Walter Schliephacke

Walter Schliephacke (self-portrait)

Walter Schliephacke (born October 12, 1877 in Ilsenburg , † October 24, 1955 in Volkmarsen ) was a German painter of the late Romantic period . He mastered landscape , portrait and genre painting as well as still life .

Life

Origin and youth

Still life with grapes

Walter Schliephacke was born on October 12, 1877 in Ilsenburg am Harz as the third of six children. The parents were the art-loving metallurgical engineer Heinrich Schliephacke and Natalie, née Voigt, who came from an organ building family.

The family moved from Ilsenburg to Bad Harzburg , and later to Hanover . Here Walter Schliephacke attended the humanistic grammar school, but left it at the age of sixteen to attend the arts and crafts school against his father's wishes . The father actually wanted Walter Schliephacke to learn something “proper” because he considered painting to be art without a job.

education

Walter Schliephacke first studied sculpture in Hanover and then turned to the painting school of Jordan and later that of Hermann Knottnerus-Meyer . During this time he met the heath poet Hermann Löns ; this encounter was reflected in some of his later heather paintings.

Further work

At the age of 26, Walter Schliephacke went to Munich to study at the academy , but soon retired to the quiet and seclusion of Schleissheim . After he had gained enough strength in the loneliness of Schleissheim, he returned to Munich to study painting with Ludwig von Herterich at the academy .

While looking for a suitable place to live, the artist discovered the north Hessian city of Kassel . Here he found the landscape that matched his searching senses. The gallery here with its Rembrandt pictures served him as a constant demand and a warning to high discipline.

So Walter Schliephacke settled in Kassel in 1907 and started a family. A group of students and like-minded people came together, which resulted in a painting school. These were years full of privation, but joyful in creation, in which Walter Schliephacke found the path of painterly internalization and thus the basis for his style. With his wife Amanda, nee Schelm, he had three daughters: Trudchen, Gretchen and Lottchen, as he affectionately called them. He expresses all of his love for his family in numerous portraits .

The First World War suddenly tore Walter Schliephacke from this fruitful work. He came to the western front. At first there was also time for smaller works such as drawings , pastels and linocuts . Later, however, his service as a company commander left him no more room for artistic creation. After the war, Walter Schliephacke had to start all over again because the need was present everywhere.

But undeterred by the various art movements, he resumed the old line of development. Fate caused him great pain when he was torn from his side by his beloved wife Amanda at the age of only 39. A housekeeper looked after the half-orphaned household for a few years. In 1926 Walter Schliephacke married one of his students, Bertha Nitzsche. She was of great help to him in financial matters, a good mother to his children, and a good critic to him.

He was one of the founding members of the painter group in 1923 .

From 1923 to 1934 the family lived in the Schönen Aussicht 3 in the side wing of the Bellevue-Schlößchen, until the painter was able to build a house in Kassel-Wolfsanger in 1934, which towered over the city in a very lonely manner. Walter Schliephacke now had his own domicile with a large studio in which he could work undisturbed. From here he visited the entire North Hessian region and repeatedly moved to the Rhön.

In the 1930s Walter Schliephacke ran a painting school in Landau / Waldeck. Numerous pictures from this period of his work have also survived. In addition, he traveled with the then state curator Friedrich Bleibaum to many places in the North Hessian region and designed churches and numerous public buildings with wall decorations. Wherever there were frescoes , Walter Schliephacke took painstaking, persistent detailed work out from under the old cover layers, preserved and restored them. If you wanted something new on free wall surfaces, he made suggestions, designs and then the corresponding wall paintings. Reverence for the Word of God allowed him to make always desired Bible sayings particularly perfect. Again and again, whenever he himself thought a work of his own was ripe, he gave it to the State Art Collections in Kassel.

Escape into landscape with two castles

The next stroke of fate stole his youngest daughter, his beloved Lottchen in 1938. She died under unknown circumstances in the psychiatric hospital in Merxhausen . Perhaps, or even with certainty, through the suffering he has suffered, the recurring motif of flight can be understood in his landscape compositions: the human being as always hunted, persecuted and tormented being.

Despite all the experienced hardship, Walter Schliephacke retained his inner strength and deep connection to creature and creation. Faith rooted in his deepest soul and the associated humility towards the gift of his talent did not let him sink into despair. Gratitude, warmth, kindness and a sense of obligation, coupled with skill and diligence, were the foundations for his art. Walter Schliephacke never simply painted a landscape, he always processed it first in his mind's eye, in order to then compose it into an independent work. People are always acting beings or observing spectators in them. A portrait not only depicts, it shows the essence of what is depicted, not just the external appearance.

