Matthias May

Matthias May (born June 5, 1884 in Cologne , † July 28, 1923 in Linz ) was a German painter and graphic artist from Cologne. He founded an art school in Linz in the early 1920s before moving to Munich in 1922 and died shortly afterwards.

Live and act

He received his first artistic training at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Cologne and from 1905 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Wilhelm von Diez and Angelo Jank . By marrying the Linz painter Paula Pillesmüller , he came to Linz in 1914, where he opened an art school six years later, which was soon closed again despite the positive response.

His students included Vilma Eckl , Anton Lutz , Karl Vornehm , Rudolf Steinbüchler , Hanns Kobinger , Rudolf Feischl , Joseph Neukirch , Josef Schnetzer , Fanny Newald and Herbert Bayer .

His artistic spectrum ranged from Wilhelm Leibl's early German realism to post-impressionist works during his most important creative period with German impressionists, above all Max Slevogt , Lovis Corinth and Max Liebermann as role models. In his short later phase, drawings as well as figurative group compositions and oil works with tendencies towards abstraction, influenced by Gustave Courbet and Paul Cézanne, gained in importance.

Figurative representation (attributed)

Exhibitions

• A total of eight commemorative exhibitions of his expressionist, brightly colored paintings and graphics took place in Cologne, Linz and Munich, including the anniversary exhibition Matthias May - A Cologne painter and his school in the Nordico 2003/2004 with a total of 200 works by the artist. An exhibition catalog has also been published.

Awards

• In 1941 the Matthias-May-Gang in Linz was named after the artist.

literature

• G. Wacha:  May Matthias. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 6, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-7001-0128-7 , p. 170.
• B. Palmbach: May, Matthias . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 88, de Gruyter, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-023254-7 , p. 119 f.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Matthias May - a Cologne painter in Linz. On the website of the city of Linz.
2. ↑ Galerie Seidler  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ G. Wachau: Matthias May, painter. In: Biographisches Lexikon 1815 to 1950.
4. ↑ Elisabeth Christine Geirhofer, Justus Schmidt: A Cologne Painters in Linz: Matthias May and his school. Nordico - Museum der Stadt Linz (publisher), Linz 2003, ISBN 3-85484-082-9 .