Winand Victor

Self-portrait 1976

Winand Anton Maria Victor , in short: Winand Victor (born January 13, 1918 in Schaesberg near Aachen, † April 27, 2014 in Reutlingen ) was a German painter and graphic artist who also created colored glass concrete windows and designs for tapestries in the post-war years. The transition from representational to more abstract painting is fluid in his work. Materials and techniques are diverse.

life and work

The painter (with full name Winand Anton Maria Victor ) was born as the fourth of seven children to Winand Victor senior, mechanical engineer from Aachen who worked for a mining company in Schaesberg, the Netherlands. Growing up in a music and art loving family, he took part in courses at the Aachen School of Applied Arts as a high school student and received private lessons from the painter Josef Mataré . After graduating from high school in 1937, he began studying at the Düsseldorf Art Academy . His teacher was Martin Paatz .

From 1940 to 1945 he experienced the horrors of the war as a soldier from Yugoslavia to Stalingrad. After a short Soviet captivity, he returned to his parents in autumn 1945, who ended up in his mother's homeland in southern Baden. In 1948 he joins the artist community that the painter Paul Kälberer founded in the former Bernstein monastery on the upper Neckar. There he met the woodcarver Liselotte Vohdin , whom he married in 1949 and with whom he moved to her parents' house in Reutlingen. They have two daughters, Marion and Winni, to whom their father dedicates a series of pictures.

Victor sets up a studio in the garden of his in-laws. Here there are meetings of painters, writers and musicians who feel connected to one another through the awareness of the past disaster of war and Nazi rule. A friendship develops with the writer Günter Bruno Fuchs , who temporarily lives in Reutlingen , which continues after his return to his hometown Berlin. In the studio, leaflet-like magazines are published, the best-known of which, " telegramme " (1954–1958), leads to the designation of the circle of artists as the " telegram group ". In 1956, the Mitteldeutschen Verlag, Halle / Saale, published the volume "Fenster und Weg", which contains poems by group members Günter Bruno Fuchs, Richard Salis and Dietrich Kirsch and monotypes by Winand Victor. Also in 1956 Victor and his friends organized an exhibition in Munich, in 1956 and 1957 they took part in exhibitions in Bayreuth.

In the early years of Reutlingen , Victor earned his living mainly through commissioned work - carpet designs and, in particular, glass concrete windows for sacred buildings. In paintings and graphic works of the time, the experience of war and post-war misery is immediately present. This is clearly shown by the figure of the one-legged war veteran in the paintings “Arrival in front of the city” (1956), “The poor minstrel” (1958) and “Pan in the backyard” (1957). However, a musical instrument held in the hand appears like a reference to an indestructible need for beauty and art.

As varied as Winand Victor's oeuvre developed, two dominant subjects of the early years, the human being and the city, will recur in a changing design, also in combination and preferably in entire cycles. In 1972 the portfolio “Eleven Cities”, color etchings of the imaginatively varied city maps of large cities in which human history has crystallized; In 1977 the portfolio “O Firenze” was published, 15 sheets on the basis of offset lithos, which focus on the endangered masterpieces of the Renaissance city; City views painted in large format in the 1980s with fragile-looking glass fronts and mute passers-by; in the 1990s the watercolor sequence “Veneta”, beautifully colored elevations of the sunken city of myths Vineta . Some of the pictures reveal a reference to cities with which Victor was familiar - Florence, which he got to know during a study visit in 1973, Berlin and Bremen, where his pictures were exhibited and sold in galleries early on, and last but not least his adopted home Reutlingen.

Of the pictures that focus exclusively on people, the few in which the artist portrayed himself should be mentioned, the earliest a pencil drawing from the war period, the last an oil painting from 2006; also the sensitive representations of his wife (Liselotte, 1978) and his poet friend (In Memoriam GB Fuchs, 1977), painted with acrylic on paper glued on; finally, going allegorically into the abstract, the networked person in the triptych “Networking” (1997) and, on a black background, but between rainbow colors, “The Return of Man” (2011).

