Peter Krisam

Peter Krisam, portrait photograph, 1951. Photo: Stadtmuseum Simeonstift Trier (Krisam estate).

Peter Krisam, Woman with a Red Hat, 1934, oil on canvas, 83 × 68 cm, Stadtmuseum Simeonstift Trier.

Peter Krisam, plasterer, 1928, watercolor, 35 × 44 cm, Stadtmuseum Simeonstift Trier.

Peter Krisam, Girl on the Balcony, 1932, tempera, 38 × 47 cm, Stadtmuseum Simeonstift Trier.

Peter Krisam, Neuerburg / Eifel, 1931, oil on canvas, 39 × 13 cm, City Museum Simeonstift Trier.

Peter Krisam, football player, 1959, watercolor, 28 × 33 cm, City Museum Simeonstift Trier.

Peter Krisam, Church of La Ciotat, 1960, oil on canvas, City Museum Simeonstift Trier.

Peter Krisam (born February 28, 1901 in Klüsserath , † November 15, 1985 in Trier ) was a German painter and art teacher.

Origin and education

Peter Krisam was born in the wine town of Klüsserath on the Moselle, but grew up in Trier from 1906. His parents, the businessman Wilhelm Krisam and Barbara Krisam née Kiemes, ran a fruit and tropical fruit store there. Artistic talent and the desire to become a painter prompted Peter Krisam to attend the Crafts and Applied Arts School in Trier from 1918 to 1921 with a focus on painting under August Trümper . In 1922/23 he completed a two-year traineeship with a decorative painter who worked frequently in Luxembourg. From 1924 he studied at the Staatliche Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich, mainly under the painter and graphic artist Robert Engels . After his death in 1926, Krisam left Munich and continued his studies at the Trier School of Crafts and Applied Arts in 1929/30. In the following years he worked as a freelance artist in Trier, after his marriage in 1937 also for four years in Cologne.

Artistic career

Early on, Krisam developed an independent visual language with a high recognition factor. Stylistically, it can be assigned to the collective term "Expressive Realism", which bundles the representational painting of the artists born around 1900, whose work and careers were vehemently impaired by two world wars, the Nazi dictatorship and the one-sided focus on abstraction and Informel in the post-war period (" Lost Generation "). Their existential painting, understood as progressive, in broad stylistic pluralism, ended, as it were, as an extension of Classical Modernism. But Krisam also shaped their pioneer Paul Cézanne as well as the “painting of the golden mean”, fed by French Post-Impressionism and a defused German Expressionism , which he had got to know in Munich. As a sensitive colourist, he was also enthusiastic about Fauvism , especially Henri Matisse , and deepened his knowledge on several study trips to Paris. Lines of connection to the art of Karl Hofer and August Macke as well as parallels of motifs to the work of his highly esteemed Luxembourg painter colleague Joseph Kutter can also be identified. Using the distillate from these influences as a stimulus, Krisam designed his picture ideas with an idiosyncratic view of reality and restrained temperament: Fixed structures, built up from precise color surfaces in mostly broken color values, the reduction of the motif to essential elements and a calmly registering representation became his "trademark" .

Image motifs from the early days

In terms of content, Krisam turned primarily to the “image of man” in everyday life and the world of work. He created numerous portraits, rows of large-format figure pictures with unpretentious scenes and again and again depictions of a woman who was lost in herself, occasionally solidified in still life. He opened up a further bundle of motifs with views from the greater native region. Here he was attracted by the exploration of the picturesque against the tectonic, the strict architecture, reduced to geometric shapes, for example an Eifel village in the midst of the pure natural landscape. The spectrum ranged from oil paintings in monumental condensation to loosely designed watercolors, accompanied by an extensive production of drawings.

