Sigmund Hahn

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Sigmund Hahn

Sigmund Hahn , signature Sicus , (born May 2, 1926 in Berlin ; † May 10, 2009 there ) was a German painter , graphic artist , wood cutter and sculptor . He is best known as a designer of stained glass windows, frescoes and mosaics in numerous Berlin churches.

Life

Hahn was born in Berlin in 1926. His father was a pastor and a missionary in Africa for many years. Sigmund Hahn left high school at the age of 16 to devote himself fully to art.

From 1942 to 1944 he studied at the Academy of Arts under Professor Gerhard Ulrich. In the spring of 1944 he was drafted and later sent to East Prussia as a messenger rider , where he was seriously wounded in his leg and back in mid-April 1945. With one of the last hospital and refugee ships from East Prussia, he reached a hospital in Hage (East Friesland) via Copenhagen . He returned to Berlin at Christmas 1945. His older brother died in World War II . The next year he resumed his studies at the Art School of the North in Berlin-Weißensee . At the end of 1947 he moved to the Academy of Fine Arts, where he was taught by Paul Strecker and later by Max Kaus . However, he was mainly influenced by Karl Hofer and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff .

To pay for the painting materials he needed, he wrote short reviews for the youth magazine Der Start . As a member of the group “Der Igel”, he exhibited at the student gallery in Berlin-Zehlendorf at the age of 24 . At that time, Will Grohmann wrote in the Neue Zeitung : “With 'Saint Franz', Sigmund Hahn expects himself to have a stylized realism approaching Bosch, for a twenty-four year old all sorts of things.” More positive reviews followed. He married his wife Silva in 1952. He lived with her in a studio apartment built by Hans Scharoun until his death .

In 1954 the jury awarded Hahn the City of Berlin Art Prize for graphics. In the near future, further solo exhibitions followed in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Paris. Until 2002, Sigmund Hahn and his wife were still on regular study trips, for example to: Rome, Paris, Vence, Ronchamp. London, Lisbon, Cairo, Istanbul, Prague and Budapest.

On the occasion of the Protestant Church's annual charity art auction in favor of projects for refugees and migrants, Sigmund Hahn donated prints of his coveted woodcuts from the start.

Artistic development

Early work

The early works of Sigmund Hahn are still under the influence of Karl Hofer. Like him, Sigmund Hahn painted mainly in shades of gray. You are steeped in the experiences of the Second World War. At this time his pictures show unreal scenes, mythical creatures , idiosyncratic symbioses formed from humans and animals. Sigmund Hahn soon developed his own means of expression , especially in the nude drawings , in which he fused the female bodies with animals or added them as additions. The desire to make art dominated his whole being, helped over pain and hunger. But in order to get over the cruel reality of the war experience, he created his own world of images; populated with symbolic figures, with hybrid beings, alienated animals, half-humans, half-animals, which sometimes lack whole limbs . His strong imagination came into its own here. He was now tirelessly drawing large sheets of paper with unspeakable love and tenderness. They still seem magically surreal to this day. The result was an early artistic work, notable as the work of a very young artist who was one of the few of his generation who survived the war. His work was the most inward expression of his experiences, but translated into the language of art. Hahn also began painting in oils in the 1950s. By 1959 he had created a number of oil paintings, some of them large-format, and around 100 drawings. In 1954 he received the Berlin Art Prize for Graphics.

  • Martial rider

  • Knife dancer

  • Terrible angel

  • Sitting on the beach

Working in the church

Sigmund Hahn was best known for his church windows and altar items in almost 40 churches and parishes of the Protestant and Catholic denominations; especially through the stained glass windows in the sacristy of St. Matthew's Church in the Kulturforum , the altar window in the church on Hohenzollernplatz , the St. Nikolai Church in Berlin-Spandau , in the St. Lukas Church in Berlin-Kreuzberg , in the Berlin village churches in Alt-Buckow , Alt-Tegel and Alt-Hermsdorf . The Martin Luther Hospital in Berlin has a luminous glass ceiling designed by him in the new entrance hall. But his windows and mosaics can also be found outside of Berlin . For example in the Rhön Clinic in Bad Kissingen .

In addition to the church windows, he also created altar items, such as a bronze chandelier in the St. Bernhard Church in Berlin-Dahlem , in the Paul Gerhardt Church in Schöneberg and the 1.75 m high bronze cross with the Easter sun on the outer wall the Jona Church in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg.

