Theodor Herrmann (painter)

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Theodor Herrmann (born July 27, 1881 in Stade , † December 15, 1926 in Bremen ) was a German painter , draftsman and graphic artist of Impressionism and Art Nouveau . He belonged to the second generation of the Worpswede artists' colony .

biography

Herrmann was the son of a building business owner. He completed the elementary school at Burggraben in Stade and, until 1896, the high school Athenaeum Stade at the horse market. Following his early inclinations for drawing and theater, he studied at the Grand Ducal Saxon Art School in Weimar, among others with the painter Count Leopold von Kalckreuth , who promoted him. In 1898 he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe . Some seascapes are known from this time. In 1899 he followed Kalckreuth and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart . His first book illustrations were created, also at Schünemann Verlag for the newspaper Niedersachsen and for some books.

From 1901 he lived in Ritterhude . He was now in close contact with the Worpswede artists' colony . He created drawings of landscapes in Bremen and the surrounding area. In 1903 he moved to Zeven . It was here that he made contact with the prehistorian and local researcher Hans Müller-Brauel and his friends. The artist Ernst Müller-Scheessel , founder of the Bremen Artists' Association, and the entrepreneur Ludwig Roselius took care of some orders. He designed friezes from the Hodenberg country estate of the shipowner Robert Rickmers in Oberneuland and he illustrated books by the writer Heinrich Scharrelmann .

From 1904 he lived in Oberndorf an der Oste. More illustrations for books and calendars followed. From 1905 to 1906 he toured Bavaria and Italy. From 1906 his studio was in Hamburg and from 1907 to 1910 he worked for Müller-Brauel's arts and crafts center in Zeven. In 1913 he lived in Berlin , then again in Hamburg and set designs and illustrations were his commissions. In the First World War he served as a soldier on the Eastern Front from 1914, where he made many sketches. In 1916 he returned to Hamburg.

In 1918 he settled in Bremen with a studio on Neustadtswall in the Neustadt and then in the old town, Hinter dem Schütting No. 8. His relationship with the director of the Kunsthalle Bremen Emil Waldmann (1880-1945) is said to have been bad. Although he was represented in exhibitions, his works were not purchased; only the oil painting Rivieralandschaft from 1926 was given to the Kunsthalle as a gift from Roselius in 1928. He tried unsuccessfully to become a teacher at the Bremen Art School . His works in Bremen include paintings in Bremen houses, a carnival picture in the Bremen Ratskeller , a mural in the Scheeßeler mill and other illustrations.

Herrmann's urn was buried in the Stade garrison cemetery.

Artistic creation

Herrmann's oeuvre is dominated by Art Nouveau and Impressionism . In addition to the representatives of Swabian impressionism who shaped him during his studies, he was strongly influenced by the Worpswede painters Heinrich Vogeler and Fritz Mackensen . In the first phase of his work he mainly concentrated on graphics. Very early on, he distinguished himself as a book illustrator for publishers in Hamburg and Bremen. It was only in the 1920s that he succeeded in realizing his dream of becoming a landscape painter. The rarity of his paintings is also due to the fact that he only devoted himself to painting a few years before his untimely death. His oil paintings quite correspond to the Worpswede painting style. During the Second World War, almost all of his artistic estate was lost, so that the painter was largely forgotten. The artist was not rediscovered until the early 1990s. The millennium of the city of Stade was an important occasion for the renewed interest in the great son of this city.

Honors

  • The Theodor Herrmann room in the Insel Restaurant in Stade was named after him. In 1992 more than 20 of his paintings were lost in a fire in the Insel-Restaurant. The first new works for the room were purchased or permanently loaned from the Sparkasse Stade-Altes Land . In May 2012 the Hamburg Kleio Foundation donated two paintings by Theodor Herrmann to the Stader Geschichtsverein for the Theodor Herrmann Room . It is a market scene in front of the Bremen Roland and the picture An der Hamme .
  • Theodor-Herrmann-Weg, Stade

Works in public space

literature

  • General artist encyclopedia: life and works of the most famous visual artists. Volume 6. Rütten & Loening, 1922, p. 135.
  • Gerhard Gerkens , Ursula Heiderich: Catalog of the paintings of the 19th and 20th centuries in the Kunsthalle Bremen. Kunstverein Bremen, 1973, p. 137.
  • Herbert Black Forest : The Great Bremen Lexicon . 2nd, updated, revised and expanded edition. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X .
  • Gerd Mettjes: Theodor Herrmann 1881–1926: draftsman, painter, art designer in the Worpswede area. Hauschild, Bremen 1993, ISBN 3929902001 .
  • Gerd Mettjes: Theodor Herrmann: painter, designer, illustrator. In: Die Weltkunst. Volume 65, 1995, p. 721 ff.
  • CVs between the Elbe and Weser: A biographical lexicon. Volume 1. Landscape Association of the Former Duchies of Bremen and Verden, 2002, ISBN 3931879089 , p. 137.
  • Herbert Black Forest: The large Bremen Lexicon. Volume I. Edition Temmen, 2002, p. 320.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Herrmann, Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and draftsman
DATE OF BIRTH July 27, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Stade
DATE OF DEATH December 15, 1926
Place of death Bremen