Rosso Majores
Rosso H. Majores (born April 7, 1911 in Eisfeld ; † May 13, 1996 in Dresden , actually Rosso Hugo Majores ) was a German painter , graphic artist and art teacher . He created a large number of works of fine art , in particular with the means of oil and watercolor painting and graphics . Rosso H. Majores earned particular merits in the field of art education within the framework of artistic folk creation.
Life
Majores was born as Hugo Majores on April 7, 1911 in Eisfeld / Thuringia . His last name Majores goes back to his ancestor, who fought in Napoleon's army in the Battle of Leipzig and then settled in Leipzig with a wool and cloth trade . Majores later gave himself the first name Rosso as a stage name because of his head of red hair. His parents ran a craft business in a mill in Eisfeld, where he grew up. The paternal grandfather was a glass painter , and he recognized the grandson's extraordinary talent for drawing at an early stage and encouraged him, whose greatest desire was to take up an artistic profession. After graduating from elementary school , Majores attended the Eisfeld School of Applied Arts with C. Lorenz from 1926 to 1928 . As early as 1929 he passed the entrance examination at the Weimar art college of the Bauhaus in the fields of painting and graphics . He studied with Felix Meseck until 1933 and as a master student with Walther Klemm . In Weimar in 1930 he met Gertrud (Tud) Walmann (* 1908), who was born in Osnabrück and studied sculpture at the Weimar Art Academy . From 1934, at the age of 23, Majores decided to live as a freelance artist in Weimar and during this time went on study trips through Switzerland and Galicia . In 1935 Majores came to Dresden as a freelance artist . In the same year he married the sculptor Gertrud (Tud) geb. Whale man. The daughter Christa emerged from the marriage. The family lived in Langebrück at Dresdner Strasse 51 from 1938 to 1945 .
In 1940 majors were drafted into the Wehrmacht and for military service. After being wounded and staying in a hospital, he returned to his family at the end of the war in 1945. From 1946 onwards again working as a freelancer in the Dresden area, the family moved to Dresden- Klotzsche . The marriage broke up in 1946, and in 1947 he married Helene, geb. Blecha.
Majores died in Dresden-Klotzsche on May 13, 1996 at the age of 85. His urn was buried in his birthplace Eisfeld.
Act
Art education
In the post-war period , Majores worked from 1949 to 1951, in addition to his artistic work, as a drawing teacher at the Dresden-Klotzsche primary school. From 1952 he took over the management of the painting and drawing circle founded in 1951 in what was then VEB Sachsenwerk Radeberg , from which VEB RAFENA-Werke Radeberg and later VEB Robotron-Elektronik Radeberg emerged . From the beginning, the place of work and residence of this group was the Maxim Gorki cultural center in Radeberg. This circle was headed by majores until 1989. Another three painting and drawing circles were headed by majores: the circle of VEB Flugzeugwerft Dresden , the council of the Bischofswerda district and a circle at the Technical University of Dresden . The circle work took place weekly and was free of charge for the participants. It was financed and promoted by the state or from the cultural and social funds of the companies, as it was seen as part of the desired socialist opportunities to implement the cultural policy of the GDR, with the aim of promoting and supporting talented working people and interested lay artists to discover and to enable meaningful and educational leisure time under professional guidance. Numerous study trips to other socialist countries with contacts to friendly circles in Wrocław , Nowa Ruda , Budapest and others as well as joint workshop weeks in the summer months were part of the circle work program. In the art education work, which covered a large spectrum of his work, Majores revealed his talent to pass on his extensive knowledge of the techniques in painting and graphics to his circle members with sensitivity and role model effect and to inspire them for art and also to achieve considerable success lead, but always accepting and promoting the individual characteristics of each individual. Within its four circles, the Radeberger painting and drawing circle was numerically the largest with around 30 participants. Interesting circle activity combined with joint exhibition visits, art talks, e.g. B. with professional artists in the Club of Intelligence Dresden , jointly conducted art courses, which he led on behalf of the District Cabinet for Culture Dresden , there was a further development of those interested in art. It is thanks to his efforts that all those involved were encouraged to do their own creative work through artistic guidance. His instructions on the various techniques, the teaching of composition and color design, portrait and nude drawing led to a high level of circle activity. Numerous architects , art educators and professional artists emerged from this circle . Some of them have also become internationally known, such as B. the painters and graphic artists Peter Muschter, Rolf Werstler, Dieter O. Berschinsky, Thomas Scheibitz .
It was only in old age that he gave up this additional circle activity, which was parallel to his own artistic work.
