Max Wendl

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Max Wendl, 1947

Max Wendl (born November 15, 1904 in Munich , † December 15, 1984 ibid) was a German painter , graphic artist and glass artist . His early work is still inspired by symbolism and new objectivity . This is followed in Wendl's painting by expressive landscape watercolors and expressive caricatures from the time of the Second World War, as well as a powerful late painting. Also noteworthy are the works from the most diverse areas of applied art and his outstanding glass window works.

Life

Max Wendl's father, Josef Max Wendl (1868–1939), was a gilding master from Kempten (Allgäu) and friends with Franz von Stuck (1863–1928) and Richard Riemerschmid (1868–1957), his mother the teacher Rosina Wendl, nee. Schanderl (1870–1937), from Schwabing and his younger sister Franziska Wendl, married. Gerg (1907-1992). At home he helped in the father's workshop and also learned to play the piano , violin and viola in music lessons .

After leaving school without completing secondary school, Wendl decided to become a painter in 1918, but learned, initially at the request of his father, the profession of glass painter in the neighboring Bavarian court glass painting Gustav van Treeck from 1919 to 1921 . He then studied from 1921 to 1926 at the Munich School of Applied Arts with Richard Riemerschmid, where he was even allowed to teach from 1922 and tried out his own teaching methods. In 1929 he married the artisan Magdalena Reincke (1903–1990). The couple lived in Cologne-Rodenkirchen .

Together with his artist friends Joseph Mader and Fritz Müller-Kamphausen, Wendl moved to the Cologne Werkschulen in 1926 after Riemerschmid had taken over the management there. He studied there between 1926 and 1931, especially with Johan Thorn Prikker (1868–1932). Wendl was a master student in his class for mosaic , glass painting and wall painting . Even during his student days, Wendl created numerous independent works with religious and profane motifs, above all behind glass pictures and graphics.

From 1931 Wendl worked as a freelancer back in Munich. In 1932 he was on a scholarship to study at the Villa Massimo of the German Academy in Rome . In 1937 his work Jäger im Boot as so-called Degenerate Art was removed from the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich. A large number of Wendl's free works from 1933 onwards illustrate his aversion to an unfree life and work in a dictatorship, the fear of being forced to hide and disguise himself. Wendl earned his living in the 1930s through a series of assignments in the field of applied arts , mainly from the Deutsche Werkstätten in Dresden - Hellerau, which was founded in 1907 . In addition to numerous inlays that he designed for the Deutsche Werkstätten, Wendl received further commissions through Richard Riemerschmid's mediation, including in the field of fabric design. After Wendl separated from his wife (the marriage was divorced in 1941), he moved to Hub near Prien am Chiemsee in 1938 .

  • Station of the Cross 12, Hinterglas, 1925

  • Roman sketches, charcoal and ink, 1932

  • Schäfer, wall inlay, 1939

In 1940 Max Wendl was called up for military service. After training in Traunstein ( Chiemgau ), he served as a soldier in Belgium and France . Hundreds of brightly colored watercolors were created , which mainly show landscapes, but also occasionally - highly abstracted - atrocious war experiences. In addition, Wendl created sketches and caricatures during the war.

In 1947 he married his second wife, the violinist Annemarie Knapp (1921–2013). The numerous female nudes and figure pictures from the late 1940s to mid 1950s document Wendl's intensive examination of the work of Pablo Picasso (1881–1973). Many of the paintings from Wendl's last creative period are dedicated to the subject of “humans and animals”. The geometrized human figures are often accompanied by birds, cats and horses; humans and creatures are usually connected in harmonious unity against a rhythmically structured background. Wendl achieved economic success in the 1950s and 1960s with his outstanding glass window work . Between 1957 and 1963 he worked with the architect Josef Elfinger from Ingolstadt on behalf of the Diocese of Eichstätt and designed church windows using various techniques ( lead glass windows and windows made of broken glass). In addition, Wendl continued to work as a freelancer.

  • Landscape Namur, watercolor, 1942

  • War cartoon, 1943

  • Horse tamer, tempera, 1952

  • Concrete glazing, St. Josef, Ingolstadt, 1963

In 1981, Wendl's partnership with Irmgard Teply began. After a serious illness, he died in Munich in 1984. His grave is located in the Schwabing North Cemetery .

Works (selection)

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 1928: International Press Exhibition , Cologne (Pressa)
  • 1929: German Werkbund exhibition , Cologne
  • 1932: Graphisches Kabinett Günther Franke , Munich
  • 1935: Business premises of the Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau, Dresden
  • 1951: Galerie Günther Franke , Munich
  • 1983 and 1984: Gallery on the stairs , Munich

Posthumous exhibitions

swell

  • Correspondence between Max Wendl and the Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau and photos / drafts of his works 1937–51 ( Saxon Main State Archive Dresden , inventory 11764 Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau)
  • Rainer Zimmermann: Expressive realism. Painting of the Lost Generation , Hirmer Verlag, Munich, 1994, ISBN 3-7774-6420-1
  • Ruth Negendanck : Künstlerlandschaft Chiemsee , Verlag Atelier im Bauernhaus, Fischerhude , 2008
  • Beate Marks-Hanßen: Max Wendl 1904-1984 , Förderkreis Expressiver Realismus eV Munich, New Monographic Series, Volume 4, Ed. Ingrid von der Dollen, Kat-Verlag, Bad Honnef , 2011, ISBN 978-3-9803567-8-7

Web links

Commons : Max Wendl  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Wendl, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, graphic artist and glass artist
DATE OF BIRTH November 15, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH 15th December 1984
Place of death Munich