In the 1960s and 1970s in particular, in addition to the images inspired by perceivable reality, there were also those that could be assigned to abstract rather than representational painting. They do not seem to have their origin in an idea, but rather develop from the structuring of materials, be it the application of paint or - like a collage - integrated particles from everyday life. The interpreter Rainer Zerbst speaks of "material layers". And yet not only picture titles (often formulated by people close to Victor), but also recognizable figurations, suggest phenomena of nature, in particular geological-mineral aspects and flowers. The six etchings “Traces and Finds” (1967) are reminiscent of fossils found in the Swabian Alb, and the paintings “Genesis I” (1965) and “Breakthrough” (1965) of glimpses beneath the earth's crust; the paintings “Triebblumen” (1962), “Blaue Bud” (1970), “Gelbblühend” (1976) and “Bleeding Chalice” (1977) are reminiscent of flowers. Even in the painting “Requiem for a Friend” (1995), which is dedicated to the late writer and radio editor Willy Leygraf , the abstract floral motif can be seen.

Since the 1990s, pictures have been created as pure color compositions, independent of the perceptible world such as sound sequences. Indeed, they have inspired a number of musical compositions. At the same time, Victor begins to paint a rich series of expansive pictures that open up large-format cosmic spaces as in “Dunkle Weite VII” (2000) or both large and small-format centered around solar structures as in the cycle “Sonnengesang” (2008/09 ). In one of these cosmic visions (on a black background a net-like blue network swings, as it were, over the illuminated curve of the blue planet), the title “Farewell” (2008) testifies to personal concern: a threatening attack of weakness had reminded the 85-year-old of his own mortality. Victor was artistically active until shortly before his death. When he could no longer stand in front of the easel, he made small-format collages and paper cuttings from colored paper.

If one looks at the long life of the painter Winand Victor, one notices on the one hand the existence-shaking onset of the war in his memorable early years, on the other hand the outwardly calm course of time as an independent artist. What was important to him during this time, besides his art, were family and friendships. While writers have been close to him since the “telegramm group” (apart from the aforementioned poet Kurt Leonhard and the novelist Martin Gregor-Dellin), musicians have joined the group since his pictures began to become more abstract. One of the first was Michael Töpel from Bremen, who composes on "traces and finds" and refers to the painted city views. Several compositions each come from the Reutlingen composer Karl Michael Komma and his students. Komma, who became a friend of the later years, arranged a performance in Reutlingen in 1996 of pieces of music that he himself, four colleagues and one colleague had created for the “Veneta” cycle. For him, the pictures of the painter, who came from a music-gifted family, had an “affinity for the sound”.

Artistic importance

In 2006 Winand Victor received the Maria Ensle Prize from the Baden-Württemberg Art Foundation , which honors older artists "whose work has not always received the supra-regional recognition that corresponds to its quality." The laudation from art historian Karin said von Maur : "The artist's sixty-year life's work shows astonishing metamorphoses that make up his creative wealth." But it is also these metamorphoses that show that the painter Winand Victor went his own way and that his work is difficult to classify in terms of art history.  

The fact that the artistic importance of the painter and graphic artist Winand Victor has nonetheless been recognized is demonstrated not only by private collections from Munich to Hamburg and Berlin, but also by large public collections from the Albertina in Vienna to the Leipzig German Library and from the Stuttgart State Gallery to the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin .

One of those who felt attracted to Winand Victor's pictures at an early age, the writer Martin Gregor-Dellin , wrote about them: “For me they are biographically authenticated, and that may be the secret of their effect: their human truth.” What Gregor- Dellin calls it “biographical authentication”, which is evident from all the diversity of Victor's work in one continuous characteristic: the destructive and wreaking calamity of the war to which the young painter was exposed sensitized him to breaks, damage and dangers and has traces of it left in his pictures. While this trait emerges directly in the depictions of crippled people and destroyed or desolate cities during the post-war years, it appears more indirectly in the later city views in the fragility of the large glass fronts and the loneliness and isolation of the city dwellers who appear. In the pictures, which tend towards abstraction, the cracks and breaks in the rock-like figurations and the delicacy of the floral figurations prompted the poet Kurt Leonhard to speak of "pictures of the suffering earth". Finally, in the cosmic visions, the blackness of the seemingly infinite depicted space has something life-threatening about it.  

