Richard Ackermann (painter)

Richard Ackermann, self-portrait, 1919, Franciscan Museum Villingen-Schwenningen , inv. 12755

Richard Ackermann (born September 11, 1892 in Villingen in the Black Forest ; † July 10, 1968 ibid.) Was a German painter and graphic artist .

Life

Richard Ackermann was born in Villingen in 1892 as the son of textile merchant Wilhelm Ackermann and his wife Anna (née Martin). Several members of his family were artistically active: his great-grandfather Dominik Ackermann the Elder, known as “Ölmüller”, excelled as a sculptor and carver of schemes , his grandfather Dominik the Younger was a landscape painter. Richard showed early drawing and musical talent, which was specifically promoted in the upper class family. After attending the Villingen Realgymnasium, he went to an apprenticeship at a Freiburg stained glass studio from 1909 to 1912 and at the same time studied music at the local conservatory. In 1912 he switched to studying glass painting, graphics and painting at the Karlsruhe Art Academy. In the First World War , for which he volunteered in 1914, he was seriously wounded and suffered a lifelong handicap. Together with his friend and artist colleague Jakob Weidemann, he made sketches and oil paintings of the city of Villingen in the Paderborn military hospital. After his return he settled there as a freelance painter, moved to Frankfurt in 1928, and a year later to Berlin, and opened a studio in Nordhausen in 1934 . Short stays in Italy and Switzerland followed before returning to Villingen. The painter, accused of being an expressionist of “degenerate art” , lived in difficult financial circumstances during the Nazi era . Among his most important works during this time are the art card series Vom Schwarzwald und seine Trachten (Vom Schwarzwald und seine Trachten) and the watercolor series for the pilgrimage church “Maria in der Tanne”, which were commissioned for his befriended manufacturer Hermann Schwer. Despite his handicap, Ackermann was drafted into military service in the air defense during the Second World War and was taken prisoner by the French in April 1945. In the post-war period , a new heyday of his work followed, during which he created, among other things, a triptych for the Südstadtschule (1954), the mural Die Lichtrakete in der Handelsschule (1960) and cycle folders such as Die Romeius-Quelle (1958). Richard Ackermann died on July 10, 1968.

plant

Ackermann's work in the expressionist style includes lithographs , woodcuts and paintings in oil, watercolor and tempera. Numerous picture cycles, portfolios, panel paintings and frescoes originate from him, often with religious or local historical references. A frequent motif in his works is the Villingen giant Romäus , who Ackermann takes on the character of a mythical hero in the tradition of depictions of Mars , the god of war . Ackermann is one of the first representatives of modern art in the Villingen area.

Exhibitions (selection)

• 1998: Profession: Artist. Work and living conditions Villingen painter in the first half of our century , September 26 to October 31, 1998, Franciscan Museum Villingen-Schwenningen
• since 2016: Exhibition cycle Heinzmann Collection , Museum Altes Rathaus, Villingen-Schwenningen

literature

• Profession: artist. Work and living conditions Villingen painter in the first half of our century , exhibition catalog, Verlag der Stadt Villingen-Schwenningen, ibid. 1998, ISBN 3-927987-48-4
• Lust and passion, pain and disappointment. Expressionist artists in Villingen , exhibition catalog, Verlag der Stadt Villingen-Schwenningen, ibid. 2019, ISBN 978-3-939423-77-5