Working under the Nazi regime

In 1933, when he applied, Krisam was accepted into the Trier district group of the Reich Cartel of Fine Arts and given the state license for commissions and exhibitions. Corresponding public sector assignments were carried out within the framework of what was permitted, but without ingratiating on the desired blood-and-soil ideology . Although he did not join the NSDAP , he was still able to take part in the numerous, party-politically controlled exhibitions that were organized by the city of Trier, the cultural association Gau Moselland or the so-called Kunsthaus Luxemburg during the time of the Nazi dictatorship until almost the end of the Second World War have been successfully participating with many exhibits; his income from sales and contract work increased continuously. However, he concentrated more and more on the innocuousness and marketability of the topography. In particular, his series of views of Trier in various techniques and his pictures of the Moselle earned him great popularity in the region. In 1942 Krisam was drafted into military service in Trier and in 1945 spent six months in American captivity. With his depiction of the camp he left a rare document of this troubled time.

Post-war and late work

In January 1946, with the official reopening of the Trier Werkkunstschule, which had been renamed several times, Krisam was appointed to the teaching staff, initially as an assistant teacher, from 1948 on permanently. Classified as politically unencumbered and concerned about the Trier art scene, in the same year, at his request, he received permission from the French military government to found the "Trier Secession", which, as a loose association and exhibition organizer of local artists, only existed until 1953. At the Werkkunstschule, Krisam, as head of the “General Preliminary Class”, gave drawing lessons, which are mandatory for first-year students, and formed a whole generation of regional painters and sculptors over the past two decades, up to the age limit in 1966. His high level of academic commitment left him only limited time for a private artistic activity, in which the topography even now exceeded the preoccupation with the figurative, especially since his views, which were reproduced in portfolios and calendars, continued to meet with great demand from private collectors. Numerous trips to the south of France from the 1950s onwards expanded his range of motifs. His representational painting, however, no longer came up against the hasty verdict of the unfashionable, the effects of which only flattened in the last quarter of the century with the rediscovery of the "New Figuration". He withdrew and remained excluded from current exhibition events for many years.

Awards and exhibitions

The renewed public awareness of Peter Krisam began in 1980. The city of Trier awarded him the prestigious Ramboux Prize for his life's work and at the same time organized a retrospective for him with around one hundred works in the Simeonstift Trier City Museum at the turn of the year 1980/81 . In terms of content, however, it was again almost exclusively devoted to views from the greater region and southern France. It was not until the 2001 exhibition “Painter friendships in threatening times - the 30s in the region” that was organized in the same museum that the painter's high-quality early figure paintings were also presented in a targeted manner. The accompanying catalog (cf. lit. catalog) also listed all of Krisam's exhibitions since the 1920s, in which he had participated partly as a guest and partly as a member of Trier artists' associations, and also listed the solo exhibitions he had set up in galleries from 1984 onwards.

Estate gifts

In 2013/14, the City Museum Simeonstift Trier received a donation of initially 83 paintings from the estate of Peter Krisam, donated by the painter's son and his family. Further donations, also covering all creative periods, have already been announced. Together with the extensive museum holdings that already exist, they add further facets to the “Art of the Lost Generation” that are significant beyond the region.