But the signs of breaks, damage or hazards always appear in pictures, which also convey a feeling of beauty. In the early key picture “Arrival in front of the city” this is not only done by the wind instrument in the hand of the one-legged man, but also by the fact that the configuration shown is clearly reminiscent of the beautiful Renaissance painting “The Thunderstorm” by Giorgione. In the portfolio “O Firenze” it is the famous Renaissance works of Florence that are shown in their modern dangers. And in the cosmic images there is not only the black threat of infinite space, but also the warm glow of the red ball of the sun. The title of Victor's cycle “Canticle of the Sun” also quotes the hymn of praise of St. Francis.

Perhaps the importance of Victor's work lies in the fact that it preserves some of the life-enriching beauty that has been celebrated by European art since the Renaissance, but at the same time makes one aware of the dangers to which it is exposed in our time. She succeeds in both figurative and abstractly designed pictures.  

Works (selection)

A first, incomplete catalog raisonné comes from Willy Leygraf (in: W. Victor: Pictures. Stuttgart 1983. pp. 127–142), a revised and expanded one by Rainer Zerbst (in: W. Victor: Dem Leben auf der Spur. Munich 1998 . Pp. 129–143), a further addition, which also includes glass concrete windows and carpets, by daughter Winni Victor (unpublished).

• 1951 Marion (oil on cardboard) 43 × 36 cm
• 1959 I reach the door handle / Winni (oil on hardboard) 84 × 62 cm
• 1956 Arrival in front of the city (oil on hardboard) 70 × 83 cm, private collection
• 1958 The poor minstrel (oil on hardboard) 82.5 × 99 cm, Reutlingen Art Museum
• 1958 Child in front of the Wall (oil on hardboard) 68 × 97 cm, Albstadt Art Museum
• 1959 Zitzenstadt (oil and varnish on hardboard) 87 × 112 cm, private collection
• 1962 Triebblumen (oil on wooden panel) 72 × 72 cm,
• 1962 Manna (acrylic on wood) 99 × 119 cm, Albstadt Art Museum
• 1963 Bartholomäus (oil on canvas) 80 × 65 cm, private collection
• 1965 Genesis I (mixed media on wood) 135 × 180 cm, Reutlingen Art Museum
• 1967 Traces and Finds (6 etchings) Sheet size: 60 × 76.5 cm,  
• 1969 Dancing peasant couple. Hommage à Albrecht Dürer (oil on cardboard on wood) 138 × 92 cm, Albrecht Dürer House, Nuremberg
• 1972 Eleven Cities (11 color etchings) Sheet size 75 × 53 cm
• 1976 Blue Flower (acrylic on paper) 50 × 39 cm, private collection
• 1977 In Memoriam GBF (acrylic on paper on canvas) 130 × 110 cm, private collection
• 1977 O Firenze (15 sheets based on offset lithographs, 1-7 colors) sheet size 60 × 47 cm
• 1978 Liselotte (acrylic on paper on canvas) 110 × 130 cm
• 1981 Waiting (acrylic on paper on wood) 96 × 130 cm, private collection
• 1982 Gegenwelt (6 etchings) sheet size 50 × 38 cm
• 1984 Joachimstaler Straße (oil on wood) 91 × 134 cm, private collection
• 1984 Nebel an der Tauentzien (oil on wood) 108 × 137 cm, private collection
• 1987 Even in the revolving door (oil on wood) 130 × 182 cm, Reutlingen City Library
• 1988 Via Condotti (oil on wood) 93 × 135 cm
• 1989 Demo II (mixed media on wood) 129 × 111 cm, private collection
• 1989 Escape through the desert (oil on wood) 130 × 91 cm
• 1990 Transparent II (oil on wood) 123 × 83.5 cm
• 1991 Veneta I and V (watercolor on paper) 30 × 36 cm and 49 × 36 cm, Kunstmuseum Albstadt
• 1992 Veneta XX (watercolor on paper) 60 × 46.5 cm
• 1995 Requiem for a friend (oil on wood) 183 × 135 cm, private collection
• 1996 Triptych (oil and plucking on wood) 150 × 400 cm, City of Reutlingen
• 1997 Networking (oil on wood, oil on canvas) 140 × 91 cm, 140 × 91 cm, Groz-Beckert, Albstadt
• 2000 Dark Width VII (oil on canvas on wood) 149 × 109 cm
• 2003 Farewell (oil on canvas) 150 × 220 cm
• 2006 Self-portrait (oil on canvas) 150 × 116 cm, private property
• 2007 Sun II (oil on canvas) 150 × 130 cm
• 2008/09 Canticle of the Sun
• 2011 The return of man (oil and gold leaf on canvas) 150 × 180 cm

