Oswald Pejas

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Self-portrait of Oswald Pejas

Oswald Pejas (born November 19, 1921 in Gungelshausen , † April 14, 2006 in Fulda-Dietershan ) was a German painter, employed as an art teacher and specialist in art at the study seminar in Fulda - after his retirement, a freelance artist in Fulda .

Life

The father, Alfred Pejas, was a surveyor and came from Pless (today's Pszczyna , Poland). His mother, Antonie Pejas, b. Janclaes, came from Eupen (now Belgian). Alfred Pejas's list of ancestors includes carpenters for several generations who worked for the royal court in Pless. Oswald Pejas was the middle of three siblings. The older brother, Alfred Pejas, fell at the beginning of World War II ( attack on Poland ). His younger sister, Hilde Pejas, lived with her mother and her family in Darmstadt until her death. Oswald Pejas lived in Fulda from 1925 to 1938, and thus spent most of his childhood and youth there. He started painting at an early age. Initially stimulated by the family environment (father and brother were also artistically gifted), he quickly developed his own style, whereby the drawings from his youth are particularly noticeable. After 1938 the family moved to Bad Langensalza for professional reasons . In 1940 Oswald Pejas made the early military diploma in Gotha .

War years

Immediately after graduating from high school, he was drafted into military service. Oswald Pejas applied - against his father's will - to the air force , but initially only came to the ground staff, initially stationed in Sicily. This was followed by training as a pilot and then as a flight instructor. During the training at the war school (island of Rügen), landscape drawings (drawings of enemy positions) were practiced. It was here that Oswald Pejas first met Joseph Beuys (also trained as a fighter pilot, same year). Oswald Pejas became aware of Joseph Beuys because only he could draw better than himself. Lectures had to be given as part of the training. Oswald Pejas reported on the subject of “Art and Kitsch”, discussed this with Joseph Beuys and took over his suggestion to give a lecture on “national and religious kitsch”. From 1944 Oswald Pejas was deployed as a fighter pilot ( Me 109 ) for JG 27 - he flew 85 missions, survived two kills by parachuting from the burning aircraft.

Aviation license from Oswald Pejas

Art studies

After the end of the war, Oswald Pejas began studying art with R. Schreiber in Düsseldorf in 1946. In early 1946 he married Vera Pejas, b. Loeck, found a bomb-damaged apartment in “his” Fulda (helped to set it up) and became a father at the end of 1946. Against the background of this responsibility, Oswald Pejas studied art history, sports, French and English at the University of Frankfurt from 1947 to 1949 - with a view to becoming a teacher. He financed his studies and his family through his painting, gave painting lessons and trained sports clubs in Fulda. From 1950 onwards, Oswald Pejas' main focus was again on art.

Teaching

After his retirement in 1986, Oswald Pejas worked as a freelance artist in Fulda until his death in 2006.

Works and exhibitions

In 1948 Oswald Pejas joined the Fulda Artist Association. Oswald Pejas was involved with his works as part of the annual exhibitions of the Künstlerbund. First public exhibition with pictures by Oswald Pejas in 1949 as part of the Hessian “Green Week” in Fulda from May 21 to 29, 1949 in a tent on the Ochsenwiese.

Together with the artist Karlfried Staubach, he organized a group exhibition in 1952 in the Hessian State Library , Fulda. The exhibiting artists were: Brigitte Dauderstädt, Oswald Pejas, Nn. Schneider, Karlfried Staubach, Benita Stevenson. Karlfried Staubach (kfs) designed the poster for the exhibition with the title “JUNGE KUNST in Fulda”. It was the roots of "JUKU Fulda".

  • Group exhibition 1952 Fulda State Library

  • O.Pejas, K.Staubach 1958 City Palace Fulda

The financing of studies and family improved for Oswald Pejas in the following years thanks to two larger orders from the city of Fulda. In 1952 he was commissioned to restore the fresco by Emanuel Wohlhaupter in the so-called Apollo Hall of the Orangery in Fulda. Despite his membership in the Protestant church, Oswald Pejas was commissioned to restore the frescoes by Johann Andreas Herrlein in the Fulda parish church in 1953 .