literature

Paul Mauder: Trier painting - Trier painter groups and Trier painters. In: Trierische Heimat. 7th year, 1931, pp. 97–99 and pp. 117–119.
Rainer Zimmermann: The Art of the Lost Generation - German Painting of Expressive Realism from 1925 to 1975. Düsseldorf / Vienna 1980; Revised new edition under the title: Expressive Realism: Painting of the Lost Generation. Munich 1994.
Dieter Ahrens: Peter Krisam - painting and drawing from five decades. Catalog of the exhibition in the Städtisches Museum Simeonstift Trier from November 20, 1980 to January 4, 1981. Trier 1980.
Matthias Arnold: The Ignored “Parallel Art” - Expressive Objectivity of the 20th Century in Germany. In: Rolf Jessewitsch / Gerhard Schneider (Ed.): Ostracized. To forget. Rediscovered - Art of Expressive Objectivity from the Gerhard Schneider Collection. Cologne 1999.
Elisabeth Dühr: Peter Krisam (1901–1985). In: Elisabeth Dühr (ed.): Painter friendships in threatening times - The 30s in the region - Joseph Kutter, Peter Krisam, Mia Münster, Paul Nicolaus, Edvard Frank. Catalog of the exhibition in the Städtisches Museum Simeonstift Trier from March 30 to November 4, 2001. Trier 2001, pp. 35–51.
Bärbel Schulte (Hrsg.): "For the refinement of forms and taste education" - the Werkkunstschule Trier. Catalog manual for the exhibition of the same name in the Städtisches Museum Simeonstift Trier from May 25 to October 31, 2003. In it (without indication of author): Biographical directory of the teachers of the Werkkunstschule Trier 1900-1971. Pp. 417-418.
Bärbel Schulte: Peter Krisam. In: Hunsrück Museum Simmern / City Museum Simeonstift Trier / Middle Rhine Museum Koblenz / Schlossparkmuseum Bad Kreuznach (ed.): Inspired by inner conviction ... Artistic awakening in the southern Rhine province after the First World War. Koblenz 2007, pp. 18-19.
Catherine Lorent: The National Socialist Art and Cultural Policy in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg 1934–1944. Trier 2012, especially data appendix p. 381–386, here p. 382.

Individual evidence

^ Richard Schaffner: Family Book Detzem 1656-1900, West German Society for Family Studies eV, http://www.wgff.net/trier/Familienbuecher/Detzem_Listen.pdf ; Self-written curriculum vitae of the painter. In: Collection of materials for the Werkschule, Trier City Archives, signature Sam 159; Personal file on the occasion of the nationalization of the Werkkunstschule Trier on January 1, 1965, inventory 860P State Chancellery Rhineland-Palatinate - personal files / personal files 2776 Krisam, Peter, running time 1952, 1965; Address and population books of the city of Trier from 1908/09.
↑ Krisam visited Kutter several times in Luxembourg and met him in Paris; Kutter worked there in 1936/37 on two large-format pictures for the Luxembourg pavilion at the Paris World Exhibition.
↑ “Development work of the Reich Cartel of Fine Arts. From the district group Trier. “Article without indication of responsibility. In: Trier National Gazette of September 16, 1933; Postcard Peter Krisams from Cologne dated February 22, 1940 to Museum Director Dr. Dieck in Trier, with whom he communicated his membership number "M 2270" to the Reich Chamber of Culture. Trier City Library, autograph collection.
↑ ZB: 1941: Artistic documentation of the war destruction in the Saargau / Lorraine border area after the French campaign; 1942: Watercolor series for an “artist's book” prepared by the Trier Gauleitung as a gift to Mussolini. For this: Jürgen Merten: Colonia Augusta Treverorum. Roman Trier in an artist's book from 1942. In: Trier magazine. Volume 59, 1996, pp. 189-221.
↑ The catalogs of the touring art exhibition Moselland list 30 exhibits by the painter for the Berlin-Schönhausen Palace station (September / October 1941) and 19 exhibits for the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum in Posen (March / April 1942), each from all creative fields.
↑ The painter's own information in the “Questionnaire of the French Military Government in Germany”, filled in on March 1, 1948. In: Elisabeth Dühr: Peter Krisam (1901–1985). In: Elisabeth Dühr (ed.): Painter friendships in threatening times - The 30s in the region - Joseph Kutter, Peter Krisam, Mia Münster, Paul Nicolaus, Edvard Frank. Catalog of the exhibition in the Städtisches Museum Simeonstift Trier from March 30 to November 4, 2001. Trier 2001, pp. 35–51, especially pp. 39–42.
↑ Among other things : "Image of home - Trier on the Mosel. 1st and 2nd episode. 12 hand-colored drawings by Peter Krisam, “15 × 20 cm, Trier 1944.
^ Documents in the family property of son Hanno Krisam; Bärbel Schulte: Reinhard Heß - painter and glass painter. Trier 1997, pp. 31-36.
↑ The city's art prize, which has been awarded since 1961, is named after the painter Johann Anton Ramboux , who was born in Trier, and is associated with a solo exhibition and purchases.
↑ The exhibition guide of the Trier trade show in 1925. Trier 1925, pp. 41–42, listed by Peter Krisam under the heading: Exhibition of the Trier Artists' Guild; the catalog visual artists and art lovers in the district of Trier eV: Art exhibition in the casino. November 30 to December 14, 1930. Trier 1930, pp. 20 and 35, expressly names Krisam as a member of the association and lists 22 of his works as exhibits.

