Otto Ewel

Otto Ewel (born February 21, 1871 in Trutenau , Samland , † November 5, 1954 in Pillnitz near Dresden) was a German painter .

Life

Born on February 21, 1871 into a rural family, Otto Ewel was already active as an artist at an early age. However, it was only after a tuberculosis disease that he was able to gain family consent to art, as he was no longer physically able to do agricultural work. With the support of an uncle, Ewel was able to study at the Königsberg Art Academy from 1887 , including with the engraver Rudolf Mauer and the painter Georg Knorr . After training as a photographer in Elbing , he worked in studios in Berlin , Munich , Geneva and Leipzig , interrupted in 1897 by a trip to Italy.

In 1901 he continued his studies at the Königsberg Art Academy under Ludwig Dettmann , Heinrich Wolff and Olaf Jernburg (1855–1935) and in the following year he switched to the Dresden Art Academy , where he studied painting with Otto Gussmann .

His first success in 1906 was a tapestry ("The Discovery of Moses"), which was awarded the Dresden Golden Medal and bought by the city of Königsberg . He moved back to Königsberg and in 1908 opened the Königsberg arts and crafts training workshop Otto Ewel . In 1915 he painted the magnificent frescoes in the dome of the crematorium of Rothstein .

Ewel in his mid-forties was obliged to do military service in 1916, but was released from it in 1917 after receiving a teaching position at the State Art and Trade School in Königsberg . He held the professorship until his early retirement in 1933. His monumental works included glass paintings for the advanced training school, murals in the auditorium of the Löbenichtschen secondary school and in the Hufenlyzeum . He made important portraits and around 40 atmospheric watercolors of rooms in East Prussian aristocratic residences , church rooms and the Wallenrodt library . His last work in the Königsberg period was the decoration of the Protestant church in Frauenburg .

After his retirement he went back to Dresden in 1934 , where he made a series of watercolor documentations. A watercolor of the Green Vault was after the war, the only evidence for the historical colors of the interior design of the jewel room. As a result of the destruction of Königsberg and the air raids on Dresden , most of his work was lost. After the war, he took care of the family's livelihood with photo work for Russians and Poles as well as some chalk and pastel portraits. In addition, an unfinished cycle of pen drawings on the escape from East Prussia was created . He was also unable to complete the painting "Jason and Medea".

Otto Ewel died on November 5, 1954 in the Dresden district of Pillnitz . He was buried in the Hosterwitzer cemetery . Ewel had been married to Mathilde Benesch since April 29, 1906. They had four art-loving daughters, of whom the youngest, Maria Ewel (1915–1988), worked as a restorer and sculptor in Bremen after the war.

Fonts

• with Fritz Loescher (ed.): German Camera Almanach. A yearbook for the photography of our time . 1909, 1911
• Fritz Loescher: The portrait photography, a guide for experts and enthusiasts. 3rd ext. Edition, edited by Otto Ewel. Berlin 1910.
• Memorandum on State Art Preservation , Ewel to the State Government of the Free State of Prussia , August 28, 1925

literature

• Professor Otto Ewel, paintings, watercolors, graphics. Maria Ewel, sculptures, graphics. An exhibition by the East Prussian Landsmannschaft in cooperation with the Friends of the Art and Trade School Königsberg Pr., July 30th – 30th. September 1983. Hamburg 1983.

Web links

• Vivatband for the centenary of the Prussian uprising in 1913

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Robert Albinus: Königsberg Lexicon . Würzburg 2002. ISBN 3-88189-441-1
2. ↑ Stenzel Taubert & Partner: Restoration and reconstruction of the equipment of the historical “Green Vault” in the former residential palace in Dresden