Willi Sitte

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Willi Sitte 2007

Willi Sitte (born February 28, 1921 in Kratzau , Czechoslovakia ; † June 8, 2013 in Halle (Saale) ) was a German painter and graphic artist . For a long time he was president of the Association of Visual Artists (VBK) of the GDR .

Life

Willi Sitte grew up as the third youngest child of a German farmer, a founding member of the Czechoslovak Communist Party (KPTsch), and a Czech mother with four brothers and two sisters. His brother Rudolf Sitte was also an artist working in the GDR in the field of building-related art.

A toast after Willi Sittes (right) was awarded the Käthe Kollwitz Prize in 1968, Werner Klemke left , Kurt Schwaen in the middle
Panel painting “Rock-Singer” (reproduction) by Willi Sitte in the New Gewandhaus in Leipzig, 1981
Willi Sitte with Erich Honecker at the opening of the Xth Art Exhibition of the GDR in 1987

Sitte's talent for drawing was encouraged early on by a drawing teacher. After finishing school, he studied textile pattern drafting at the art school of the North Bohemian Trade Museum in Reichenberg from 1936 and in 1940 was recommended to the Hermann Göring Master School for Painting in Kronenburg in the Eifel . His criticism of the tasks there led to his being drafted into the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front in 1941 . There he fell ill with jaundice and was transferred to Italy after a home leave , where he deserted in 1944 and joined Italian partisans . It was there that his seven-part dance cycle Danza funebre del terzo Reich was created .

After artistic work in Milan , Vicenza and Venice , Sitte returned to Kratzau in 1946, but had to leave his home because of the expulsion of the Germans from Czechoslovakia and then lived in Halle (Saale), where he joined the SED in 1947 . In 1951 Sitte received a teaching position at the Burg Giebichenstein Art College , and in 1959 he was appointed professor there. At that time he was a representative of the rebellious, idiosyncratic art scene in Halle, which demanded independence from cultural officials. As a result, he had trouble with his party and had difficulties with his apprenticeship. At that time he was head of the textile design class, since the university was officially specialized in applied arts and design for a few years. At that time his friends included Christa Wolf , Wolf Biermann , Eva-Maria Hagen , Sarah Kirsch , Rainer Kirsch and others. From 1964 Willi Sitte got actively involved in politics, which led to the loss of some friendly contacts. As a representative of socialist realism , its official recognition grew since the late 1960s. In 1969 he was elected a full member of the German Academy of the Arts , which he was until 1991. From 1974 to 1988 he was president of the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR (VBK-DDR) and since 1976 a member of the People's Chamber .

From 1986 to 1989 he was a member of the Central Committee of the SED (Central Committee of the SED). He was listed as a "secret informator" of the State Security (Stasi) from 1965 to 1975 , but was considered "politically unreliable" and "did not take his declaration of readiness seriously".

Willi Sitte has been a member of the World Peace Council since 1985 and a corresponding member of the European Academy of Sciences, Arts and Humanities in Paris since 2001 .

This did not reduce his productivity as a painter and university lecturer. His work is determined by figurative representations, often in forms that seem almost baroque. The expressive portrayals of the body as a means of expressing social statements and political ideas often provoked the art audience. As a university lecturer, he was involved in the training of young artists, including from 1975 to 1987 as director of the visual and applied arts section of the University of Industrial Design in Halle.

Willi Sitte lived and worked in Halle and in Großjena in the association house (today: Akademie Haus Sonneck ). Alongside Werner Tübke , Bernhard Heisig and Wolfgang Mattheuer , he is considered the most important painter in the GDR. Because of his commitment to communism and his party career in the SED, his works and exhibitions occasionally sparked public discussions after reunification . In the summer of 2001, for example, a planned anniversary exhibition of the artist for his 80th birthday in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg was postponed at short notice by the board of directors because they wanted to examine Sitte's role as a GDR cultural functionary in more detail. Sitte then canceled the exhibition that had already been prepared. To this day, reviews of Sitte's works often include not only artistic aspects, but also political assessments. On the other hand, his works are still sought after by art collectors and galleries in western Germany and western Europe.

On the occasion of his 85th birthday, the Willi-Sitte-Galerie was opened in Merseburg on February 28, 2006 . This took place in the presence of the former Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Saxony-Anhalt's then Prime Minister Wolfgang Böhmer . The foundation is housed in a historic cathedral curia .

Sitte died at the age of 92 and was buried in the Gertraudenfriedhof in Halle. The funeral speech was held by the theologian and trade unionist Jürgen Weißbach.

Grave will custom, Halle (Saale)

Honors and prizes

reception

Works

Written documents from Willi Sitte are in the archive for fine arts of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum.

Sitte's main works symbolize human solidarity (such as “Flood Disaster on the Po” from 1953), denounce war (“Massacre II”, 1959) or the second class “Herr Mittelmess” (sometimes also “Dr. Mittelmess”), are directed against imperialism and fascism or boast the working class. In addition, erotic motifs such as "Atelier" and "Insight" from 1976, In Bathrobe from 1977 and "Three Graces in Vitrine" from 1982 with lush (mostly naked) women developed into his trademark.

Willi Sitte found international recognition in 1972 at the 3rd International Graphic Biennale in Florence, where he was awarded the gold medal, and when he took part in documenta 6 in Kassel in 1977.

Plant locations (selection)

Book illustrations

literature

Web links

Commons : Willi Sitte  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Controversial GDR painter: Willi Sitte is dead in: Spiegel Online , June 8, 2013.
  2. ↑ To the origin . In: Junge Welt , 2009 - Interview with Willi Sitte.
  3. ↑ Willi Sitte led by the Stasi. In: The world. June 20, 2001, accessed July 27, 2020 .
  4. ↑ see LeMO.
  5. ↑ a b http://www.mz-web.de/kultur/trauerfeier-fuer-willi-sitte-rosen-und-kerzen-zum-endung,20642198,23463746.html
  6. ^ Willi Sitte Foundation for Realistic Art
  7. ^ Naumburger Tageblatt Online
  8. ↑ GBM Human Rights Prize
  9. ↑ Fine arts in the GDR are inextricably linked with Willi Sitte
  10. ↑ Publisher information (with illustration)
personal data
SURNAME Custom, Willi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and politician (SED), MdV
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Scratching
DATE OF DEATH June 8, 2013
Place of death Halle (Saale)