Werner Lichtner-Aix

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Werner Lichtner-Aix in his studio in Sérignan-du-Comtat

Werner Lichtner-Aix (born July 24, 1939 in Berlin ; † August 10, 1987 in Munich ) was a German painter and graphic artist .

The name Werner Lichtner-Aix stands for the Apollonian landscape: landscape, stripped of all accessories, exposed in its essence, radiant in color. In his pictures, the primordial nature of the earth, touched by humans, and the cosmic inviolable, through the perfect application of color and light, become a harmonizing poetry of unity.

Life

Werner Lichtner-Aix grew up in East Berlin . The external circumstances did not allow his desired training in painting . Lichtner became an engineer and trained himself in painting and graphics . In 1961 Lichtner fled from East to West Berlin in order to continue his development engineering studies there. Four years later he moved to Munich and began working as an engineer at Siemens .

In 1967 he decided to paint freely and subsequently gave up his job as an engineer at Siemens. In 1968 he married Monika Ostrop. In 1970 the commune of Sérignan-du-Comtat in the Vaucluse department sold him the ruins of a medieval house for one franc , which he and his wife expanded over the following years. From then on, he and his family spent most of the year in Provence . 1981 Resumption of construction in Sérignan. Lichtner-Aix constructed a studio house based on the concept of “ideal, sensational light”.

In 1986 Werner Lichtner-Aix fell seriously ill. Lichtner-Aix died on August 10, 1987 in his Munich studio . He found his final resting place in his studio in Sérignan-du-Comtat.

plant

The 1960s

On the occasion of a trip to Paris in the early 1960s, he saw the painting of the Fauves , a group of protest painters around Henri Matisse . He was enthusiastic, and the "savages" determined his colors in the following years.

Lichtner-Aix made his first trip to Provence in 1965. He noted:

"And I felt that I would find here what I had in me, an affinity for the colors of the landscape."

The Gypsy Festival in Les Saintes Maries de la Mer made a deep impression on him, especially the intense way of celebrating, enjoying life and the Gypsies' intense relationship with nature within a self-contained, sheltered community. As a direct result of this experience, Lichtner-Aix adopted the nickname “Aix” in 1965. From now on his pictures were no longer signed with Lichtner, but with the synonym "Aix". The sequence of images, Gypsy Festival , Camargue images and the bright images were created . The lithographic portfolio Côte d'Azur was created at the end of the 1960s .

The 1970s

From 1970 on, Lichtner-Aix spent most of the year in Provence, in Sérignan-du-Comtat. In addition to expanding his studio, the artist discovered the Provencal landscape. From now on, the main concern was the landscape and people, people as part of nature. The anecdotal of the “traveler”, like the guys on the boules pitch or the scenes of his Côte d'Azur landscapes, slowly faded into the background. The scenes were objectified, generalized, and the pure color expressed his philosophy . The collines of Sérignan, the Plan de Dieu , a plain from Mont Ventoux to Orange , were recurring motifs. Until 1976, the artist worked primarily in lithography . Its new colors were unsuitable for this technique. He started to erase . The art historian Rainer Beck wrote :

"The painterly effect he achieves with her is extraordinary and puts him in the first row of our contemporary etchers ."

In 1976 Lichtner-Aix's painting style changed. Images of calm emerged [cloud images]. The colors became more differentiated. His personally formed sense of light, his reliable color treatment, created sensitive landscape images that reflected an idealistic view of nature. Heaven, earth, light and wind are the elementary elements of his pictures. Man appears as part of nature.

The book La cuisine provençale by his wife Monique was published in 1979 by Weingarten art publisher , for which he made drawings.

The 1980s

With the increasing simplification of the pictures, their concentration on light and color, they increasingly created their wealth from an outshining, omnipresent light.

In addition Lichtner-Aix:

“I am fascinated by light. The light is most interesting where its modulation or refraction is most differentiated, nuanced - under trees. Actually static elements, such as plane trees or house walls, experience a subdued dynamic due to the constantly changing light . And since the movement of the figures and people are also in this delayed movement, this results in a consonance of the element harmony. So it is not so important to me to depict types and physiognomies , for me they are above all carriers of light. "

In 1982 Lichtner-Aix illustrated his wife's second book Knoblauch, Kräuter und Oliven , which was also published by the Weingarten art publisher.

In 1983 and 1984 Lichtner-Aix went on a bicycle tour through Morocco with French cycling veterans . The absolute secluded solitude of the desert and its colors became an experience for him. One year after the last trip to Morocco, Lichtner-Aix cycled through the Sinai again .

