Wendelin Kusche

Wendelin Kusche (born April 6, 1926 in Nimptsch , Silesia , † June 4, 2003 in Bivio Montorgiali , Italy) was a German painter and art lecturer at the educational science faculty of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg . He lived and taught mainly in the Franconian area. Kusche mainly dealt with landscape and city views. However, the focus of his work is on people and their position in the world. Artistically he can be classified as the successor to Cézanne.

Childhood and youth

Wendelin Kusche was born in Nimptsch (Silesia), the son of a teacher. After attending the elementary school in Groß-Petersdorf ( Rothenburg district , Silesia) from 1932 to 1938, he was a student at the advanced school of the State Dental Schools in Bunzlau until 1944 . His talents in the artistic and sporting fields were honored in school competitions.

In the Second World War he was deployed as an air force helper and following this deployment in 1944, after the eighth grade, he received the certificate of maturity, i.e. admission to study. In the same year he was drafted into the Air Force and was taken prisoner by the Americans until 1945 . During this time, from March to October 1945, Kusche kept a war diary with 14 representations of his experiences (pencil drawings, red chalk or watercolors) in A5 format.

education and study

Wendelin Kusche began his artistic training in 1946 in Munich at the Academy of Fine Arts under Joseph Oberberger and Franz Xaver Fuhr , where he studied drawing and painting. Several times, Kush's work has been awarded prizes in the Academy's Christmas competitions.

In the years after his studies he worked as a freelance artist.

In 1957, Kusche completed a year-long training as a factory teacher, also in Munich.

In 1960 Kusche moved to Franconia, where the order situation was favorable for him.

Painting technique, art-historical classification

Kusch's preferred techniques were oil painting, watercolor and the full range of (print) graphics . In addition, Kusche used an abundance of techniques in the field of applied arts such as fresco painting , mosaic , sgraffito , encaustic , metal and woodwork and picture knitting .

The composition of colors and shapes was important to Kusche, and he borrowed from his model Paul Paul Cézanne . The "modulation" of light and dark, luminous and matt colors and tones replaced the play with light and shadow and creates its own color-effective composition . Unlike later in abstract painting, however, Kusche did not completely dissolve the objects, but instead revealed frame structures that give the viewer clues for interpretation and recognition. Kusche always left his works uncommented and did not commit himself to the various perspectives on his paintings.

Kusche understood his work as "autobiographical". However, he avoided private information and instead raised his statements to a meta level . Artistic innovation counted for him on a formal level rather than on a content level. It tried to win an unused page from known motifs: “ Each motif can be imagined in its own implementation, (...) in a 'how' that is unmistakable with previously known painter manuscripts. "

Wendelin Kusche has a certain special position in art history in the post-war period. Unlike the mainstream, he did not turn to abstract painting or New Objectivity . Artistically he was swimming against the current, as it were, because his painting style was always oriented towards the representational, even if a certain amount of abstraction is visible in his paintings and watercolors.

Teaching

Wendelin Kusche worked as a lecturer for drawing and painting at the adult education center in Erlangen from 1962–72, was a specialist teacher for drawing and painting at the grammar school Ebermannstadt and specialist teacher for drawing, painting and handicrafts at the State Institute for the training of specialist teachers in Nuremberg .

From the summer semester, Wendelin Kusche taught at the Nuremberg University of Education. In the winter semester 1972/73 he was employed “as a salaried teacher in the sub-area of ​​works in the field of art education including the didactics of lessons in drawing and handicrafts”, after which he gave up his activities at the grammar school in Ebermannstadt and at the adult education center for reasons of time.

In 1978 Kusche was promoted from handicrafts teacher to art teacher and held this position until his retirement on April 30, 1991.

Wendelin Kusche gave lectures and exercises at the University of Erlangen, sometimes in combination, in the field of art and handicraft education. His courses covered the areas of textile design, wood and metal design in elementary and secondary school, glass processing, design with plastic, design of carpets, mosaics and jewelry made of wood and metal, weaving techniques, model and musical instrument making, graphic display methods, decorative design, decorative Aesthetics, representational drawing, drawing according to nature, figurative composition, painting in front of nature, head and figure drawing, painting and drawing of still lifes, life drawing, watercolor painting, stage design, drawing in the zoo, font design, design laws in the pictorial to the correct use of Material and tools with accident prevention. In addition, Kusche taught didactic subjects such as methodology of group work, didactics of handicraft lessons, work form assessment, diagnosis of failures in work forms. Kusche gave lectures on two art-theoretical topics: "The design requirements in the visual field" and "The causes of kitsch and their consequences".

Last years of life

Wendelin Kusche moved with his wife, Sonja Gabriel-Kusche, to Bivio Montorgiali in Tuscany / Italy, where he died on June 4, 2003.

