Otto Adolf Brasse

Otto Adolf Brasse (born March 8, 1901 in Stettin ; † May 8, 1988 in Berlin ) was a German painter, graphic artist and book illustrator.

Life

Brasse was born as the son of bank director Karl Bernhard Brasse. He grew up in Elbing , where he attended the humanistic grammar school. From 1920 to 1925 he studied at the Königsberg Art Academy and in Berlin . In Königsberg he met Alice Forstmann (Ali Fo), whom he married in 1928.

From 1926/27 Brasse had first exhibitions in Königsberg and Stettin. In addition, he was a freelance illustrator for the Ullstein and Scherl publishers .

From 1928 the artist couple lived in a studio apartment in Berlin, except for interruptions caused by the war. Brasse earned his living by illustration books for young people for Union Verlag Stuttgart , Gundert Verlag Stuttgart , Meisenberg Verlag Bamberg . In 1934 he had an exhibition of watercolors at Gurlitt , Berlin. Brasse also worked for the Evangelische Verlagsanstalt .

In 1943 he and his wife lost all previous work in a bomb attack on Berlin. In 1944, the last remainder of his work at Gundert Verlag Stuttgart was also lost to bombs.

In 1945 Brasse started all over again. He participated in exhibitions and sent oil paintings and woodcuts to solo exhibitions. From 1946 to 1980 he was, like his wife, a member of the Professional Association of Visual Artists Berlin . Both artists maintained a close exchange with the artist couple Gisela Lehner and Hubertus Lehner .

Brasse made trips to Latvia , Lithuania , Paris , Italy , Greece , Yugoslavia and Switzerland .

From 1967 until his retirement in 1983 he worked with his wife in the Brücke Museum Berlin . Since then, the couple have been working freelance again.

Otto Adolf Brasse died on May 8, 1988 in Berlin.

plant

Brasse was best known as a graphic artist, with woodcuts and linocuts, book illustrations and drawings. But he also painted oil paintings, especially landscapes. Particularly noteworthy is his cycle of 12 linocuts from 1950: "Finis Germaniae". The sheets tell the story of those days and show in a dramatic sequence life stages from the years 1945/46 with young people in a landscape full of grave crosses, disabled people, refugees, returnees in ruins, etc.

The illustrator Brasse was also represented in book exhibitions, for example with a cycle of 110 drawings for ETA Hoffmann .

swell

• Archive Association of Berlin Artists
• Gallery in the evening, Vera Ziegler, Berlin 1961
• Daniel Defoe, OA: Bream, Robinson Crusoe. Rides and adventures. People and knowledge
• The fisherman and his sons. The captive prince; Two folk tales, Berlin / Leipzig: People and Knowledge, 1947, cover picture and text illustrations by Otto Adolf Brasse
• Eduard Mörike (author), Otto Adolf Brasse (illustrator), The history of the beautiful Lau
• Hoffmann, Ernst TA: Artist Novellas. Illustrations by OA Brasse, Berlin: Conradus Verl., 1947.
• Anni Wienbruch (author), OA Brasse (illustrator), Herrad the white sparrow, Gundert 1941
• ETA Hoffmann Yearbook Volume 5 1997