Max Ackermann

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Max Ackermann, Ulm (1970)

Max Ackermann (born October 5, 1887 in Berlin , † November 14, 1975 in Bad Liebenzell -Unterlengenhardt, Black Forest ) was a German painter and graphic artist . He was a student of Adolf Hölzel and is considered a pioneer of abstract painting .

life and work

Max Arthur Ackermann was born as the son of the married couple Adalbert Reinhold and Marie Pauline Louise Ackermann (née Ossan). His father was a sculptor who studied at the Nuremberg School of Applied Arts. After the family moved to Thuringia in 1891, the father opened a furniture and frame workshop in Ilmenau . Ackermann grew up here. After attending the Ilmenau primary school, he began an apprenticeship as a porcelain modeler. On the recommendation of Henry van de Velde , Ackermann was given a year-long free position at the Grand Ducal Arts and Crafts Seminar in Weimar, where van de Velde was a teacher. In 1907 he broke off his studies, drew and worked marble in his "open-air studio for stone work". From Easter 1908 he attended Richard Müller's drawing class in Dresden , then from 1909 he was in Munich with Franz von Stuck at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1912 he went to Stuttgart, where he studied at the Kgl. Academy of Fine Arts joined Adolf Hölzel's group of students , whose theories made a great impression on him. Here he learned how to approach abstract painting, which for him was absolute .

After studying art, Ackermann was drafted into the army as a Landsturmmann in the second year of the First World War . After being wounded and hospitalized, he was dismissed two years later. In the twenties he worked as a painter in Stuttgart and founded a training workshop for new art. This was followed by a short-term collaboration with the dancer and choreographer Rudolf von Laban from Monte Verità as well as stays in the rural commune on the Grüner Weg near Urach. In 1924 he joined the athletics team of the Stuttgarter Kickers, which influenced his style and content. A number of sports pictures were taken.

In 1926 he went on a study trip to Paris. There he met the Austrian architect Adolf Loos . In 1928 he met Wassily Kandinsky and George Grosz at the Kunsthaus Schaller in Stuttgart . In 1929 he took part in the art exhibition for the Vagabond Congress in Stuttgart. In 1930 he founded a seminar for "Absolute Painting" at the Volkshochschule in Stuttgart and attended the Monte Verità in Ascona. In 1932 a joint exhibition with Ernst Heinrich Graeser and Hans Molfenter followed at the Kunsthaus Schaller. In 1936 Ackermann joined the Höri group; he moved to Hornstaad on Lake Constance and painted in Hemmenhofen . In 1937 the National Socialists confiscated one of his paintings in the State Gallery in Stuttgart as " degenerate ".

After the Second World War, Ackermann commuted between his home on Lake Constance and Stuttgart. From 1951 Max Ackermann was a member of the newly founded German Association of Artists , in whose first annual exhibitions he took part. After he was awarded the honorary title of professor by the state of Baden-Württemberg in 1957, he finally moved to Stuttgart. In 1964 he was the guest of honor at the Villa Massimo in Rome. The Roman pastel series was created here.

In 1969 he met Johanna Strathomeyer, who ran his household and whom he married in 1974. Both moved into a previously purchased apartment in Bad Liebenzell- Unterlengenhardt. After a serious illness and a stroke, Ackermann died in Unterlengenhardt, where he was buried on November 20, 1975.

In Bad Liebenzell-Unterlengenhardt, Max-Ackermann-Straße is named after him.

reception

Immediately after the First World War, veristic and socially critical attempts dominated his work. His political sympathy was initially communism. Ackermann increasingly concentrated on abstract painting and constructivism ("absolute painting"), up to and including the occupation ban by the National Socialists ( degenerate art ) in 1936. Nevertheless, he managed to sell some works. His works were removed from the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart . A bomb attack destroyed his studio in 1943.

