Willi Nass

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Friedrich Wilhelm (Willi) Heinrich Nass (born January 17, 1899 in Hamburg ; † February 19, 1966 there ) was a German painter and graphic artist .

Life

Before the First World War, Willi Nass trained as a businessman and did military service from the age of 18. He then worked for a health insurance company. Nass, who had already played the violin and viola as a teenager, was active musically and artistically alongside his job and trained accordingly alongside his work. In addition to attending the arts and crafts school in Altona at the age of 20, he received private lessons from Hugo Sieker and Ernst Eitner .

Until around the beginning of 1930, Nass focused on participating in an orchestra and then primarily devoted himself to painting. During the time of National Socialism , Nass' stylistic orientation was outlawed. The painter and graphic artist could therefore only work on other works of art in secret. From the military service, to which he had become in 1939, Nass returned with a serious illness in 1945 and continued to work as an artist from then on.

Willi Nass died in February 1966 in his hometown.

Works

Willi Nass created roughly equal parts of graphics as well as watercolor and oil paintings. The first works, created in the mid-1920s, correspond to the New Objectivity style . These are cool and matter-of-fact portraits that appear balanced and strict and depict the selected motifs in a plastic and constructed-artificial way.

Around 1930 Nass, inspired by the international avant-garde, made a radical change in style. Max Sauerlandt supported the artist and in 1932 gave him the opportunity to hold a highly regarded solo exhibition in his house. Nass now created the first non-representational paintings that contain graphic, cubic and highly abstract elements. He kept this style even after the end of World War II.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Wet, Willi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nass, Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH 19th February 1966
Place of death Hamburg