Works in public collections and buildings

• Art MuseumAlbstadt
• Glatt, culture and museum center Schloss Glatt
• Reutlingen (art museum, city library, district office, clinic)
• State Gallery Stuttgart
• Stuttgart Art Museum
• Kupferstichkabinett Berlin
• Albertina Vienna
• Albrecht Dürer House, Nuremberg
• Göttweig Monastery

Victor had his first solo exhibition in Reutlingen in 1951 and his second one in 1956; further exhibitions followed, most recently sales exhibitions in the gallery of Reinhold Maas, who has paintings by the artist on commission.

Foreign solo exhibitions a. a. in:

• 1959 Nierendorf Gallery, Berlin
• 1960 Milan
• 1961 Zurich, Stuttgart, Munich
• 1968 Vienna, Linz, Paris
• 1973 Florence (Villa Romana), Bremen, Berlin
• 1976 Frankfurt
• 1978/79 Albstadt, Municipal Gallery
• 1979 Berlin
• 1986 Basel, Frankfurt
• 1990 Aarau, Wetzlar, Giessen
• 1993 Albstadt, municipal gallery
• 1999 Reutlingen (retrospective)
• 2003 Bremen
• 2006 Stuttgart ("One work in six decades")
• 2008 Mochental Castle
• 2014 Glatt Castle and Reutlingen ("Painting and Graphics")

Honors

• 2006 Awarded the Maria Ensle Prize by the Baden-Württemberg Art Foundation
• 2008 Award of the Citizen Medal in Gold by the City of Reutlingen
• 2013 Award of the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon

Exhibition catalogs

• 1965 Reutlingen, (Texts: Kurt Leonhard, Wilhelm Boeck)
• 1973 Berlin, gallery in the Schinkelsaal (texts: Kurt Fassmann, Günter Bruno Fuchs, Kurt Leonhard)
• 1978 Albstadt, Publications of the Städtische Galerie Albstadt, No. 14/1978 (Texts: Alfred Hagenlocher, Willy Leygraf)
• 1990 Aarau / Reutlingen, cityscapes (Willy Leygraf, Adolf Smitmans, Friedhelm Häring)
• 1993 Albstadt, Publications of the Städtische Galerie Albstadt, No. 82/1993 (Texts: Christoph Bauer, Kurt Leonhard, Michael Töpel, Rainer Zerbst)
• 1996 Reutlingen City Library, music for a picture (Text: Karl Michael Komma)
• 2014 Rottweil / Reutlingen, Winand Victor, painting and graphics (text: rainer Zerbst)

