Max Kämpf

Sgraffito The sea

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Max "Megge" Kämpf (born May 15, 1912 in Basel ; † September 26, 1982 there ) was a Swiss painter and draftsman.

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Max Kämpf was born on Riehentorstrasse as the youngest son of three children of the Basel master baker Emanuel Kämpf. After leaving school he took up the profession of flat painter and worked as a journeyman for seven years. Impressed by the painters Arnold Böcklin and Vincent van Gogh , he began to paint himself at an early age. In 1934 he became known  in the Basel art scene with his picture Emigrants , but continued to work as a flat painter. He also attended courses at the Basel School of Applied Arts with Albrecht Mayer and Arnold Fiechter . It was there that he met his longtime partner, Julie Schätzle . In 1939, at the age of 27, he decided to work entirely as a freelance artist.

In 1941 and 1943, Kämpf submitted his dream flight to a competition organized by the Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt . The mural was intended for the outer wall of the orphanage. Both times he was awarded the first prize. Due to opposition, however, he could not carry out the work there as planned. In 1944, for example, the Kämpf Art Credit Commission commissioned the dream flight to be executed as a painting. This is now at the Kunstmuseum Basel .

In 1944 Max Kämpf, Otto Abt , Hans Stocker , Walter Bodmer and Coghuf took part in an art credit competition. Coghuf's design for a mural in the inner courtyard of the Humanist High School in Basel prevailed over Kämpf and the other competitors.

In 1948 Kämpf co-founded the artists' association Kreis 48 . This also included u. a. the painters Heinrich Barth, Jean-François Comment , Romolo Esposito , Karl Glatt , Alex Maier , Johann Anton Rebholz , Julie Schätzle , Paul Stöckli , Gustav Stettler and Hans Weidmann as well as the sculptors Peter Moilliet and Theo Lauritzen ; at times also the creative artists Hanni Salathé and Valery Heussler . The first group exhibition took place in 1948 in the Galerie Ernst Beyeler (see also Fondation Beyeler ) on Bäumleingasse. In 1954 Max Kämpf traveled to China with the cabaret artist Alfred Rasser on an invitation .

Grave in the Hörnli cemetery , Riehen, Basel-Stadt

Kämpf's interest was the human and its manifestations, he felt connected to the common people on the street and depicted them in his numerous children, dance, nudes and (self) portraits. Also on the, wilden (Gässle), Basler He was very fond of Carnival , so he, like Jean Tinguely , created a Gostyma series called Ghost Train for the Carnival clique “ Kuttlebutzer ” in 1965 . Wire and clay for small pieces of work were also part of his work materials, including bricks as supports for depictions of children.

In the 30s and 40s he mainly devoted himself to painting, initially mostly in gray tones and thick layers of paint, later these became lighter and more transparent. Kämpf used panel and wall painting a. a. in fresco and sgraffito technique and also devoted himself to book illustrations and commercial graphics . His later drawings from the 50s and 60s captivate above all with his light, dancing line drawings. This is best shown in the dance drawings. Some of his works emerged as winners in the competitions of the Basel-Stadt Art Credit .

In 1961 he met the painter Tilly Chobaz-Keizer († 2001), who from then on accompanied his life. Together with her and her son, he undertook in 1973, 1975 and 1980 long trips to the US, in these he made him very impressive encounters with the Navajo - Indians . On September 26, 1982 Max Kämpf died of complications from cancer. He found his final resting place in the Hörnli cemetery .

Works (selection)

• 1941/1943: Participation in a competition for the Basel-Stadt art credit for a mural of the orphanage facade on Theodorskirchplatz. His draft dream flight , recommended by the jury for execution, was not carried out due to moral concerns of the orphanage commission.
• 1944: Traumflug Kunstmuseum Basel
• 1950: Design of the sgraffito Das Meer for the facade of the Cantonal Commercial School in Basel. The portrait also depicts a blacksmith ( allegory of the craft) (allegedly resembling Stalin ), who was chiseled away overnight after the so-called "mustache affair" and after the refusal to revise the relevant detail.
• 1953–1955: Design of one of seven partition walls for the Wasgenringschule Basel

Honors

• In 2019, the Max Kämpf-Platz was inaugurated in Basler's Erlenmatt district.

literature

• Andrea Vokner: Max Kämpf - artist, oddball and individualist. Schwabe-Verlag, Basel 2005, ISBN 3-7965-2142-8 . (Special edition including an original drawing by Max Kämpf, limited to 50 copies, ISBN 3-7965-2143-6 .)
• Robert Th. Stoll: Max Kämpf, memories of the people, painter and draftsman, Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel 1994, ISBN 3-7245-0772-0 .
• Maria Becker: Max Kämpf - Human dignity as a basic motif. In: M. Gass, M. Glatt, A. Jetzer (eds.): Die Basler Künstlergruppe Kreis 48. Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 2016, ISBN 978-3-85616-810-0 , p. 116.
• Agathe Straumann, Basel-Stadt Education Department. Max Kämpf. In: Art for Basel: 75 years of art credit Basel-Stadt. Art in public space. Schwabe Verlag, Basel 1974, ISBN 3-7965-0968-1 .

Web links

Commons : Max Kämpf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Max Kämpf in the catalog of the German National Library
• Leza Dosch: Kämpf, Max. In: Sikart
• Max Kämpf 1912-1982
• Portrait of Max Kämpf Etching by Paul Stöckli
• Max Kämpf-Platz in Basel. Information about the project
• Max Kämpf In: Art Credit Collection

Individual evidence

1. ^ Art credit collection, Basel-Stadt: Traumflug. Retrieved September 29, 2019 . 
2. ^ Sgraffito the sea by Max Kämpf
3. ↑ Franziska Laur: What takes a long time is finally good - Max-Kämpf-Platz is open. In: Basler Zeitung . June 21, 2019.