Werner Mollweide

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Werner Mollweide (born June 11, 1889 in Strasbourg , † March 16, 1978 in Bodman-Ludwigshafen ) was a German painter. The Überlinger See was his adopted home and preferred motif.

Career

Early years and education

Werner Mollweide was born in Strasbourg on June 11, 1889. His father Friedrich Richard Mollweide was a classical philologist at the Strasbourg grammar school. His mother Frieda Ottilie Mollweide, née Herrmann, was the daughter of the district doctor of Breisach. She died shortly after Werner was born. He had two older siblings, and two half-siblings were added after his father's remarriage. Together with his eight years older brother Kurt, Werner grew up with his maternal grandparents in Breisach. Werner spent his high school time in Strasbourg in the old Jesuit building directly opposite the cathedral . An unsuccessful hip operation and follow-up operations severely impaired his ability to move and may have contributed to the fact that the student was intensively involved with humanities literature and was very well read. Inspired by a still life by the painter Lothar von Seebach , which he had seen as a pupil in a small art exhibition in Strasbourg, Werner Mollweide decided to turn to painting. After high school he attended the arts and crafts school in Strasbourg and was accepted into Seebachs' studio.

Lake Constance

Around 1910 Mollweide moved to Lake Constance, first to Litzelstetten, then to Ludwigshafen. His brother Kurt's family moved in 1917, towards the end of the First World War, first to Ludwigshafen, then to Konstanz. Kurt worked there as an internist and neurologist or psychiatrist at the Büdingen sanatorium and finally in 1932 he went into business for himself as a specialist in heart and nervous diseases. In Ludwigshafen, Werner Mollweide first lived in a house on the outskirts (Klein-Bodman), later known as “Kaffee Honsel”, and in the 1920s he moved into a house on the Sommerhalde. This move was probably related to his wedding: On July 12, 1921, Mollweide married the niece of his friend Baron Emil von Dungern, Stephana Kübler (September 2, 1891–1965) in Freiburg. Two sons sprang from this connection: Stephan (May 11, 1922– May 9, 1942) and Konrad (September 21, 1925– March 25, 2006). When he retired in Ludwigshafen after 1918, Professor Emil von Dungern (November 26, 1867– September 4, 1961) had achieved world fame as a serologist, bacteriologist and physiologist through his research in the field of blood groups, immunity and cancer. The doctor, who was one of the first or even the first to own a car in Ludwigshafen, had Werner Mollweide chauffeured him, who could also use the car for his own journeys. Von Dungern, who undoubtedly also acted as a patron, finally bequeathed his house at Seehalde 2, located directly on the shore, to the artist. Werner Mollweide and his family spent the last almost twenty-five years of his life here until he died on March 18, 1978.

Art and other sources of income

Werner Mollweide, who had painting as his main profession, tried to support himself and his family with other sources of income. Before the Second World War, Werner Mollweide had his own laboratory in the attic of his house in the Sommerhalde, where he produced artist paints, which he exported mainly to America. On the back of some pictures, stickers testify that he had also developed his own "Mollweide painting surface", which he secured with a patent from the Reich. These were fine particle board that served as image carriers and were specially primed. The talented, well-educated artist also worked as a druggist in his laboratory: in addition to perfume, he also produced a hair tonic called “Serna”, the name of which is derived from Sernatingen, the original name of Ludwigshafen.

engagement

Werner Mollweide also campaigned for the common good of the Ludwigshafen community. During the First World War he was obliged to organize the fair distribution of the food that had become scarce. From 1916 to 1919 he was involved in this task in the Ludwigshafen town hall. During the Third Reich he worked temporarily as a technical draftsman in the design office of the agricultural machinery works in Fahr in Stockach. Because of his unencumbered past - he was even briefly imprisoned because of his political convictions - he was temporarily appointed mayor of Ludwigshafen by the French occupying forces in April 1945 after the end of the war. The fact that, as a native of Strasbourg, he spoke excellent French, certainly played a role. Mollweide exercised the office assigned to him until the mayoral elections on September 22, 1946 - his successor was Hans Klingler - and was then active as a local council until November 13, 1948. Mollweide's commitment also applied to nature and monument protection. For more than twenty years, until the district reform in the early 1970s, he was the district commissioner for monument protection in the Stockach district.

plant

His early work with the strong, pastose colors is still influenced by the late impressionist style of the teacher Lothar von Seebach . Later, Mollweide's palette brightened noticeably, and delicate pictures of Lake Constance emerged with fine brushstrokes. From Ludwigshafen, the painter explored the surrounding landscape, which he captured in atmospheric, natural depictions. He succeeded in skillfully capturing the delightful reflections on the surface of the water and the diffuse light at different times of the day in his watercolors and paintings. Instead of taking the path of abstraction, Mollweide occupied himself intensely throughout his life with the perception of color impressions in nature and their reproduction on the painting surface: "I know today that the attraction of the Lake Constance image is not in the general coexistence of air, water, mountains, trees and shore land, but in a very specific form - and color relationship between these components. " (Quoted in: Wagner 1934,235)

Honors

Exhibitions

  • 2006: Stadtmuseum Stockach , nature and mood - the Lake Constance painter Werner Mollweide (1889–1978), catalog: Istas, Yvonne: "Nature and mood. The Lake Constance painter Werner Mollweide (1889 - 1978)", catalog for the double exhibition of the same name Stockach, Stadtmuseum im Alten Forestry Office, June 27 to September 30, 2006. Konstanz, 2006. ISBN 3-00-018657-3

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mollweide Werner - detail page - LEO-BW
  2. ↑ See: Istas, Yvonne: "Nature and mood. The Lake Constance painter Werner Mollweide (1889-1978)". Konstanz, 2006. Blurb.
  3. ↑ See : Ibid., 2.
  4. ↑ See : Ibid., 2.
  5. ↑ See : ibid. 2-3.
  6. ↑ See : Ibid., 3.
  7. ↑ See : Cover text.
personal data
SURNAME Mollweide, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH June 11, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg
DATE OF DEATH March 16, 1978
Place of death Bodman-Ludwigshafen