For a second time the war was tragic for the artist. His house, which was filled with art treasures, valuable period furniture , bronze sculptures and his sketch folder, as well as around 80 paintings, fell into flames at the end of October 1943. A carpet of phosphorus bombs, which actually belonged to the Kassel engine manufacturing plant in Kassel-Bettenhausen , was blown away by the wind and laid the lonely house in ruins. Everything burned to the ground. He and his family got away with little more than life.

The artist was once again standing in front of the shards of his life. But dear friends and patrons of his art helped him with a small hunting lodge in Vaake on the Weser and the most necessary things so that Walter Schliephacke could continue to express his inner views even in this difficult time.

After the Second World War, Schliephacke was able to continue working as a church painter and thus support the family. In 1947 he moved to Volkmarsen with his wife Bertha. They moved into the house of the privy councilor Rumpf, inherited from his wife, at Kasseler Straße 7. The artist set up a makeshift studio here. The glass pans on the left side of the roof still tell of it today.

Although Walter Schliephacke was already 70 years old and needed two pairs of glasses on top of one another in order to see clearly, he continued to design church rooms and the like. The then Federal President Theodor Heuss personally congratulated him on his 75th birthday . The author of this life report saw a draft for the new color scheme for the Protestant church in Volkmarsen. This draft is now lost. The family of Walter Schliephackes second daughter also came to Volkmarsen in 1945 after the evacuation of their city and so at least part of his family was reunited. The reporter was allowed to spend many hours in his studio. Quote: "If Walter Schliephacke had lived a hundred years or more, how much could you have learned from him."

Walter Schliephacke died on October 24, 1955 in Volkmarsen and was carried to rest here in the Protestant cemetery. His lifelong friend, the sculptor Konrad Geldmacher from Berlin, placed his Federal Cross of Merit in his grave. According to Konrad Geldmacher, the friend Schliephacke deserved this honor more than he did.

The original text was written by his granddaughter Borghild Kailuweit-Salokat on the occasion of an exhibition in 1991.

Exhibitions

• 1922 - Cassel art exhibition
• 1938 - Kassel Art Association
• 1944 - Kassel Art Association in the Ballhaus Kassel
• 1950 - Kasseler Kunstverein in the Ottoneum together with H. Pforr
• 1956 - Memorial exhibition at the Kasseler Kunstverein
• 1964 - "Berlin miniatures" in the district home museum in Bünde / Westphalia
• 1991 - Volkmarsen parish
• 2007 - Memorial exhibition planned in the Hofgeismar City Museum

Catalog raisonné

Regardless of the care taken in the research, we cannot claim to be complete.