literature

• Otto Paul Burkhardt / Wolfgang Alber : Sun, light and glowing colors. The stained glass windows of Winand Victor and the listed building. In: Schwäbische Heimat 64 (2013). Pp. 24-30
• Eva-Maria Froitzheim u. a. (Ed.): The Bernstein School 1946 - 1951. Hausen ob Verena 1995
• Günter Bruno Fuchs / Winand Victor: I can reach the door handle. Bremen: Hauschild 1985
• Klaus Lankheit. An artist sees Florence. In: Jürgen H. Ecker (Ed.): Handbook for the graphics buyer. Homburg / Saar 1985. pp. 40-47
• Kurt Leonhard: To the picture weaving of the painter Winand Victor. In: Art and the beautiful home. 12 (1966). Pp. 518-521
• Willy Leygraf: Traces and Finds - the painter Winand Victor. In: Schwäbische Heimat 27 (1976). Pp. 202-206
• Veronika Mertens: ... and the only second world in this one. In: Testamentum. The donation by Ruth and Karlheinz Brucker, Albstadt 2014 (publications by Galerie Albstadt No. 168/2014), pp. 14–21
• Veronika Mertens: Winand Victor - Eleven Cities 1973. In: Masterpieces in a row! From the Walther Groz Collection Foundation, Albstadt 2017 (publications by the Albstadt Art Museum, no. 172/2017), pp. 74–79
• Dietrich Segebrecht: Profession “bricklayer, now writer.” Günter Bruno Fuchs in Reutlingen 1952 - 1958. Traces 17. Marbach 1992
• Reinbert Tabbert: The circle of artists around Winand Victor. A documentation. In: Schwäbische Heimat 54 (2003), H. 3. P. 320–329
• Reinbert Tabbert: On the beauty and vulnerability of cities. Pictures of Winand Victors 1954 - 2001. In: Scheidewege 34 (2004/2005). Pp. 193-211
• Reinbert Tabbert: Winand Victor - painter in Reutlingen. In: Reutlinger Geschichtsblätter 46 (2007). Pp. 237-264
• Michael Töpel: Three movements for piano. Lilienthal / Bremen undated
• Winand Victor: Pictures. Stuttgart: Edition Cantz 1983 (art book. Texts: Martin Gregor-Dellin and Willy Leygraf)
• Winand Victor: On the trail of life. Munich: Hirmer 1998 (art book. Text: Rainer Zerbst)
• Winni Victor / Christoph Dohse (eds.): Winand Victor. O Firenze. Reutlingen 2013 (reproduced sketchbook. Text: Hansdieter Werner)
• Rainer Zerbst: In search of the truth - Winand Victor on his 90th birthday. In: Schwäbische Heimat 59 (2008). Pp. 24-28
• Eva-Maria Froitzheim u. a. (Ed.): The Bernstein School 1946 - 1951. Hausen ob Verena 1995
• Reproduced with texts by GB Fuchs in: GB Fuchs / Winand Victor: I can reach the door handle. Bremen: Hauschild 1985
• Reinbert Tabbert: The circle of artists around Winand Victor. A documentation. In: Schwäbische Heimat 54 (2003), H. 3.S. 320-329
• Dietrich Segebrecht : Profession “bricklayer, now writer”. Günter Bruno Fuchs in Reutlingen 1952 - 1958. Traces 17. Marbach 1992
• Kurt Leonhard: To the picture weaving of the painter Winand Victor. In: The art and the beautiful home 12 (1966). Pp. 518-521. - Otto Paul Burkhardt / Wolfgang Alber: Sun, light and glowing colors. The stained glass windows of Winand Victor and the listed building. In: Schwäbische Heimat 64 (2013). Pp. 24-30
• Reinbert Tabbert: On the beauty and vulnerability of cities: Winand Victors pictures 1954 - 2001. In: Scheidewege 34 (2004/2005). Pp. 193-211. - Rainer Zerbst: Winand Victor: Cities and People. In: Winand Victor: Painting and Graphics. Rottweil 2014. pp. 7–16 (catalog)
• Klaus Lankheit: an artist sees Florence. In: Jürgen H. Ecker (Ed.): Handbook for the graphics buyer. Homburg / Saar 1985. pp. 40-47
• Winand Victor: Cityscapes. Reutlingen 1990 (catalog)
• Winni Victor / Christoph Dohse (eds.): Winand Victor: O Firenze. Reutlingen 2013 (reproduced sketchbook)
• Reinbert Tabbert: Winand Victor - painter in Reutlingen. In: Reutlinger Geschichtsblätter 46 (2007). Pp. 237-240
• Rainer Zerbst in: Winand Victor: On the trail of life. Munich: Hirmer 1998. p. 53
• Willy Leygraf: Traces and Finds - the painter Winand Victor. In: Schwäbische Heimat 27 (1976). Pp. 202-206
• Tabbert (note 10), p. 260
• Michael Töpel: Three movements for piano. Lilienthal / Bremen undated
• Reutlingen City Library (Hrsg.): Music for a picture. Music to pictures by Winand Victor. Introduction by Karl Michael Komma. Reutlingen 1996
• Ibid., P. 9
• Quoted in Tabbert (note 10), p. 263
• Ibid.
• Martin Gregor-Dellin in: Winand Victor: Pictures. Stuttgart: Edition Cantz 1983. p. 5
• Tabbert (note 10), pp. 248–250
• Quoted from Willy Leygraf ibid., P. 54

