Walter Tanau

Walter Tanau (born November 16, 1911 in Lyck (East Prussia) , † October 19, 1971 in Kelheim ) was a painter , graphic artist and sculptor .

Life

Walter Tanau finished school around 1926 and then worked as a draftsman in the surveying office in Gumbinnen until 1929 . In 1929 he met Otto Mueller in Breslau , to whom he presented his work. Mueller took a liking to Tanau's work and Tanau received an invitation to participate in the summer seminar in Breslau and acceptance as a student at the art academy. There he attended Mueller's lectures as a guest auditor and began painting nudes . From 1932 to 1935 he studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts with Max Feldbauer , Richard Müller , Hans Hanner and Ferdinand Dorschand Professor Dietrich. During his studies he also worked as a set painter at the Semperoper . After graduating, Tanau went back to the land registry office in Gumbinnen.

In 1937 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht , with which he took part in the attack on Poland in 1939 and in the Russian campaign in 1941 . During the latter he was brought to Straubing , seriously wounded . There he met his wife Elisabeth in the hospital .

From 1941 to around 1945 Tanau worked in Hamburg as an interpreter for Russian, English and French. In 1945 he returned to Kelheim , the place of origin of his wife, which he had previously visited with her. There he painted wooden plates, made his first carvings and painted pictures of the city. He received his first orders; the production of a fresco for a landowner and the painting of a barn.

After the end of the Second World War , he continued his self-taught training and copied works by Rubens , Renoir and Monet for study purposes .

In the 1950s he developed his own style and received various public commissions from the city of Kelheim, such as the restoration of the Kraus monument and the Mittertor fresco. He sold his first paintings during the 1960s. Including the "Watercolor Danube Valley" and numerous pictures with Kelheim motifs to the Kelheim-based building contractor Ziegler. Walter Tanau died on November 19, 1971 in Kelheim.

Museums

• East Prussian State Museum, Lüneburg: 1 painting "City view of Lyck"

Auctions

• December 5, 2004, eBay, a painting
• December 16, 2004, Dorotheum (Vienna), “Art of the 20th Century”, a painting
• September 21, 2005, eBay, a painting
• 3rd / 4th November 2005, Ruef Kunstauktionen (Munich), "Modern paintings", a painting

literature

• Maximilian Halbritter: Riedenburg in the eyes of painters, 2003.
• Gerd Thumser: Walter Tanau - Painter with Passion, Munich 2000.
• Alois J. Weichslgartner: My friend Walter Tanau , in: THUMSER (2001).

Web links

• Walter Tanau