Work

Works owned by the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

Wendelin Kusche made portraits of Erlangen scientists, for example of the rectors Bernhard Ilschner and Nikolaus Fiebiger , as well as of professors from the surgical clinic, and wall decorations in individual university buildings.

The best-known public works in Erlangen include the glass mosaics in the student dormitory on Raumerstraße and copper spinning work in the EWF in Nuremberg and in the Auditorium maximum in Erlangen.

Under Kush's guidance, his students worked with him on a copper relief on the subject of "University" in the Philosophical Faculty. In addition, several tapestries were created in Erlangen and Nuremberg and a wall frieze in the Erlangen Dental Clinic. The university owns a variety of watercolors , ink drawings, lithographs , some oil paintings, and several works in book art .

For several years, Kusche designed the posters and invitation cards for the palace garden festival at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Together with students, Kusche designed tapestries made of sisal and wool , which are now in the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and in schools in the area. The textile work was mostly the result of the exercise for Kush's lecture "Methodology of Group Work in Artistic Design", which he held since 1974 and repeated at regular intervals.

Public Works

• Erlangen: Wall mosaic in the Michael-Poeschke-Schule, honor board for Emmy Noether in the high school of the same name
• Lilling near Graefenberg: the chapel was painted from 1969 to 1970
• Pretzfeld : copper walls in a school on the subject of "Professions" and "The Cherry Festival"
• Ebermannstadt : glass mosaic for the swimming pool; an enamel work in concrete for the Ebermannstadt elementary school
• Effeltrich : Mosaic for the school in Effeltrich in the stairwell (subject: the halves of the earth) and a wall painting in the break hall (subject: the pageant)
• Uttenreuth : mosaic for the church
• Spardorf : Glass inlay for the elementary school
• Neunkirchen am Brand : wall painting in the Hemmerleinhalle
• Großgründlach near Nuremberg: copper door on the subject of "fairy tales" in cooperation with the fourth grade primary school students
• Forchheim-Reuth : mural on the gable wall of the elementary school with scenes of rural life

Other works

• 1951: lifelike botanical drawings for the non-fiction book "The Weeds of the Garden" by Otto Schleissing
• 1967: Illustration of the play "Eurydice" by Klaus Peter Dencker
• 1980: 22 large-format watercolors on the subject of Sri Lanka
• 1989: Illustrations for Godehard Schramm's work “Fränkischer Orientexpress. Journey with Friedrich Rückert ”.

Exhibitions

In Germany

• Regular participation in the "Winter Exhibition of Franconian Artists" of the Erlangen Art Association in the water room of the Orangery and exhibitions in the Erlangen Art Room in 1963 and 1968
• Several exhibitions in Nuremberg: 1952, 1956, 1960, 1965, 1978, 1981, 1989
• In the Franconian area: Bamberg 1965, Bayreuth 1975, Wunsiedel 1979
• In the Federal Republic: Bonn 1974 and Baden-Baden 1988

International exhibitions

• 1963: Stockholm, group exhibition with other Erlangen artists
• 1971: Cape Town, South Africa
• 1974: Le Perreux-sur-Marne, France: For his contribution to the exhibition “La Palette du Val-de-Marne” he receives the city's gold medal
• 1984: Paris, France

Retrospective

• June 21 - July 8, 2012: Exhibition ( exhibition opening Wendelin Kusche, June 20, 2012 ) in the renovated orangery in Erlangen.

swell

1. ↑ Gabriel-Kusche, Sonja: Lovers always go in the opposite direction - Wendelin Kusche's allegories between escape from the world and celebration of existence. In: Dickel, Hans (Ed.): Wendelin Kusche - Die Moderne in Franken, Erlangen 2012, p. 30
2. ↑ Comune di Scansano: Wendelin Kusche. Retrieved January 20, 2020 . 
3. ^ Michael Poeschke Elementary School Erlangen: Website. Retrieved January 20, 2020 . 
4. ^ Emmy-Noether-Gymnasium: Website. Retrieved January 20, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated February 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ http://www.nordbayern.de/region/forchheim/mit-kusche-gemalde-die-heimat-erforscht-1.545275
7. ↑ http://www.raibank.de/etc/medialib/i240m0258/pdfs.Par.0038.File.tmp/VS%20Effeltrich.pdf  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically defective marked. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ http://www.st-kunigunde.de/kirche/Kuenstler/Kusche.html
9. ↑ http://www.nordbayern.de/region/forchheim/wendelin-kusches-wandbild-ist-rettenswert-1.959142
10. ↑ Wendelin Kusche - Die Moderne in Franken ( Memento of the original from June 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.