Web links

• www.winand-victor.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ Eva-Maria Froitzheim u. a. (Ed.): The Bernstein School 1946–1951. Hausen ob Verena 1995
2. ↑ Reproduced with texts by GB Fuchs in: GB Fuchs / Winand Victor: I can reach the door handle. Bremen: Hauschild 1985
3. ↑ Reinbert Tabbert : The circle of artists around Winand Victor. A documentation. In: Schwäbische Heimat 54 (2003), H. 3.S. 320-329
4. ^ Dietrich Segebrecht: Profession "bricklayer, now writer". Günter Bruno Fuchs in Reutlingen 1952–1958. Traces 17. Marbach 1992
5. ^ Kurt Leonhard: To the picture weaving of the painter Winand Victor. In: The art and the beautiful home 12 (1966). Pp. 518-521. - Otto Paul Burkhardt / Wolfgang Alber: Sun, light and glowing colors. The stained glass windows of Winand Victor and the listed building. In: Schwäbische Heimat 64 (2013). Pp. 24-30
6. ↑ Reinbert Tabbert: On the beauty and vulnerability of cities: Winand Victors pictures 1954-2001. In: Scheidewege 34 (2004/2005). Pp. 193-211. - Rainer Zerbst: Winand Victor: Cities and People. In: Winand Victor: Painting and Graphics. Rottweil 2014. pp. 7–16 (catalog)
7. ^ Klaus Lankheit : an artist sees Florence. In: Jürgen H. Ecker (Ed.): Handbook for the graphics buyer. Homburg / Saar 1985. pp. 40-47
8. ^ Winand Victor: Cityscapes. Reutlingen 1990 (catalog)
9. ^ Winni Victor / Christoph Dohse (eds.): Winand Victor: O Firenze. Reutlingen 2013 (reproduced sketchbook)
10. ^ Reinbert Tabbert: Winand Victor - painter in Reutlingen. In: Reutlinger Geschichtsblätter 46 (2007). Pp. 237-240
11. ^ Rainer Zerbst in: Winand Victor: On the trail of life. Munich: Hirmer 1998. p. 53
12. ↑ Willy Leygraf: Traces and Finds - the painter Winand Victor. In: Schwäbische Heimat 27 (1976). Pp. 202-206
13. ↑ Tabbert (note 10), p. 260
14. ↑ Michael Töpel: Three movements for piano. Lilienthal / Bremen undated
15. ^ Reutlingen City Library (Ed.): Music for a picture. Music to pictures by Winand Victor. Introduction by Karl Michael Komma. Reutlingen 1996
16. ↑ Ibid., P. 9
17. ↑ Quotation in Tabbert (note 10), p. 263
18. ↑ ibid.
19. ↑ Martin Gregor-Dellin in: Winand Victor: Pictures. Stuttgart: Edition Cantz 1983. p. 5
20. ↑ Tabbert (note 10), pp. 248–250
21. ↑ Quotation from Willy Leygraf ibid., P. 54