Walter Matysiak

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Walter Ernst Fritz Matysiak (born April 28, 1915 in Schweidnitz (Silesia) , † February 17, 1985 in Constance ) was a German freelance painter and graphic artist . He was reluctant to describe himself as a painter; rather, he saw himself as a “picture maker”.

Life

Matysiak was born on April 28, 1915 in simple circumstances. His father Anton ran a painting business, his mother Martha, née Falkenheim, would have liked to become a handicraft teacher. The second son, Arno Matysiak (* 1924 in Schweidnitz, † 1942 on the Russian front, Voronezh ) was born in the post-war years, which were tough for the craftsman family .

At the age of 14, Matysiak began an apprenticeship as a decorative painter with his father, as it was increasingly difficult for him to attend school. In the second year of his apprenticeship he received lessons from a painter in Breslau . During this time he visited an exhibition with works by Paul Klee for the first time . a. saw the watercolor "The Twitter Machine", which he later described as one of his favorite pictures.

To avoid unemployment in Schweidnitz, he volunteered in 1934 to work in Laufen in Upper Bavaria . This brought him a little closer to his longing goal, the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, for which he was admitted in 1935. At the same time he attended the State School for Applied Arts in Munich, where he learned from Josef Hillerbrand . Since he was called up for military service in 1936, however, he was only able to study for three semesters. To complete his studies, he was allowed to return to Munich in the winter semester of 1940/41. He spent a total of nine years in the military, seven as an infantryman in the east and two in American captivity. In 1943 he married the infant nurse Renate Krull, with whom he had four children. In the same year he was able to take part in an exhibition at the Munich Art Association for the first time.

In 1946 he started his own business as a painter and graphic artist. From 1948 he worked as a sample designer for the Pausa company in Mössingen . There he learned a. a. HAP Grieshaber and Willi Baumeister know who also designed textile samples for Pausa. In 1955 he was recruited by the traditional Konstanz textile company Herosé . The move to Lake Constance had a positive effect on his artistic presence: his works were initially shown in a Christmas exhibition of the Konstanzer Kunstverein , three years later the Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie in Konstanz showed a first solo exhibition. He also worked as an illustrator, caricaturist and cartoonist for Südkurier and the Swiss satirical magazine Nebelspalter . In 1962 he joined the artists' association “ The Small Circle ”, from which he left in 1965. He was the only south-west German painter to be represented in the exhibition "German Painting 1963" in Wil (Canton St. Gallen). From 1965 to 1975 he taught “free and applied drawing and painting” and “graphic techniques” at the private Lake Constance art school in Constance. After that he decided to live exclusively on the proceeds of his pictures and, in addition to his studio in Constance, temporarily maintained studios in Wil (St. Gallen), Carona (Ticino) and Mössingen. During his career as an artist, Matysiak a. a. in Paris , Munich , Zurich , Basel , Stuttgart , Karlsruhe , Frankfurt am Main , Konstanz, St. Gallen , Winterthur and Wil. Walter Matysiak died on February 17, 1985 in Konstanz.

plant

Walter Matysiak was a poet with brush and color and a highly productive artist who mastered the old masters' technique with virtuosity. His works captivate "with his limitless imagination, his bubbling ideas, his almost exuberant pleasure in telling stories, inventing the strangest phenomena and stories." He dealt intensively with artists he admired such as Paul Klee, Lyonel Feiniger and Juan Miro.

Urs von Schroeder divides his work into “imaginary” and “funny” images. Many of Matysiak's paintings and graphics are captivating with their humor, but there is often a serious level behind them. He was also not afraid to include taboo topics such as sexuality, corruption or war in his work. The techniques he used were oil painting, watercolor, tempera, ink pen and brush, colored pencil, pencil, drypoint, wood and linocut and mixed forms.

His multi-faceted oeuvre combines contradictions and contrasts, is both figurative and abstract. His work is difficult to classify stylistically: He took up elements of illusionism, cubism and surrealism and irritated the viewer by combining stylistic elements in an often grotesque manner. It is therefore not possible to speak of an actual development, rather Matysiak varied styles and motifs just as impartially as skilfully.

bibliography

Individual publications

  • Walter Matysiak: A torero, generals and bees (Seekreis Verlag Konstanz, undated)
  • Walter Matysiak: Mensch und Tier (self-published, undated)
  • 53 × Walter Matysiak (self-published portfolio, 1976)
  • Walter Matysiak with his sackcloths (Buchdruckerei Hauser AG, CH-Bürglen, 1985)

Book illustrations

  • Marianne Glückner-Bornewasser: Enchanted World. Twelve children's fairy tales. (Glöckner Verlag Bonn, 1948)
  • PC Ettighofer: Hello, buddy. As a tramp through cities, villages and hostels. (Glöckner Verlag Bonn, 1949)
  • Alfred Wettach: Leids and Gfreuts (Zollokofer Fachverlag St. Gallen, 1977)
  • Alfred Wettach: With animal seriousness (EZ Editions Zurich, 1983)
  • Hans Brügelmann: Children on the way to writing (Faude Verlag Konstanz, 1983)
  • Ernst Peter Fischer: The world in your head (Faude Verlag Konstanz, 1985)
  • Illustrations and cartoons for magazines and newspapers, including >> Südkurier << (Konstanz) and >> Nebelspalter << (Rorschach)

Exhibitions

  • 1943: Kunstverein Munich (participation)
  • 1957: 10th Singen Art Exhibition (participation)
  • 1958: Kunstverein Konstanz
  • 1962: The Small Circle (Altstätten and Konstanz) (participation)
  • 1965: Hof-Galerie Wil (CH)
  • 1969: Albertus Magnus House (Constance); Catacomb Gallery Feldkirch (A) (participation)
  • 1972: Gallery Petite Wil (CH); International Artist Center Pfäffikon (CH)
  • 1974: Gallery “19 A” Stuttgart; Gallery Rösslitor St. Gallen (CH)
  • 1975: Wiler's old town
  • 1976: Small Gallery Singen; Gallery "b." Karlsruhe
  • 1981: Paulusgalerie Albstadt; Galerie Vayhinger, Möggingen (with students)
  • 1982: Kornhaus-Galerie Rorschach (CH)
  • 1984: Gallery Team Basel (CH)
  • 1986: Memorial exhibition of the Kunstverein Konstanz <
  • 1998: Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz (participation)
  • 2015: Municipal Wessenberg Gallery Konstanz

Web links

literature

  • Kunstverein Konstanz (ed.): Walter Matysiak. On the occasion of the memorial exhibition from March 23 to April 27, 1986 . Ekkehard Faude Verlag, Konstanz 1986, ISBN 978-3-922305-18-7 .
  • Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz (Ed.): See-Blick. German artists on Lake Constance in the 20th century . Stadler, Konstanz 1998, ISBN 978-3-7977-0411-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ All information comes from: Kunstverein Konstanz (Ed.): Walter Matysiak. On the occasion of the memorial exhibition from March 23 to April 27, 1986. Konstanz: Ekkehard Faude Verlag, 1986.
  2. ↑ Urs von Schroeder: 60 years of Walter Matysiak. Speech at the opening of the anniversary exhibition on May 16, 1975 in Wiler's old town. P. 80f in: Walter Matysiak. On the occasion of the memorial exhibition from March 23 to April 27, 1986, ed. from the Kunstverein Konstanz. Konstanz, 1986. P. 80 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Matysiak, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Matysiak, Walter Ernst Fritz (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH April 28, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Świdnica
DATE OF DEATH 17th February 1985
Place of death Constancy