Paul Konewka

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Self-portrait of Paul Konewka
Postcard to Faust and Mephisto

Paul Konewka (born April 5, 1841 in Greifswald , † May 13, 1871 in Berlin ) was a silhouette cutter and draftsman.

Life

As a child, the son of an employee of the University of Greifswald liked to make paper cutouts of human and animal figures. After school he learned sculpture and painting in the studios of Friedrich Drake and Adolph Menzel in Berlin , but continued to work on the art of silhouette. The friendship with Herrmann Karl Fröhlich, a silhouette tailor twenty years his senior, was significant for his artistic development. His first album with 6 Silhouettes, which he released in 1862, was unsuccessful; He achieved his artistic recognition with his work on Goethe's Faust from 1865 ( "Twelve Leaves to Goethe's Faust" , a composition for a lampshade), which was preceded by a single sheet entitled "Easter Walk" in 1864. For both works he made lithographs based on the paper cuts . He later used woodblock prints instead .

After moving to Stuttgart in 1867, where he frequented Mörike's circle , his most important works followed: Illustrations for Shakespeare's Midsummer Night 's Dream (Heidelberg 1868) and for Falstaff (Lahr 1870).

His last work was the children's book: "The Black Peter". The verses came from his brother-in-law Johannes Trojan , who published a large number of individual sheets from the estate in illustrated newspapers as well as folk, children's and youth books and thus increased Konewka's fame.

Konewka's works were valued because they “were distinguished by their rich imagination, brilliant humor and a fine sense of form”. In retrospect, Konewka is considered to be "the most important German silhouette artist of the 19th century. The dilettante in a certain sense that was often attached to the art exercise of silhouette and silhouette in Germany, was transformed by him into an amiable mastery."

literature

  • Hans Ries:  Konewka, Paul. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 486 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Johannes Trojan: “Paul Konewka. A reminder sheet ” . In: Velhagen & Klasingsmonthshefte, vol. 1891/91, 1st volume, pp. 177–193
  • Karola Waterstraat: "A sense of form for black art: the master of scissors from Greifswald - Paul Konewka" . In: "Achter Dünen un Dik". Vol. 2 (1991)
  • Erich Weidner: "A lovely Easter walk with Paul Konewka: One of the most important silhouette artists of the 19th century was born 160 years ago in Greifswald" . In: Ostsee-Zeitung, Vol. 48 (2000), 93, p. 18
  • August Wintterlin:  Konewka, Paul . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, pp. 501-503.

Web links

Commons : Paul Konewka  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Hans Ries:  Konewka, Paul. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 486 f. ( Digitized version ).
  2. ↑ Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, 6th edition 1905-1909, Vol. 11, p. 366
personal data
SURNAME Konewka, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German silhouette cutter and draftsman
DATE OF BIRTH April 5, 1841
PLACE OF BIRTH Greifswald
DATE OF DEATH May 13, 1871
Place of death Berlin