title	signature	date
Portrait: Natalie Schliephacke, b. Voigt (mother of the artist)	Reverse: W. Schliephacke	Back: 1896–97
Self portrait	W. Schliephacke	March 1898
Threshing floor with ham	WS	99 (1899)
Portrait: Heinrich J. Schliephacke (father of the artist)	WS	03
Iphigenia, Act 2, back view	WS	05
At the source with a dog	WS	05
Child portrait: with flower baby hat	WS	08
Landscape in chalk (unfinished)	WS	08
Landscape (very heavily varnished)	WS	09
Study m. Goat, cow and shepherdess	WS	09
Child portrait: Gretchen Schliephacke	WS	Friday, 9.VII.09
Child portrait: Gretchen Schliephacke	WS	24.X.09
Child portrait: Trudchen Schliephacke	WS	09
Child portrait: with flower baby hat and coral necklace	unsigned	undated
Child portrait: Trudchen (?) Schliephacke	WS	undated
Farmhouses	WS	6 Aug 09
Meadow in the forest with deer	W. Schl.	09
Child portrait: Gretchen	WS	7.V.10
Child portrait: Gretchen with bib	WS	22.V.10
Amanda with sleeping child Trude	WS	09
Four horses in the pasture	WS	2.IX.10
Dorfstraße Oberelsungen (varnished with incense in alcohol)	W. Schl.	15.IX.10
Child portrait: Gretchen with a red cap	WS	11
Child portrait: Lottchen	WS	11
Still life: jug, cup and teaspoon (very rough brushstroke)	WS	12
Gretchen in Sunflowers (watercolor)	WS	12
Child portrait: Lottchen with bib and coral necklace	WS	12
Portrait: Amanda with the red curtain	WS	12
Portrait: Amanda with a blue dress, white collar and brooch	WS	12
Portrait: Amanda in profile with a pink glass pearl necklace	unsigned	undated
Portrait: Amanda in chalk	WS	7.V.12
Child portrait: Trude with a red cap	WS	Sept 12
Child portrait: Trude in profile with a red ribbon	WS	Sept 12
Children's portrait: Trude in profile	WS	undated
Child portrait: Lottchen with harmonica (on cardboard)	WS	13
Portrait: Amanda with a large white hat, green dress and rose	W. Schl.	June 13
Portrait: Amanda Schliephacke geb. Rogue with a book	unsigned	undated
Flower piece: sunflowers	WS	13
Landscape with a village and a cow	WS	13
Couple in the forest	WS	13
Oak (pastel chalk)	WS	3.VIII.13
Child portrait: Gretchen chalk drawing	W. Schl.	24.XII.13
Flower piece	WS	14th
Child portrait: Trude with her hair down	WS	undated
Child portrait: Lottchen (?) With a red ball and a red bow	WS	undated
Self-portrait with a full beard	WS	14th
Self portrait	WS	14th
Still life: bouquet of flowers with poppies, irises, roses (bright colors)	WS	14th
Gretchen sitting in the garden	WS	14th
Still life: fruit plates and books	W. Schl.	21.I.17
Forest interior in chalk	WS	19th
Amanda under the arbor, picking beans	W. Schl.	2.IX.19
Still life: apples with a silver plate	WS	19th
Nude in pastel	W. Schl.	20th
Forest and village (chalk)	W. Schl.	14.V.20
Village interior	WS	21.V.20
Village interior	WS	26.V.20
Barn interior	WS	26.V.20
Portrait: Amanda (pencil drawing)	W. Schl.	20th
Portrait: Natalie Schliephacke	W. Schl.	21st
Escape in the snow by moonlight	WS	21st
Still life: apples and cucumber	W. Schliephacke	21st
Still life, watercolor: fruits, book and opened jug	W. Schliephacke	Nov. 27, 21.
Ideal landscape with a purple mountain	WS	22nd
Still life: blue hydrangea, plate with apples, cup and silver jug	WS	23
Niederelsungen at night	WS	23
Mountain landscape with river, bridge and city	WS	23
Portrait: Amanda in a red dress	unsigned	undated
Landscape on the Weser (?)	WS	23
Portrait: Amanda (unfinished)	W. Schliephacke	Cassel 23
Landau (chalk)	W. Schl.	23
Portrait: Amanda in profile (chalk drawing, unfinished)	Walter Schliephacke	23
River landscape with factory chimneys	W. Schl.	24
Landau / Waldeck	WS	24
Edersee landscape	W. Schl.	24
Horse trading	WS	24
Cow pasture near Landau / Waldeck	W. Schl.	24
Industrial landscape	W. Schl.	24
Still life: pears, apple, spoon and picture in the background (watercolor)	W. Schl.	24
Still life: faience beaker, apple and lemon	W. Schliephacke	24
Portrait: Lottchen	W. Schl.	June 24
Village interior Landau Marktgasse with school	W. Schl.	Aug 14, 24
Still life: grapes, apples and peaches on clay plates on chest with cloth	WS	25th
Portrait: Lottchen with a fur cap	W. Schl.	25th
Portrait: Bertha Sonntagabend (coal)	unsigned	8.XI.25
Still life: glass vase with roses and glass bowl with lemon	W. Schl.	25th
Niederelsungen by moonlight	WS	25th
