Melchior Lechter

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Melchior Lechter
The Pallenberg Hall 1900.
Signature in glass.
Graphic by Melchior Lechter: Poster for the Great Berlin Art Exhibition 1897
Maurice Maeterlinck : The Treasure of the Poor (1898)

Melchior Lechter (born October 2, 1865 in Münster , † October 8, 1937 in Raron , Canton of Valais , Switzerland ) was a German painter , graphic artist and book artist . As a monogram ( ML ), especially in his book art work, he used the letter "M" cut in the middle of the letter "L".

Life and career

Melchior Lechter's parents were the small trader Theodor Lechter (1825–82) from Hamm and Catharina Terwort (1825–83) from Hörste. Even as a teenager, Lechter showed a strong artistic inclination. The experiences with the music of Wagner and Liszt , with the writings of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche shaped him early. At the age of 14 he began training as a glass painter at the Münster glass painting company von der Forst. and received his first artistic impressions from the late Nazarene Joseph Anton Settegast. After work, he took courses at the drawing, painting and modeling school at the Münsterschen Kunstgenossenschaft.

After completing his apprenticeship, he went to Berlin and in 1884 took up the painting class at the Art Academy , to which he belonged for 10 years.

In 1906 Lechter joined the Theosophical Society Adyar (Adyar-TG). On September 30, 1910, he left for India with Karl Wolfskehl . Lechter went there on a five-month journey, via Ceylon , Madras to Adyar , to the center of the Adyar-TG. led.

He died in Switzerland in 1937 while visiting the grave of Rainer Maria Rilke .

Act

After completing his studies, Lechter first painted practical art , for example for advertising material, until Fritz Gurlitt set up an exhibition with his works in 1896. Lechter achieved the breakthrough for his art in Berlin. The meeting with Stefan George , for whom Lechter designed many books at Georg Bondi Verlag, was formative. In 1896 he exhibited his first stained glass publicly. The best-known works from this period include two casement windows Tristan and Isolde from the bedroom of his Berlin apartment.

In 1896 the architect Franz Schwechten commissioned the painter to design the windows for the Simeonskirche and the Romanesque houses in Berlin. In 1898 he received an order from Jakob Pallenberg to design the Pallenberg Hall with glass windows and mosaics at the Cologne Museum of Applied Arts . For the overall design carried out in 1899/1900, he received a Grand Prix at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 . Melchior Lechter designed the inside cover sheet for the Architectural Character Pictures published by Bruno Möhring . In 1903 he completed his main work The Consecration at the Mystical Spring .

After his return, Lechter's diary of the trip to India was published in a small edition (333 copies) as the second print of the Einhorn Presse founded by Lechter with special book decorations.

In the twenties and early thirties Lechter was a frequent guest in Bad Orb . For several months at a time, he moved into the Germania house, where Albert Jung also stayed. For him, Bad Orb was the place where he created his 30 pastel pictures in late summer in Spessart in 1921, "... after many years without any inspiration for painting in a real frenzy of creativity ". Through his participation in cultural celebrations, together with Albert Jung and Richard Zentgraf, he was also formative for the cultural scene in Bad Orb during this time.

reception

The focus of Lechter's work is on his illustrative work. His paintings and room decorations should also be mentioned. They are shaped by the Pre-Raphaelite style. This includes the design of the Pallenberg Hall of the Cologne Museum of Applied Arts. For this Lechter was honored at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900. The design of the Lumen-de-Lumine glass window for the new museum building on Domplatz in Münster in 1907 is also worth mentioning. At its inauguration, his works were presented and honored for the first time.

Honourings and prices

  • Grand Prix of the Paris World's Fair (1900)
  • Member of the Prussian Academy of Arts (1919)

literature

Web links

Commons : Melchior Lechter  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Suzanne Beh-Lustenberger: Glass painting . In: Hessisches Landesmuseum (Hrsg.): A document of German art. Darmstadt 1901-1976 . 2: Art and decoration 1851-1914. Eduard Roether, Darmstadt 1977, p. 89; 96 .
  2. ^ Gerhard Dietrich: Museum of Applied Arts Cologne - Chronicle 1888–1988 . Ed .: City of Cologne. Cologne 1988 (sheet 1899, 1902).
  3. ↑ Architectural Character Pictures, ed. by Bruno Möhring  in the German Digital Library
  4. ↑ Ralph Philipp Ziegler: "Das stille Tal", CoCon Verlag, pp. 5–7
personal data
SURNAME Lechter, Melchior
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH October 2, 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH Muenster
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 1937
Place of death Raron , Canton of Valais, Switzerland