During his student days, he met the well-known sculptor Ludwig Gies in 1946/47 . This encouraged him in his early childhood desire to design colored picture windows for churches. Now supplemented by the desire to help restore and preserve the churches damaged in the war. Sigmund Hahn often had to adapt to the respective styles of the places of worship.

  • The denial of Peter in the village church Alt Buckow

  • Altar window in the main nave of the church on Hohenzollernplatz

  • Church interior of the church on Hohenzollernplatz

  • Peter window in the chapel of St. Nikolai Church in Spandau (detail)

  • Detail of one of the five sacristy windows in the Church of St. Matthew

painting

The spontaneous nature of the watercolor corresponded more to the lively spirit of Sigmund Hahn. His motifs are varied, flowers, landscapes, still lifes and, above all, people. The many nudes show the connection to the original, the love for life and for the creation of man as part of nature . They are experienced reality and they are a tender homage to women. But his constant passion was painting . With the oil paint on canvas he could move most freely and realize his ideas for pictures. "Right up to the end, Sigmund Hahn's pictures were not only determined by strong colors, but also multicolored and painted freely. In this way, coloristic dissonances alternate with harmonious correspondences. All figurations and forms appear to be in motion and filled with energy. Despite great multicolor, so controlled but only one color tone one color tone the picture. " "In spite of all the explosion of color there is always a quiet harmony in Sigmund Hahn's pictures. In the midst of a frenzy of colors, the figures move at the same time in a balance and inner structure that releases them from the urgency of the moment and into timeless monuments of existential humanity can be. " The woodcut is also very important in Sigmund Hahn's work. His woodcuts were only published as hand prints in small editions and are therefore a rarity today.

  • Africa mask and sunflower

  • Nature and act

  • My girl from Hof

  • The Danube Houses

Works

In addition to works in public spaces, his oeuvre includes many drawings, watercolors and woodcuts and, above all, paintings (oil paint on canvas) 14 works are in the " Berlinische Galerie " museum .

Stained glass window

Sacred art

  • Altar window (church on Hohenzollernplatz), 1962, 15 m high.
  • Five windows in the sacristy (St. Matthew's Church in the Kulturforum Berlin), 1960.
  • Triptych and window in the chapel; Two windows in the sacristy (St. Nikolai Church in Berlin-Spandau), 1960.
  • Stained glass windows, overall design of the interior (St. Lukas Church Berlin Kreuzberg), 1957–59.
  • Altar window and back wall (Jona Church in Charlottenburg), 1970.
  • all picture windows of the church (Johann Sebastian Bach Church in Berlin Lichterfelde), 1988.
  • Two picture windows in the chancel (village church Alt-Hermsdorf.), 1960.
  • Denial of Peter (Alt-Buckow village church), 1964.
  • All picture windows in the church (village church Alt-Tegel), 1964.

Profane art

  • Stained glass ceilings (new building entrance hall and surgery recovery room) (Martin Luther Hospital), 1991.
  • Stained glass window wall (Rhön Clinic in Bad Kissingen), 1988.
  • Cover drawing (Bernhard Nordh, Die Liebenden vom Gulbrandstal, Non Stop Bücherei), Berlin 1954.

Prices

  • 1954 Art Prize of the City of Berlin for Graphics

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 1971: Galarie Mouffe (Paris), painting
  • 1977: Galerie Europa am Dom (Munich), painting
  • 1980: "Die Insel" Hamburger Künstlerclub (Hamburg), painting
  • 1987: Foyer of the Ev. Konsistorium Berlin, "Pictures of Christ", paintings
  • 1990: Church on Hohenzollernplatz, painting and graphics
  • 1994: Foyer of the Palas of the Spandau Citadel, painting
  • 2001: Gotisches Haus Spandau, Sigmund Hahn, paintings and graphics
  • 2003: Galarie am Dom (Brandenburg, Domlinden), painting
  • 2004: Cabinet exhibition in the Protestant Center Berlin, paintings
  • 2006: Art.DEGO gallery (Berlin-Schöneberg), paintings and graphics
  • 2006: Church on Hohenzollernplatz, 80th birthday exhibition, painting
  • 2010: Memorial exhibition Art.DEGO, "The early work", painting
  • 2011: Gotisches Haus Spandau, "Pictures", paintings and graphics

