Robert Kirchner

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View into the studio of the painter Robert Kirchner, who died in 2009 (2012)

Robert Kirchner (born July 21, 1940 in Bad Kissingen ; † October 14, 2009 ibid) was a German painter, graphic artist , lithographer and wood sculptor .

Life

As a child, Kirchner wanted to be a painter. But his father Josef Kirchner (1897–1965), master carpenter and wood sculptor in Bad Kissingen, creator of the figure of Michael the picture oak near Albertshausen , did not allow him to paint as a “breadless art” - at best wood carving. Son Robert learned carving from his father and over the decades actually developed such a skill that he later also copied Riemenschneider figures.

As a teenager, Kirchner left Bad Kissingen after the 10th grade and moved to Paris . There he sought contact with young artists and also attended courses at a well-known art school. The longing soon drove those who were close to home back to their parents' home. From here, Kirchner first went to courses at the arts and crafts school in Würzburg . He later studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg , then at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main .

The multi-talented artist lived and worked freelance in his parents' house in Bad Kissingen until his death. Since 1965 he has been part of the circle around the specialist magazine Illustration 63 , later Edition Curt Viesel , in Memmingen and was very encouraged by the editor in his younger years.

The focus of his work was nude and portrait painting in oil and watercolor . His joy in the nature of the Rhön also brought him to landscape painting and still lifes . As a graphic artist, illustrations for works of classical world literature such as Homer's Odyssey , Hoheslied Salomos , Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe or Goethe's Reineke Fuchs and West-Eastern Divan (1969) and Virgil's Bucolica (1965) were among his specialties. 98 copies of Bucolica , which he self-published at the age of 25 - Kirchner himself took care of the design of the text, the cover and the printing of the lithographs - was also published by him in 1974 as a facsimile edition in a limited edition of 1,300 copies on 28 sheets 230 gram vellum - handmade cardboard produced again and individually hand-signed by Kirchner and issued by the Society of Bibliophiles as their last book-artistic print and gift to its own members.

Over the years Kirchner also made a name for himself nationwide as a lithographer, so that well-known colleagues such as Helmut Andreas Paul Grieshaber had works printed by him. Kirchner owned and produced his lithographs on both a small and a large one - 4.30 meters long, 2.50 meters wide and 1.90 meters high - built in 1911 by the Faber & Schleicher machine factory in Offenbach am Main and weighing five tons heavy lithograph - high-speed press "Bert (h) a". The press was originally built for Karl Dietschi , a ceramic decor printer in Nuremberg. Kirchner sold them in 1997 to the Gernsheim collector and graphic artist Mario Derra (* 1954).

There were only a few exhibitions of Kirchner's works because the artist was not interested in them. Few galleries presented works by him, including the Würzburger Galerie am Grasholz , as its owner was friends with Kirchner. He was reluctant to leave his house, but guests were always welcome there. Kirchner was very well read, was interested in the fundamentals of art, in art history and philosophy, and exchanged views with philosophers and theologians . As a nature lover, Kirchner was also an animal lover. The enthusiastic rider himself bred horses on his private property and at times owned over 20 animals.

Kirchner was married to his wife Hildegard, who mainly made a living as a civil servant art teacher at the Jack Steinberger Gymnasium in Bad Kissingen. Fame and money were of no importance to Kirchner. He died at the age of 69 as a result of several heart attacks .

Three years after his death, his widow, who had to take the initiative for exhibitions even in years of marriage, held a last private studio exhibition in the house in May / June 2012 before the estate was given to museums or galleries. The last solo exhibition had taken place twenty years earlier.

Under the title “Robert Kirchner - A Classic of Modernism from the Rhön”, the Kunsthalle Schweinfurt is organizing a comprehensive retrospective from July 17, 2015 to September 6, 2015.

Works

  • 17 lithographs for Virgil's Bucolica in the translation by Theodor Haecker , 98 numbered a. autographed copies, self-published, Bad Kissingen 1965; - New edition: 1,300 hand-signed copies, Society of Bibliophiles, 1974
  • 21 lithographs, one of them in color, for the Song of Solomon in the translation by Martin Luther , Edition Curt Viesel, Memmingen 1968
  • 15 lithographs on Hugo von Hofmannsthal's equestrian story , 100 numbered a. autographed copies, Edition Curt Viesel, Memmingen 1977
  • Flower suite; five color lithographs , Galerie am Grasholz, Graphik der Gegenwart, Volume 48, Verlag Küfner, 1981
  • Illustrations for Charles Sealsfield's prairie at Jacinto , Arena-Verlag, Würzburg 1968

literature

  • On the self-portrait of Robert Kirchner , in: Wandelhalle der Bücherfreunde, Gesellschaft der Bibliophilen, 1974, page 54
  • Curt Visel: Robert Kirchner - An artist without dogma , in: Illustration 63 , Edition Curt Viesel, Memmingen
  • Hans Küfner: Robert Kirchner , in: Illustration 63 , Book 2, Edition Curt Viesel, Memmingen, 1966

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Würzburg art school was later Werkkunstschule renamed and went as such in 1971 in the new University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt on
  2. ^ Chronicle of the Society of Bibliophiles
  3. ^ A by no means easy girl in: Echo Online from December 31, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Kirchner, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, graphic artist and lithographer as well as wood sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH July 21, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Kissingen
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 2009
Place of death Bad Kissingen