Winold Reiss
Winold Reiss (born September 16, 1886 in Karlsruhe , † August 29, 1953 in New York City , New York) was a German-American portrait painter , illustrator and designer who worked in the USA in the first half of the 20th century and one had a great influence on the development of Art Deco in the United States.
biography
Reiss is the second son of the Black Forest painter Fritz Reiss (1857–1915). He got to know the world of art at a young age through his father's activities and travels. He was very familiar with portraits before he went to America with two friends in 1913. From the beginning of his stay there, he was fascinated by the Indians and the Afro-Americans .
Reiss was influenced by the Vienna Secession and Art Nouveau . This found its expression in the design of two shops on Broadway in New York for the Busy Lady Baking Company , for which he also designed the posters and packaging material, resulting in a corporate design . He founded an art magazine, Modern Art Collector , which existed from 1915 to 1918. At the same time he designed other interiors, posters and illustrated books.
Reiss only returned to Germany for a short period in 1921 and 1922 before finally settling in New York. In the 1930s, Reiss designed the Café Rumpelmayer in the newly built Hotel St. Moritz (New York) , at No. 50 Central Park S. on the east side of 6th Avenue in Manhattan .
His best-known assignment was the interior design of the Cincinnati Union Terminal , now the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal . From 1933 on, he spent two years designing two huge wall mosaics for the rotunda of the station concourse, each 6.7 m high and 33.5 m long. In these mosaics he combined his portrait art with Art Deco. These mosaics depict scenes from the history of Cincinnati. 14 smaller mosaics from the train station, each depicting the activities of various important companies from Cincinnati (e.g. Procter & Gamble ), were brought to Terminals 1, 2 and 3 of the Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport in 1973 Boone County , Kentucky , Kentucky . One reason for relocating the mosaics was the demolition of the train station in Cincinnati, 20 km to the north, and the construction of the new terminals in the airport.
Reiss' best-known book illustrations are those for the book The New Negro by Alain Locke , in which the culture of the African American in the 1920s was presented.
After his death in 1953, the Blackfeet Indians , many of whom he portrayed, scattered his ashes in their tribal area east of Glacier National Park in Montana .
Books with Reiss' illustrations
- 1918: Peter Rosegger : The Adlerwirt von Kirchbrunn , Volksbuch der Deutschen Dichter-Gedächtnis-Stiftung, issue 19, 61st to 80th thousand, Hamburg-Grossborstel.
- 1940: Indian Legends . Grinell Lithographic Co., Inc., New York City, USA.
- 1953: The Indian book: The red men, who they are, where they came from, how they lived , told and drawn by Holling C. Holling, 4 color plates based on paintings by W. Reiss.
- 1953: Richard L. Neuberger : Across North America: The Lewis and Clark Expedition .
literature
- 1986: Exhibition catalog for the 100th birthday: Winold Reiss 1886–1953. Centennial Exhibition. Works on Paper: Architectural Designs, Fantasies and Portraits , Shepherd Gallery, Associates, New York, 21 East 84th Street NY 10028.
- 1990: Jeffrey C. Stewart: Winold Reiss: an Illustrated Checklist of his Portraits . Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC for the National Portrait Gallery ISBN 0-87474-872-0 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Winold Reiss in the catalog of the German National Library
- Winold Reiss at Stadtwiki Karlsruhe
- Badische Zeitung of October 16, 2015: From Baden to Mexico to yourself - Winold Reiss
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Reiss, Winold |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American portrait painter, illustrator, and designer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 16, 1886 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Karlsruhe , German Empire |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 29, 1953 |
| Place of death | New York City , New York, USA |