Portrait: Sick Mrs. Amanda	WS	15.1.25
Landscape - Masserburg i. Th. (Chalk)	W. Schl.	9.3.26
Portrait: Bertha Schliephacke, b. Nitzsche	W. Schl.	20.7.26
mother Earth	W. Schl.	26th
Portrait: Waltraud Pook	W. Schl.	26th
Portrait: Bertha sick in bed	W. Schl.	26th
Flower piece	WS	26th
Rest on the run	WS	26th
Frankenberg	W. Schl.	26th
Rest on the run with self-expression	WS	26th
Portrait: Trude (on canvas)	W. Schl.	26th
Escape in the forest by moonlight with angels	W. Schl.	27
Flower piece: dahlias	W. Schl.	27
Still life: grapes, bottle and stenter frame	W. Schl.	28
Mardi Gras	W. Schl.	28
Bridge landscape near Fritzlar	W. Schl.	28
Self-portrait with a green cap	WS	28
Female Nude (linen on cardboard)	WS	28
Self portrait	W. Schl.	6.XII.28
Landscape in the moonlight (watercolor)	W. Schl.	29
Landscape Hessenschanze (watercolor)	W. Schliephacke	29
Portrait: Gretchen with a striped sweater (cut out)	W. Schl.	29
Portrait: Trudchen	unsigned	29
Portrait: Lottchen	W. Schl.	29
Portrait: Gretchen	unsigned	29
Boat trip on forest lake (watercolor)	W. Schl.	Easter 28
Portrait: Gretchen (cut out)	W. Schl.	29
Portrait: Lottchen in profile	W. Schl.	29
Lottchen in the garden with a blue dress and a white collar	W. Schl.	June 24th
Ideal landscape with a city with a wooden tower, chapel and wagon	W. Schl.	26.VII (?). 30
Landscape from Niederhessen	W. Schl.	30th
Self-portrait with a red cap	W. Schl.	31
Escape in the moonlight near Dörnberg	W. Schl.	32
Rest on the run with the crescent moon	W. Schl.	32
Teufelsstein / Rhön	W. Schl.	32
Courier in the forest	W. Schl.	33
Flower piece: red poppy in a Japanese vase	W. Schl.	35
Forest landscape with a brook over scree	W. Schliephacke	30-36
Dialogue in the forest about flowers	W. Schl.	36
Portrait: Johanna Thuneke	WS	36
Portrait: Emil Thuneke	WS	37
Child portrait: Ortrud	W. Schl.	11.IX.38
Child portrait: Ortrud with a red ball	W. Schl.	39/16 June
Alpine landscape with an English garden	WS	06 & 39
Landscape with three castles and escape	WS	39
Night escape at the lake	W. Schl.	39
Escape in the moonlight with a fox (gouache)	W. Schl.	39
Bathing act with bunny and apple basket	WS	08 40
Comedians at rehearsal (completed 1940)	W. Schl.	undated
Still life: grapes and apples on a pewter plate, with a glass of water	W. Schl.	41
Child portrait: Borghild with blue-striped dress	W. Schl.	41
Portrait of two children: Ortrud and Borghild	W. Schl.	41
Still life: grapes on a pewter plate and candlesticks on a chest	W. Schl.	41
Rhön landscape (watercolor)	W. Schl.	41
Ideal landscape with lake, castle and city	W. Schl.	42
Portrait: Hans Schimmelpfeng - former mayor of Kassel	unsigned	undated
Portrait: Hermine Schimmelpfeng	W. Schl.	42
Child portrait: Borghild with pink dress	W. Schl.	42
Landscape with town in the valley	W. Schl.	43
Hermit by the fire in a rocky landscape	W. Schl.	43
Psyche and Cupid	W. Schl.	43
“A strange encounter” - young man in conversation with spring nymph	W. Schl.	44
Still life: apples, pears and silver spoons (watercolor)	W. Schl.	44
Still life: shot duck	W. Schl.	44
Still life: wooden shoe, pipe, wine glass, book etc.	W. Schl.	44
Portrait: Dr. Erich Bengen	W. Schl.	44
Carnival bustle (allegory)	W. Schliephacke	Cassel, 28-45
Portrait: Dr. Erich Bengen (Profile)	W. Schl.	44-45
Landscape with clouds and farmland	W. Schl.	45
Rocky landscape with a castle and hikers	W. Schl.	45
Child portrait: Borghild (red chalk drawing)	W. Schl.	Aug 9, 1945
Rock landscape with a hermit, deer and hare	W. Schl.	Vaake 45
Vaake / Weser church	W. Schl.	Vaake 46
Still life: grapes, apple and three pears on a clay plate	W. Schl.	46
Still life: cherries on a pewter plate and water glass	W. Schl.	46
Oak forest	W. Schl.	46
Still life: grape, apple and pear	W. Schl.	46
Portrait: Meike Bengen (red chalk drawing)	W. Schl.	46
Portrait: Frauke Bengen (red chalk drawing)	W. Schl.	46
Portrait: Frieder Bengen (red chalk drawing)	W. Schl.	46
Rural dialogue	W. Schl.	14-47
Escape in the Central Hessian landscape	W. Schl.	47
Escape in the Central Hessian landscape (own copy)	W. Schl.	47
Still life: corn on the cob in a brass bowl, candlestick, newspaper and world woods	W. Schl.	47
Nocturnal landscape with escape under the rainbow (?) (Unfinished)	W. Schl.	48