After the war his works achieved great importance, so from the end of the war his works were shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout Germany. He owes his fame and popularity not least to his large prints. Between 1948 and 1975 alone  , more than 200 screen prints were made - in close collaboration with well-known printers such as Luitpold Domberger , Hans-Peter Haas and Roland Geiger - whereby the frequently used title Bridged Continents alluded to the contrapuntal nature of his motifs. In addition, he is known to many as the “painter of the color blue”. He often titled his pictures with the current date. As a representative of abstract art, its importance should not be underestimated.

Works in museums (selection)

  • The resting woman , confiscated from the Stuttgart State Gallery as "degenerate" in 1937
  • 24.VI.1962 , State Gallery of Modern Art, Munich
  • Descent of Music , 1947, oil on hardboard, 45: 31.5 cm, Kunsthalle Mannheim, inv. M 1078
  • 14.V. until 10.XI. , 1961, oil on canvas, 220 × 100 cm, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, inv. 450/538

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 1967: Paintings from 1908 to 1967 , Middle Rhine Museum , Koblenz
  • 1969: Works from the last three years , Galerie Christoph Dürr (Stuck Villa)
  • 1973: Max Ackermann Aspects of the Abstract Work 1919 to 1973 . Württembergischer Kunstverein , Stuttgart
  • 1987: On the 100th birthday , Gallery of the City of Stuttgart
  • 1990: Max Ackermann. Sound of Color - Game of Form , Galerie Neher, Essen
  • 1995: Pictures from seventy years , Galerie Bayer, Bietigheim-Bissingen
  • 1998: Oil paintings, pastels, drawings , Galerie Thomas, Munich
  • 2003: Oil paintings and pastels from the 50s, 60s and 70s , Geiger Gallery, Konstanz
  • 2004: The search for the whole , Zeppelin Museum , Friedrichshafen
  • 2011/12: New Objectivity in Dresden. Painting of the twenties from Dix ​​to Querner , Kunsthalle im Lipsius-Bau , Dresden
  • 2013: Max Ackermann: The never shown pictures 1905–1975 , Kunsthaus Apolda , Apolda
  • 2017/18: Max Ackermann: The motif finder. Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen

literature

  • Dieter Honisch (foreword): 1945–1985. Art in the Federal Republic of Germany (National Gallery, State Museums, Prussian Cultural Heritage, Berlin). Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-87584-158-1 .
  • Lutz Tittel (Ed.): Max Ackermann 1887–1975 for his 100th birthday . Exhibition catalog, Hatje, Stuttgart 1987. ISBN 978-3-77570245-4 .
  • Max Ackermann. Sound of color - play of form. Exhibition catalog Galerie Neher, Essen 1990, ISBN 3-923806-47-7 .
  • Dirk Blübaum (among others): Max Ackermann (1887–1975) - The search for the whole . Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen, 2004, ISBN 3-89870-192-1 .
  • Max Ackermann - screen prints . Catalog raisonné, Max Ackermann-Archiv, Bietigheim-Bissingen 2006 ISBN 978-3-93074212-7 .
  • Max Ackermann . In: Birgit Dalbajewa (ed.): New Objectivity in Dresden . Sandstein Verlag, Dresden 2011, ISBN 978-3-942422-57-4 , p. 172 .
  • Markus Döbele: Max Ackermann (1887–1975) - structural images . Nünnerich-Asmus Verlag, Mainz 2013, ISBN 978-3-943904-47-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ kunstmuseum-singen.de: Art in singing. Max Ackermann (accessed August 29, 2015)
  2. ↑ Max Ackermann, Resting (slumbering) , 1929, oil on canvas, 79 x 77 cm.
  3. ↑ kuenstlerbund.de: Archive since 1950 / 1st exhibition in Berlin ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on August 29, 2015) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kuenstlerbund.de
  4. ^ Website of the Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen
personal data
SURNAME Ackermann, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and graphic artist; Student of Adolf Hölzel
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1975
Place of death Unterlengenhardt , Black Forest