During his student years in Kassel, only limited participation in exhibitions was possible during this time (only annual exhibitions of the Künstlerbund).

After completing his studies and beginning his teaching post, Oswald Pejas and his artist friend Karlfried Staubach designed a major exhibition for the first time (October 26 to November 6, 1958) in the Fulda City Palace with exclusively works by both artists. Karlfried Staubach died in 1964. With this Oswald Pejas lost a spiritually related artist friend. In the same year, Oswald Pejas was offered the opportunity to go to the German School in Athens as an art teacher for five years, which he also took advantage of. These five years were a big step in his artistic development.

In addition to the three solo exhibitions he showed in Athens in 1965, 1967 and 1969, the works he had created in Greece were shown in a large exhibition in the city palace of Fulda in 1971 after his return. Further exhibitions followed, with works that had meanwhile been made back home, in 1985 in Stadtallendorf , in 1987 Kunststation Kleinsassen . After a long trip through the USA, the America exhibition followed in 1989 in the Kleinsassen art station. On the occasion of his 70th birthday, the city of Fulda dedicated a large exhibition to him in the Vonderau Museum in Fulda from March 27 to April 26, 1992 .

A large retrospective exhibition on the artist's entire life's work was shown on the occasion of his 80th birthday from November 30, 2001 to January 6, 2002, also in the Vonderau Museum in Fulda. The city of Fulda honored the artist Oswald Pejas, who has now lived and worked in Fulda for more than half a century. Dr. Alois Rhiel, the mayor of the city of Fulda at the time, opened the exhibition with a speech. Professor Dr. Kurt-Jürgen Feldmann gave the laudation. To accompany the exhibition, a catalog was created in glossy printing , with the title Oswald Pejas Line Surface Color .

Styles of work

Oswald Pejas found his own, unmistakable visual signature early on. He has never submitted to the conditions of the art market, never imitated trends and fashions. Oswald Pejas despised the fact that the term “art” was seen increasingly detached from the term “ability” and has therefore always chosen the term “painter” for himself. To prove his “ability” to himself, he experimented, even if only with individual works, e.g. B. with the technique of old Dutch masters or with surrealist motifs. For commissioned portraits, he did not shy away from complying with the client's request for a more naturalistic representation. However, the actual style of the works of Oswald Pejas can be divided into two periods. During the first section he loved vast landscapes that were structured by details in the foreground. This was followed by a second period in which the "expanse" was consciously designed expressively. A pronounced reduction of details and emphasis on the abstract representation shows Oswald Pejas z. B. in the works "A piece of Attica" and "Winter is coming". Further evidence of the self-imposed requirement of “ability” can be seen in his many watercolors and drawings, which often served as ideas for larger oil or tempera pictures in further interpretation.

  • "A piece of Attica" oil / canvas 1987

  • "Winter is coming" oil / canvas 1999

  • "Cold Day" oil / canvas 1961

  • "Inquiring look" tempera 1950

  • "The fish is dead" oil / cardboard 1965

  • "Hinterhäuser im Licht" mixed media 1976

  • "Desert near Las Vegas" watercolor 1988

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marten Schmidt: Rügen's secret headland. The classified bug . 3. Edition. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86153-482-2 .
  2. ↑ http://lakk.sts-gym-fulda.bildung.hessen.de/modul/index.html
  3. ↑ https://www.fuldainfo.de/aufbruch-in-die-nachkriegsmoderne-die-druckgrafik-des-jungen-kunstkreises-fulda/
  4. ↑ https://www.tourismus-fulda.de/sehenswuerdigkeiten/sehenswerte/einzelansicht/fuehrung/show/fuehrung/schlossgarten-orangerie-und-floravase.html
  5. ^ Aloys Jestaedt: On the history of the origins of the Herrleinschen frescoes in the Fulda parish church . In: Buchenblätter , 42, 1969, pp. 117-118.
  6. ↑ http://www.dsathen.gr/de/schule/geschichte-der-schule
  7. ^ Gregor K. Stasch (Ed.): Oswald Pejas. Line surface color . Vonderau-Museum, Fulda 2001, ISBN 3-935590-27-X .
personal data
SURNAME Pejas, Oswald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH November 19, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Gungelshausen
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 2006
Place of death Dietershan