literature

  • Works by Sigmund Hahn. Illustrated book. Ernst Wasmuth Verlag, Tübingen / Berlin 2013.
  • Sigmund Hahn. The paintings. Illustrated book. Edition Goldbeck-Löwe, Berlin 2011.
  • The watercolors. Illustrated book. Edition Goldbeck-Löwe, Berlin 2008.
  • Pictures in the light. Illustrated book of Sigmund Hahn's art in the church. Edition Goldbeck-Löwe, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-937556-24-9 .
  • Art address book Germany, Austria, Switzerland. 12th edition. KG Saur Verlag, Munich / Leipzig; Edition Art Address, Munich / Leipzig 1999/2000.
  • Evangelical churches in Berlin. CZV Christlicher Zeitschriftenverlag, Berlin 1978.
  • Hofmann Tauschwitz: Old Churches in Berlin. Wichern-Verlag, Berlin 1986.
  • Sigmund Hahn: From studios and workshops. In: The Minster. Journal for Christian Art and Art History. Vol. 39, issue 2, Munich 1986.
  • Sigmund Hahn: From studios and workshops. In: The Minster. Journal for Christian Art and Art History. Volume 38, Issue 2, Munich 1985.
  • International art address book, 1976/77. ART ADDRESS Verlag Müller
  • The buildings and art monuments of Berlin. Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1971.
  • Repertory Artis. Savona 1968, p. 146.
  • Kurt Pomplun: Berlin's old village churches. Berlin 1967.
  • Berlin, Baedekers, Berlin 1966.
  • August Wagner: United workshops for mosaic and glass painting Berlin. In: The Minster. Journal for Christian Art and Art History. Vol. 15, issue 11/12, 1962.
  • Art address book Germany, Austria, Switzerland. 12th edition. Saur Verlag, Munich.
  • Who's who. 2014.
  • Who's who. since 1992.
  • Who's Who in the Arts. 1975.

Web links

Commons : Sigmund Hahn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Sigmund Hahn  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sigmund Hahn (born 1926). on: tagesspiegel.de , June 12, 2009.
  2. ^ Will Grohmann: The hedgehog in the student gallery. In: The New Newspaper. June 14, 1950.
  3. ↑ FA Dargel: The hedgehog "exhibits. In: Telegraf. Berlin, NN: A loner and perhaps the most spiritual of all is Sigmund Hahn. If a year ago he saw and showed bizarre, even decadently ugly things, he is convinced of that today magical power of the line.
  4. ↑ Helmut Kreuther: Berlin Art Prize Winner 1954. In: Kurier. March 31, 1954.
  5. ↑ Benjamin Lassiwe: Hard on the belt. The benefit art auction of the Protestant Church. In: Der Tagesspiegel. October 17, 2011, p. 11.
  6. ^ Sibylle Badstübner-Gröger: Early drawings. In: Works by Sigmund Hahn. Ernst Wasmuth Verlag, Tübingen / Berlin 2013, p. 15f.
  7. ↑ a b rm: An existential need. Exhibition with works by Sigmund Hahn in the Gothic House. In: Berlin Abendblatt. January 22, 2011.
  8. ^ Sigmund Hahn (born 1926). on: tagesspiegel.de , June 12, 2009.
  9. ↑ NN: Before the cock crows, you will have denied me. In: Tagesspiegel. May 29, 1996.
  10. ↑ Pictures in the light. Illustrated book of Sigmund Hahn's art in the church. Edition Goldbeck-Löwe, Berlin 2006.
  11. ^ Georg Friedrich Büchner: Das Münster, magazine for Christian art and art history. Jh. 39, Issue 2, 1986, p. 161.
  12. ↑ Lieselotte Bessert: For the love of things and people. For Sigmund Hahn's 60th birthday. In: Berlin Sunday paper. April 27, 1986 / No. 17, p. 9.
  13. ↑ Watercolors, Sigmund Hahn. Illustrated book. Edition Goldbeck-Löwe, Berlin 2008, p. 54f.
  14. ↑ a b works by Sigmund Hahn. Ernst Wasmuth Verlag, Tübingen / Berlin 2013.
  15. ^ Georg Friedrich Büchner: Art in the Church. Sigmund Hahn in the church on Hohenzollernplatz. In: Berliner Sonntagsblatt. April 15, 2015, No. 15.
  16. ↑ Lothar Münner: It's about the symbiosis of man and nature. An exhibition of pictures by the Siemensstadt painter Sigmund Hahn has opened in the citadel's palas. In: Berliner Zeitung. 2nd September 1994.
  17. ↑ jum: Homage to Sigmund Hahn in the Gothic House. In: Berliner Morgenpost. August 14, 2001.
personal data
SURNAME Hahn, Sigmund
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sicus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, graphic artist, wood cutter and sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 2009
Place of death Berlin