Still life: brass plate, wine carafe, glass, apples on clay plate and knife	WS	undated
Horsemen storm the city	W. Schl.	29-49
Escape from bridge arch (unfinished)	unsigned	undated
Still life: Steinzugkrug and plate with peaches (on cardboard)	W. Schl.	49
Oak forest with escape	W. Schl.	49
Landscape with four people in the foreground	W. Schl.	50
Flower piece: lilac	W. Schl.	50
Wild riders on the lake by moonlight	W. Schl.	50
Winter landscape with mountain town and bridge	W. Schl.	50
Weser landscape	W. Schl.	49-51
Escape with text in a cartridge: He came into his own property and his people did not accept him	W. Schl.	51
Flower piece: anemones in a brown stone jug	W. Schl.	51
The good Samaritan in a rocky landscape	W. Schl.	undated
"Rest in the forest" - escape with angels	W. Schl.	13-52
Landscape with looming clouds	W. Schl.	48-52
Children's portrait: Urselchen Schmand (red chalk drawing)	W. Schl.	52
Portrait: Apotheker Böttrich (red chalk drawing)	W. Schl.	52
Portrait: Mrs. Böttrich	W. Schl.	52
Rider at the forest lake	W. Schl.	52
Landscape with a rider	W. Schl.	43-53
Escape in the Hessian landscape, Neuberich (?)	W. Schl.	53
Heathland with escape	W. Schliephacke	05-54
Landscape study near Oberelsungen (back: "Smock given")	unsigned	54
Still life: oranges, grapes, pears, apples and candlesticks	W. Schl.	54
"Emmaus" (Predella)	W. Schl.	54
Tobias led by the angel	W. Schl.	51-55
Bear hunting by moonlight	W. Schl.	undated
Flower piece: Colorful with light blue bluebells	unsigned	undated
Still life: peaches in a glass jug with a lid and a pipe	unsigned	undated
Still life: plate, wine bottle, corn on the cob and lemon	unsigned	undated
Romantic mountain landscape with bridge and hikers in contemplation	lost	lost
Seascape	lost	lost
Kugelsburg	W. Schl.	55
Arguing riders (watercolor)	W. Schliephacke	undated
The good samaritan (unfinished)	W. Schl.	undated
St. George frees the Virgin from the dragon	unsigned	undated
Landscape with riders in front of Kugelsburg and lake (unfinished)	unsigned	undated
Landscape with city on mountain and two people in the foreground	WS	undated
Landscape study	unsigned	undated
Salzschlirf village interior	unsigned	undated
Frankenberg	W. Schl.	undated
Forest interior	W. Schl.	undated
Child portrait: Hans-Hermann Kreuels	W. Schl.	undated
Child portrait: Annele with doll Lisa	unsigned	undated
Child portrait: pencil sketch of Annele with doll	unsigned	undated
Gypsy camp on the Weser with horses, wagons, men and women	W. Schliephacke	undated
Gypsy camp with horses, wagon and woman (unfinished)	unsigned	undated
Cow and horse pasture	W. Schl.	undated
Lake landscape with Kugelsburg and various people in front of it (unfinished)	unsigned	undated
Portrait: Grete sitting in the armchair with a book (cut out)	unsigned	undated
Portrait: Lotte or Trude (cut out)	unsigned	undated
Amanda resting with her basket and apples	unsigned	undated
Forest lake with nymphs	unsigned	undated
Winter landscape with city and tour company at the lake (unfinished)	unsigned	undated
Village landscape with a farmer and calf	W. Schl.	undated
Apostle figure	unsigned	undated
Forest heart with ranger	unsigned	undated
Evening mood at the lake with fishermen	W. Schl.	undated
Two virgins picking apples with a bunny and a basket	W. Schl.	undated
Portrait: Bertha sick in bed with rose (unfinished)	unsigned	undated
Portrait: Pastor Otto Grau (the artist's son-in-law - unfinished)	unsigned	undated
Putti with apple branch (colored charcoal drawing on parchment)	crumbled	crumbled
Woodcut: Nude, ballerina and old man with a tray (hand print)	unsigned	undated
Woodcut: Couple of people on bench (colored hand print)	unsigned	undated
Woodcut: bathers with mirror (hand print)	unsigned	undated
Putto with a shawl (pencil drawing)	unsigned	undated
Landscape Dörnberg (?)	W. Schl.	undated
Portrait: Trudchen with a red bow in her loose hair, an olive green dress	unsigned	undated
Portrait: Else or Oelte with a big black hat, blue blouse and purple scarf	unsigned	undated

Web links

• Literature by and about Walter Schliephacke in the catalog of the German National Library
• A little journey through his life with Google Earth
• Another picture: "Escape in the Snow"