Siegfried Donndorf

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Siegfried Donndorf (born October 13, 1900 in Salbke ; † March 31, 1957 in Dresden ) was a German painter and set designer.

Life

Donndorf was born as the son of the Protestant pastor at the Salbker Sankt-Gertraud-Kirche . His brother was the future theologian Gotthold Donndorf . From 1920 to 1922 he studied with Emil Orlik in Berlin . He then continued his studies from 1923 to 1930 with Richard Dreher and Adolf Mahnke at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden . At the age of 29 he won the State Prize for Landscape Painting , which enabled him to go on a study trip to Italy . In Dresden Donndorf became a member of the communist artist group ASSO , which was banned in 1933. In 1935/36 he taught drawing and painting at the academy. During the National Socialist era he also worked as a set designer at the Dresden State Theater and the Teschen City Theater . There he was u. a. 1943 responsible for the set design for the new production of “Wallenstein's Camp”, which took place under the patronage of the site elder and with the participation of the Wehrmacht. Donndorf did military service from 1939 to 1941.

After the end of the Second World War he was involved in the cultural reconstruction of the city and in 1947 was one of the co-founders of the artists' association Das Ufer - Gruppe 1947 . He became head of the group formed together with Rolf Krause , Ewald Schönberg , Rudolf Bergander , Rudolf Nehmer , Karl-Erich Schaefer and Fritz Skade . The bank was committed to education and society. The group's mentor was Donndorf's friend Kurt Liebmann . The group, which had grown in number, existed until 1951 and then dissolved under pressure from the state in favor of the artists' association. However, the group continued to exist within the association until Donndorf's death. In 1947 Donndorf took part in the First Exhibition of Dresden Artists, during which time his artistic work focused on the reconstruction of the city, which was badly damaged by the war, in drawing and painting. Donndorf's pictures, often landscapes, are characterized by a subtle color tone. In 1953 he took over the chairmanship of the Kunst der Zeit sales cooperative . Donndorf tried for a long time to organize an exhibition for his group of artists in the western part of Germany. Finally his brother, who ran the Rauhe Haus in Hamburg , made it possible for him to hold an exhibition there. The necessary approvals from the GDR authorities delayed the project by about a year. Finally, the exhibition took place in 1955. It was the first self-contained exhibition of GDR artists in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Donndorf died after a short, serious illness at the age of 56.

Works (selection)

  • Mural “ Großkraftwerk Hirschfelde” ; Collective work with Willy Illmer and Fritz Tröger ; exhibited in 1949 at the 2nd German Art Exhibition in Dresden; Commissioned by the exhibition management
  • Autumn still life. Panel painting, mixed media (exhibited in 1953 at the 3rd German Art Exhibition in Dresden)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b painter of the Dresden construction - on the death of Siegfried Donndorf. In: Neue Zeit , March 22, 1957, page 4 ( limited online , registration required).
  2. ↑ Program of the production
  3. ↑ Peter Jacoby: Collectivization of the imagination? Artist groups in the GDR between appropriation and inventiveness , Transkript Verlag 2007, ISBN 978-3-89942-627-4 , page 169
  4. ↑ Peter Jacoby: Collectivization of the imagination? Artist groups in the GDR between appropriation and inventiveness , Transkript Verlag 2007, ISBN 978-3-89942-627-4 , page 127
  5. ^ Wolfgang Balzer (Ed.): First exhibition of Dresden artists. Department II. October / November 1947. Cultural Association for the Democratic Renewal of Germany, 1947
  6. ↑ Manuela Bonnke: Art in Production: Fine Arts and Nationally Owned Economy in the Soviet Zone / GDR , Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-35805-1 , page 125
  7. ^ Silent painters from Dresden in Die Zeit , July 21, 1955, number 29
  8. ^ Hermann Müller: Over ten murals In: Fine arts. Magazine for painting, graphics, sculpture and architecture. Berlin. 3rd year issue 10/1949, p. 334; Gert Caden: Twelve murals are created. In: Fine arts. Magazine for painting, graphics, sculpture and architecture. Berlin. 3rd year issue 9/1949, p. 269/270
  9. ↑ Image index of art & architecture
personal data
SURNAME Donndorf, Siegfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and set designer
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Ointment
DATE OF DEATH March 31, 1957
Place of death Dresden