-1 .
• Hans-Martin Bossert (Ed.): Marianne Schneegans Children's Books ּ Advent Calendar Flower Watercolors, Catalog raisonné. With contributions by Irmgard Bossert, Karl Blaume, Reto Krüger and Peter Nicolaus. Verlag der Kunst, Husum 2012, ISBN 978-3-86530-179-6 .
• Jutta and Manfred Heinrich (eds.): Art collection Jutta and Manfred Heinrich. 1st edition. Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-00-043933-9 , p. 12.
• Manfred Berger : Marianne Schnegans. In: Kurt Franz , Günter Lange and Franz-Josef Payrhuber (eds.): Children's and youth literature. A lexicon. Corian Verlag, Meitingen 2013/49. Erg.-Lfg. June 2013, pp. 1–20

Individual evidence

1. ^ The life and work of the picture book artist Marianne Schneegans (1904–1997) October 11, 2012 - January 27, 2013