Walther Hoeck

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Walther Hoeck (born June 13, 1885 in Holzminden ; † February 12, 1956 in Eglofs im Allgäu ) was a German painter .

Life

From 1902 to 1903 Hoeck attended the art school in Munich , and then continued to study at the Berlin Academy until 1908 . There was, among others, Lovis Corinth one of his teachers. From 1907 to 1909 he also attended the Munich Academy to learn sculpture from Adolf von Hildebrand . Between 1911 and 1914 Hoeck was back in Berlin, among others with Friedrich Kallmorgen and Arnold Waldschmidt . From 1914 to 1918 he took part in the First World War and was most recently a reserve officer.

In 1920 he moved to Braunschweig , where he worked as a freelance artist until 1955. In the 1920s, Hoeck was a member of the city's association of free visual artists.

Activity during the time of National Socialism

In January 1932 he joined the NSDAP and was from 1933 to 1934 chairman of the Reichskartel der Bildenden Künste , district group Braunschweig. In 1935 he became a member of the Council of the City of Braunschweig and a representative of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts of the Lower Saxony state office. He was not a follower, but an artist well known beyond Braunschweig as well as an avowed and politically active member of the NSDAP.

Between 1937 and 1940 Hoeck took part in numerous so-called Gau art exhibitions shaped by the National Socialist idea of ​​art, in "traveling exhibitions of German art", in annual exhibitions of the Braunschweiger Künstlerbund as well as in the great German art exhibitions in Munich.

Second World War

During the Second World War he was a so-called “artist in action”, ie he made works of art in the National Socialist sense . His works from this period reflect the National Socialist image of man or ideology. Hoeck was a "producer" of National Socialist propaganda art; thus his works show, among other things, war-glorifying and heroic depictions of battle scenes and soldiers' lives. In 1942 he received the art prize newly created by the National Socialists from the city ​​of Braunschweig in recognition of his drawing “March through France”, which shows a marching group of eight Wehrmacht soldiers.

In the final phase of the war 1944/45 Hoeck came as a reserve officer and leader of a popular storm - battalion was used, and it should be said to fall in Braunschweig in conflict with the Nazi leadership and because of insubordination (to which the death penalty was) was detained. However, when American troops marched into the city, he was able to escape from prison.

post war period

Hoeck stayed in Braunschweig after the war and continued to work as a painter. In 1948 he was denazified . Before moving to Eglofs with his wife in 1954, he burned many of his works in the garden of his Lehndorfer house.

Selected Works

"Young Germany"

In 1935 one of Hoeck's most famous works was created, the mural “The Young Germany”, which was created for the then Braunschweig main station . Since it was destroyed together with large parts of the station in World War II and documents are no longer available or at least lost, estimates assume that the picture was about 4.60 m wide and 3 m high. It depicts, in clear Nazi symbols, a larger than life, naked young man who, standing in the foreground, holds a waving swastika flag , while a white horse rears up behind him (see Sachsenross ) and SA troops march further back .

"Burning Braunschweig"

Burning Braunschweig
Walther Hoeck , 1944
Oil on canvas
124.5 cm (max.) × 204.4 cm (max.) Cm
Braunschweigische Landessparkasse , Braunschweig

Link to the picture
(please note copyrights )

Also particularly well-known is Hoeck's picture “The Burning Braunschweig”, which depicts the burning Braunschweig after the bombing of October 15, 1944 , which destroyed around 90% of the historic city center. Hoeck witnessed this attack himself or saw it from his former home in Lehndorf , a district of Braunschweig.

At least seven slightly different versions of this painting existed, they are all undated and in all likelihood were made between the end of October 1944 and probably 1946. The largest of these pictures, measuring 124.5 × 204.4 cm, is now in the possession of NORD / LB Braunschweig. The smallest is about half the size and privately owned.

All of the paintings depict the consequences of the devastating attack by the Royal Air Force (RAF) on Braunschweig on October 15, 1944. All of them show the blazing silhouette of Braunschweig when viewed from a great distance, but none of the pictures show people or animals. Hoeck staged the fire as an apocalyptic inferno, a tremendous catastrophe that developed its own aesthetic through its destructive power. In the sea of ​​flames shown, only a few, but characteristic points of reference and identification of the city can be seen, including the towers of St. Andrew's Church and the cathedral (see under “Weblinks”). For many Brunswick residents, this painting still represents the epitome of the destruction of their city.

literature

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ Braunschweig Municipal Museum and University of Fine Arts (ed.): German Art 1933–1945 in Braunschweig. Art under National Socialism. Catalog of the exhibition from April 16, 2000 to July 2, 2000. Braunschweig 2000, p. 171.
  2. ↑ Braunschweig Municipal Museum and University of Fine Arts (ed.): German Art 1933–1945 in Braunschweig. Art under National Socialism. Catalog of the exhibition from April 16, 2000 to July 2, 2000. Braunschweig 2000, p. 172.
  3. ↑ Braunschweig Municipal Museum and University of Fine Arts (ed.): German Art 1933–1945 in Braunschweig. Art under National Socialism. Catalog of the exhibition from April 16, 2000 to July 2, 2000. Braunschweig 2000, p. 148
  4. ↑ a b Braunschweig City Museum and University of Fine Arts (ed.): German Art 1933–1945 in Braunschweig. Art under National Socialism. Catalog of the exhibition from April 16, 2000 to July 2, 2000. Braunschweig 2000, p. 170.
  5. ↑ Braunschweig Municipal Museum and University of Fine Arts (ed.): German Art 1933–1945 in Braunschweig. Art under National Socialism. Catalog of the exhibition from April 16, 2000 to July 2, 2000. Braunschweig 2000, p. 271.
personal data
SURNAME Hoeck, Walther
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, especially at the time of National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Holzminden
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 1956
Place of death Eglofs , Allgäu