Own work
Like many artists of his generation, Majores was deeply marked and shaped by the war experiences of the Second World War, which also influenced his own further artistic work. He began again as a freelance artist to deal with different styles. It seemed to him essential to include social values in his artistic work, to artistically implement the problems of the time and to bring them closer to people. He succeeded in doing this above all with his many studies of workers and brigade members in state- owned companies , when, on the basis of the work contracts agreed with him, such as B. with VEB Robotron-Elektronik Radeberg, for larger oil paintings or other commissioned works with portraits of people working in companies. But he also dealt intensively with topics such as the Vietnam War or hunger in Africa. He took sides and stood up. His work has always been shaped by his credo of naturalness. From the beginning of the 20th century he only followed the trend of abstract art that was increasingly emerging . He tried again and again in his works to implement natural forms artistically, although he consciously emphasized forms, but still comprehensible to the viewer and recognizable in the representation. It was always his concern, whether in portraits , landscape painting or still life , to work realistically, to show naturalness in its external and internal harmony as a reproduction of creative artistic work. As a means of expression, he used drawing (pencil, pen, ballpoint pen or charcoal drawing), oil painting , watercolor technique or gouache technique , monotype and linocut . His work is typically characterized by the fact that he consciously emphasized forms in his painting by accentuating the contours and holding surfaces together with black contrasts. It was always about expression, emphasizing the issue, the essence and enhancing the color effect.
Majores on the subject of realism in art :
“... I work realistically. I present things as I see and feel them. I don't make a wooden pillar or a block out of a figure. I don't understand why you have to completely deform man as nature created him in order to get strange structures out. It is very clear when I paint a body or a landscape that I am not making a 'copy'. There will always be an artistic implementation. I don't just want to work for myself. That presupposes to present things in such a way that the viewer can recognize them ... "
Works (incomplete)
The artistic work of Majores includes around 230 oil paintings and 2100 watercolors, drawings, prints and monotypes. A complete catalog of works is not available.
Works in public ownership, given as permanent loans by the daughter Christa Majores or as part of the bequest, are in the Museum Schloss Klippenstein Radeberg and in the town of Bischofswerda, as well as in Ev.-Luth. Eisfeld Church. Further works are in family and private ownership.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions in Germany (cultural centers, museums, for anniversaries) and abroad led to a high level of awareness. His works are represented in numerous gallery and exhibition catalogs, including a. in Dresden, Halle , Rostock , Schwerin , Saint Petersburg .
Awards
Majores was accepted into the Association of Visual Artists of Germany (VBKD) , from which the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR (VBK) emerged in 1952 . From 1953 to 1954 he took over the management of the Dresden work area in the city of Dresden for the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR. From 1955 he was one of the board members of the artists' association "Art of Time" in Dresden. Appointed to the Stadtkulturkabinett Dresden, he campaigned for the training of lay workers. He has been awarded the medal “For Excellent Achievement” several times. In 1969 the Radeberg painting and drawing circle received the high distinction “Socialist Folk Art Collective”. Rosso Majores and the Radeberger painting and drawing circle, which he directed from 1952 to 1989, was awarded the FDGB art prize in 1966 on the occasion of the Workers' Festival of the GDR in Potsdam , due to his high level of performance in the visual arts .
In 1970 Majores was awarded the "National Prize III" for his artistic and educational work . Class for Art and Literature ” .
Honors
In cooperation with the Kunstkreis Radeberg eV, the city of Radeberg has launched the “Rosso Majores Sponsorship Prize” as a special art prize for schoolchildren in recognition of the folk artistic work of majors and his life's work Art lessons at the Radeberg schools are offered.
literature
- Berschinsky, Dieter O .: A painter of our time. In: Radeberger Kulturleben , April 1971
- Renate Schönfuß-Krause, Klaus Schönfuß: Rosso H. Majores (1911–1996). ( online resource ). With reproductions from the authors' private collection.
- Amateur film studio Reflex 16 Berbisdorf: Rosso H. Majores - painter, graphic artist, sponsor . Video-DVD 1988. ( online resource )
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ahner, Alfred: For the time being I have to stay alive . Verlag Olms, December 1, 2014
- ↑ a b c The local chronicles remember the 20th anniversary of the death of the Langebrück painter Rosso Hugo Majores . In: Heidebote, local gazette for Langebrück and the surrounding area. May 2016. Retrieved October 5, 2019 (PDF; 2.7 MB).
- ↑ Dresden picture source. Retrieved October 4, 2019 .
- ↑ New exhibition opened in the KuK house in Dissen. Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung of March 9, 2014. Accessed October 6, 2019 .
- ↑ Memory of Rosso Majores . Sächsische Zeitung online from April 7, 2016. Accessed October 6, 2019 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Majores, Rosso |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Majores, Rosso Hugo (full name); Majores, Rosso H. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German painter, graphic artist and art teacher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 7, 1911 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ice field |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 13, 1996 |
| Place of death | Dresden |