In addition Lichtner-Aix:

"I was able to experience the original colors of the earth in all purity in motion."

- Werner Lichtner-Aix : Lichtner-Aix. Work in the last few years.

He made descriptions of these landscapes on a 12 × 16 cm sketch pad, sometimes using the desert sand as a painting medium. As a result, large-format pigment drawings, oil paintings, watercolors and the etching series Sinai were created in the studio .

In 1987 Werner Lichtner-Aix died.

Rainer Beck said on the occasion of the funeral service:

“Despite his early death, his work shows an unusual cohesion. In his art he has found a radiant center that reaches a climax at the end of his life in the Sinai leaves: returned to the greatest elementary simplicity, the landscape shines in a harmony of unearthly light. Man becomes part of this harmony as a matter of course and comes to be one with the elements. His art always seeks the pure and untouched of a landscape or life situation, its idea untouched by humans. "

- Rainer Beck : Lichtner-Aix, work from the last few years

Werner Lichtner-Aix's work is represented by almost 200 solo exhibitions and numerous publications, including a. a film The painter Lichtner-Aix by Udo Philipp on the second German television , internationally known. He left behind a comprehensive oeuvre of oil paintings, drawings, watercolors, gouache , collages , countless sketchbooks, sculptures and 261 prints.

On the occasion of his fiftieth birthday in July 1989, the artist's family opened a museum in his studio house in Sérignan-du-Comtat, which is open to friends of his art.

Works

  • Hand drawings, etchings and painting . Edition Literat, Geneva / Cologne 1985, ISBN 3-925330-00-3 .
  • Lichtner-Aix. Painting and graphics . Introduction by Rainer Beck . Weingarten art publisher, 1983, ISBN 3-921617-77-4 .
  • Sinai. Colors of a landscape, landscape of color . Weingarten art publisher, 1986, ISBN 3-8170-2007-4 .
  • Lichtner-Aix, work from the last few years . Weingarten art publisher, 1988, ISBN 3-8170-2013-9 .
  • Werner Lichtner-Aix . Wittemann publishing house, Munich 1975, DNB 760458944 .
  • Monique Lichtner: La cuisine provencale. With pictures by Werner Lichtner-Aix. Weingarten art publisher, 1979, ISBN 3-8170-0001-4 .
  • Monique Lichtner: garlic, herbs and olives. With pictures by Werner Lichtner-Aix. Weingarten art publisher, 1982, ISBN 3-921617-66-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Lichtner-Aix: Lichtner-Aix, work of the last few years . Kunstverlag Weingarten, ISBN 3-8170-2013-9 , p. 7.
  2. ↑ Werner Lichtner-Aix: Hand drawings, etchings and painting . Edition Literat, 1985, ISBN 3-925330-00-3 , p. 5.
  3. ↑ a b c d e biography. Retrieved October 19, 2016
  4. ↑ a b Werner Lichtner-Aix: Lichtner-Aix, work of the last years . Kunstverlag Weingarten, ISBN 3-8170-2013-9 , p. 131.
  5. ↑ a b Werner Lichtner-Aix: Lichtner-Aux, work of the last few years . Kunstverlag Weingarten, ISBN 3-8170-2013-9 , p. 132.
  6. ↑ Werner Lichtner-Aix: Lichtner-Aix, work of the last few years . Kunstverlag Weingarten, ISBN 3-8170-2013-9 , p. 135.
  7. ↑ Werner Lichtner-Aix: Hand drawings, etchings and painting . Edition Literat, 1985, ISBN 3-925330-00-3 , p. 5.
  8. ↑ Werner Lichtner-Aix: Hand drawings, etchings and painting. P. 20.
  9. ↑ Werner Lichtner-Aix: Lichtner-Aix. Painting and graphics. Introduction by Rainer Beck . Kunstverlag Weingarten, 1983, ISBN 3-921617-77-4 , p. 11.
  10. ↑ Werner Lichtner-Aix, Rainer Beck: Lichtner-Aix. Painting and graphics. P. 39.
  11. ↑ Werner Lichtner-Aix: Hand drawings, etchings and painting . Edition Literat, Geneva / Cologne 1985, ISBN 3-925330-00-3 , p. 6.
  12. ↑ Werner Lichtner-Aix: Lichtner-Aix. Work in the last few years . Kunstverlag Weingarten, ISBN 3-8170-2013-9 , p. 12.
  13. ↑ Werner Lichtner-Aix: Hand drawings, etchings and painting . Edition Literat, 1985, p. 18.
personal data
SURNAME Lichtner-Aix, Werner
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lichtner, Werner (birth name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH July 24, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH August 10, 1987
Place of death Munich