personal data
SURNAME	Krisam, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German painter and art teacher
DATE OF BIRTH	February 28, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kluesserath
DATE OF DEATH	November 15, 1985
Place of death	trier

[1] Richard Schaffner: Family Book Detzem 1656-1900, West German Society for Family Studies eV, http://www.wgff.net/trier/Familienbuecher/Detzem_Listen.pdf ; Self-written curriculum vitae of the painter. In: Collection of materials for the Werkschule, Trier City Archives, signature Sam 159; Personal file on the occasion of the nationalization of the Werkkunstschule Trier on January 1, 1965, inventory 860P State Chancellery Rhineland-Palatinate - personal files / personal files 2776 Krisam, Peter, running time 1952, 1965; Address and population books of the city of Trier from 1908/09.

[2] Krisam visited Kutter several times in Luxembourg and met him in Paris; Kutter worked there in 1936/37 on two large-format pictures for the Luxembourg pavilion at the Paris World Exhibition.

[3] “Development work of the Reich Cartel of Fine Arts. From the district group Trier. “Article without indication of responsibility. In: Trier National Gazette of September 16, 1933; Postcard Peter Krisams from Cologne dated February 22, 1940 to Museum Director Dr. Dieck in Trier, with whom he communicated his membership number "M 2270" to the Reich Chamber of Culture. Trier City Library, autograph collection.

[4] ZB: 1941: Artistic documentation of the war destruction in the Saargau / Lorraine border area after the French campaign; 1942: Watercolor series for an “artist's book” prepared by the Trier Gauleitung as a gift to Mussolini. For this: Jürgen Merten: Colonia Augusta Treverorum. Roman Trier in an artist's book from 1942. In: Trier magazine. Volume 59, 1996, pp. 189-221.

[5] The catalogs of the touring art exhibition Moselland list 30 exhibits by the painter for the Berlin-Schönhausen Palace station (September / October 1941) and 19 exhibits for the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum in Posen (March / April 1942), each from all creative fields.

[6] The painter's own information in the “Questionnaire of the French Military Government in Germany”, filled in on March 1, 1948. In: Elisabeth Dühr: Peter Krisam (1901–1985). In: Elisabeth Dühr (ed.): Painter friendships in threatening times - The 30s in the region - Joseph Kutter, Peter Krisam, Mia Münster, Paul Nicolaus, Edvard Frank. Catalog of the exhibition in the Städtisches Museum Simeonstift Trier from March 30 to November 4, 2001. Trier 2001, pp. 35–51, especially pp. 39–42.

[7] Among other things : "Image of home - Trier on the Mosel. 1st and 2nd episode. 12 hand-colored drawings by Peter Krisam, “15 × 20 cm, Trier 1944.

[8] Documents in the family property of son Hanno Krisam; Bärbel Schulte: Reinhard Heß - painter and glass painter. Trier 1997, pp. 31-36.

[9] The city's art prize, which has been awarded since 1961, is named after the painter Johann Anton Ramboux , who was born in Trier, and is associated with a solo exhibition and purchases.

[10] The exhibition guide of the Trier trade show in 1925. Trier 1925, pp. 41–42, listed by Peter Krisam under the heading: Exhibition of the Trier Artists' Guild; the catalog visual artists and art lovers in the district of Trier eV: Art exhibition in the casino. November 30 to December 14, 1930. Trier 1930, pp. 20 and 35, expressly names Krisam as a member of the association and lists 22 of his works as exhibits.