Otto Leiber
Otto Ferdinand Leiber (born May 11, 1878 in Strasbourg ; † January 27, 1958 in St. Georgen in the Black Forest ) was a German painter , graphic artist and sculptor .
Career
Leiber was born the son of a judicial councilor. He studied at the universities of Strasbourg and Munich psychology and biology and learned next to Heinrich Wolff-Zimmermann (later professor at Koenigsberg Art Academy), the erasing . From 1901 to 1903 he studied in the nude class of the Karlsruhe Art Academy with Ludwig Schmidt-Reutte and was accepted as a master class student with the academy director Hans Thoma . His first graphics and paintings - mainly portrait studies and landscapes - still showed the influence of Thoma, as did his ceramic paintings for the Grand Ducal Majolica Manufactory in Karlsruhe.
In 1911 he moved from Karlsruhe to Munich, where he was tutored in figurative studies and sculpture by Friedrich Volz . In addition, he made study trips to the Mediterranean countries, North Africa to Constantinople (today's Istanbul) and the Caucasus, but also to Paris, Switzerland, Austria and the Nordic countries to Iceland and Spitsbergen. In 1912 he exhibited with the German Association of Artists in the Kunsthalle Bremen. In 1913 he married Elisabeth Freiin von Babo. The marriage resulted in two boys and two girls. In 1915 the family moved to Berlin, in 1920 they moved to Buchenberg near Königsfeld in the Black Forest . Together with artisans , Leiber founded the Gesellschaft für Schwarzwälder Volks- und Eigenkunst GmbH , which produced handicrafts. Handicrafts that he personally designed also date from this time. Society did not survive the 1923 inflation.
In 1928, with modest means, he built his own house with a large garden and studio in Buchenberg-Obermartinsweiler ("Haus im Rosenhag"). There he spent his most productive phase of life. Despite economically and politically difficult times, he received many orders from well-known personalities. After the end of the Second World War , the new beginning was difficult for him. For the last twelve years he lived withdrawn from occasional assignments in his "Haus im Rosenhag". Leiber died in January 1958 after a long and serious illness.
Otto Ferdinand Leiber was a member of the German Association of Artists .
plant
Leiber's work includes paintings, graphics, heads of wooden dolls, sculptures made from a wide variety of materials and sculptural work. His busts of Albert Schweitzer , Hans Spemann (for the Zoological Institute in Freiburg), Admiral Tirpitz , Robert Bosch , the Mannesmann brothers, Alfred Bassermann, Walter Buch, Romain Rolland and August Pauly are well known. He was on friendly terms with some of those portrayed, especially Albert Schweitzer, who had a house built for his family near his studio in Königsfeld.
Leiber distanced himself from expressionism and abstract art throughout his life . After 1933, his penchant for aesthetics corresponded to the taste of the National Socialists . He received some orders from the Reich government. The painting The Sower , created in 1935 and in the private possession of Adolf Hitler , burned at the end of the war in the Reich Chancellery . Leiber took part in the major German art exhibitions in Munich with paintings and bronze sculptures. Leiber's works that have survived from this period, which he painted privately and not on commission, often express his feelings and anxieties, including depression.
He left behind 2,200 to 2,500 paintings and an unknown number of prints, some of them permanently or temporarily in museums. There is no work directory. Leiber's works range from portrait studies and still lifes to landscapes and cityscapes, from large paintings over 2 m long and 1.50 m high to fine cabinet works measuring just a few centimeters in a rectangle.
Occasionally, works by the artist can be found in auction shops. The work Abandoned Hofstatt , 1909, etching in the format 28 × 44 cm, is owned by the British Museum in London.
literature
- Leiber, Otto Ferdinand . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 22 : Krügner – Leitch . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1928, p. 587 .
- Bettina Feistel-Rohmeder : Otto Leiber. (Lecture notes), February 1951.
- Otto Leiber - painter, sculptor and graphic artist, Buchenberg. In: Villingen artists introduce themselves. Episode 2, approx. 1956 (undated).
- Eberhard Hanser: Leiber exhibition in Buchenberg. Introductory letter to the opening in 1981.
- Albert Schweitzer: Leiber immortalized the "dirty skull" perfectly. (Quote from Schweitzer about the bust that Leiber made of him), newspaper article approx. 1986 (undated).
- Johann Haller: Otto Leiber. Article on the occasion of a special exhibition of the Buchenberg History Association with works by Leiber, approx. 1989 (undated).
- Johann Haller: Bernd Möller presents the life and work of the artist Otto Leiber in the village museum. Newspaper review of a vernissage in the Buchenberg village museum, approx. 1995 (undated).
- Georg Waschinsky (retired branch director Deutsche Bundesbank Ulm): … painted from the soul. Introduction to the Otto Leiber exhibition in Buchenberg, April 3, 2009.
- Stephan Hübner: True all-rounder and jack of all trades. Around 140 works by Otto Leiber can be experienced at four stations / Albert Schweitzer patiently sits as an artist model. In: Black Forest Messenger. April 6, 2009.
Web links
- Leiber tables (PDF; 622 kB) Buchenberg History Association
Individual evidence
- ^ Full members of the German Association of Artists since it was founded in 1903 / Leiber, Otto Ferdinand. ( kuenstlerbund.de ).
- ↑ Great German Art Exhibition: Otto Ferdinand Leiber
- ^ Abandoned farmstead - Otto Ferdinand Leiber British Museum, London.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Leiber, Otto |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Leiber, Otto Ferdinand (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German painter, graphic artist and sculptor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 11, 1878 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Strasbourg |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 27, 1958 |
| Place of death | St. Georgen in the Black Forest |