Wolf Ritz

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Wolf (Wolfgang) Ritz (born May 8, 1920 in Langenberg (Rhineland) , † April 26, 2008 in Hamburg ) was a German portrait painter and sculptor .

Live and act

The son of a paper manufacturer from Langenberg and the brother of a doctor aspired to become a painter and sculptor from an early age. He consulted the brotherly anatomy books for study purposes and his admiration went to Auguste Rodin . His goal was the art academy, but after graduating from high school he was enrolled as a medical student, most recently in Heidelberg . From 1940 to 1945 he served in the German Wehrmacht and was wounded while serving in the Panzer Group.

After the war, Ritz began to plan a new career as an autodidact . He now portrayed American soldiers and officers. From 1948/1949, Ritz, who was married to a doctor of chemistry, settled as a freelance artist in Aachen at Colynshofstrasse 37. Around 1958/59 he lost his left arm in a car accident. Ritz exhibited his works in Aachen and took part in the activities of the Aachen artist groups. From May 2 to 23, 1965, he had an exhibition in the Märkisches Museum in Witten .

One of his focuses was the production of portraits of important personalities of the 20th century such as Lil Dagover , Elly Ney , Thomas Mann or the great musicians Pau Casals , Alfred Cortot , Arthur Rubinstein . Several of his politician portraits found their way into the collection of the German Bundestag .

Cortot recommended the peintre de grand talent Wilhelm Furtwängler , whose death in 1954 broke off the negotiations that had begun. Casals was also enthusiastic about the recording of his physiognomy.

On May 22, 1955, Ritz received the ambivalent praise from Thomas Mann: with applause, in memory of my portraitist, who portrayed me only too much. On December 2, 1970 Rubinstein gave him his unreserved enthusiasm .

In addition, Ritz created numerous busts, including those of Ernst Jünger , Carl Zuckmayer and Ludwig Erhard , whose bust was erected in the entrance area of ​​the Federal Ministry of Economics in Berlin on the occasion of his 110th birthday in 2007. In his own work, Ritz often dealt with his environment, sometimes in a socially critical way.

style

The artist Ritz was a master of the artistic styles of impressionism , expressionism and surrealism . He used them depending on the order situation. The age, facial expressions and character of the person being portrayed were decisive.

Sometimes Ritz turned a portrait painting into a bronze and vice versa. B. in the works of Arthur Rubinstein. The artist needed strict self-discipline when making portraits in order to suppress his expressive and fabulous style. He let his psyche be free in free compositions, of which the moon tree blooming at night , the dreary remains of the old town and his judgment of Rembrandt testify.

Rembrandt's self-portrait in the Kassel Museum inspired Ritz to create a surrealist painting in 1981. From his picture Rembrandt hands the three Graces a rose over a rugged landscape. The graces are veiled sculptures. This surreal world stages the encounter between old age and youth, between reality and dream, between art and life. The dominant feature is the artist's portrait, whose physiognomy holds the secrets of human existence.

The comparison of a photograph by Erhard with his bust illustrates Ritz's slightly expressive idealization for capturing character. The portrait painting by cellist Pablo Casals shows the virtuoso in action as he moves the bow over his cello , like a snapshot .

For his Eckener bust, Ritz sent moist clay in two buckets with the inscription Sauerkraut to Friedrichshafen, which the employee, Count von Zeppelins, was initially very surprised about and informed Ritz that sauerkraut is also available here.

Rubinstein's work began in a hotel in Amsterdam and continued in Marbella , the pianist's vacation home .

In the period from May 17 to 27, 1955, Thomas Mann sat the artist portrait eight times. This was during his stay at the Ostsee-Kurhotel Travemünde , his childhood paradise, to receive the honorary citizenship of the city of Lübeck . Ritz could see how he found the right words for each well-wisher. Ritz himself described his portrait painting in muted beige and gray tones of the almost 80-year-old Thomas Mann as being impressionistically influenced . Ritz had taken the aging poet's features too realistically. Mann disliked the portrayal of his noticeably red nose, but Ritz insisted on his interpretation. The writer died three months later. In 1965 the picture was given a place in the painting collection of the German Literature Archive in Marbach.

Wolf Ritz was inspired by the individual personalities, captured their character through careful observation and expressed it with his artistic design possibilities in a specific work of art. But he also expressed still lifes like Lake Geneva in his oeuvre.

The reader

The reader , Aachen

His work Die Lesende , a bronze sculpture from 1985, shows his realistic form of representation. The 550 kg figure made of bronze and Belgian granite is dressed in a casual, contemporary style in a short strap dress with ballerinas and a short hairstyle. She is sitting and reading an open book on her lap. The seating is a piece of wall. The granite was visible outside, but this chiseled part was probably clad for the interior . The reader is both a sculpture and a sculpture , a sculpture . The figurative representation is cast. This work of art combines two sculptural forms of representation. Ritz created the "Lesende" at the age of 65. For Ritz, this work was the ideal synthesis of man and book. It was erected on May 31, 1985 in front of the House of Coal . The client was Mayersche Buchhandlung , the occasion was the opening of the new Treffpunkt Taschenbuch branch .

Löbe bust

As President of the Bundestag, Rainer Barzel initiated an artist competition for a bronze bust of Reichstag President Paul Löbe . There were five models to choose from. The decision fell on Ritz. In the Süßener foundry Strassacker the casting was done, the preparation in Präsidialflügel of the Federal Parliament building in Bonn Friday, 13 December 1985, Bundestag President Philipp Jenninger .

Works (selection)

Literature and Sources

  • Westermannsmonthshefte , June 1983, pp. 36–42
  • Ilsedore B. Jonas: Late encounter in Travemünde: Thomas Mann and Wolf Ritz , Börsenblatt (II), 1984, A125–127
  • Visual artists in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Volume 2 Cologne-Aachen. Bongers, Recklinghausen, 1967, p. 235, districts.
  • Wolfgang Richter: Sensitively captured portraits of an eye person. Thomas Mann applauded the artist. Conversation with the painter and sculptor Wolf Ritz. Aachener Volkszeitung (AVZ), Saturday, November 14, 1981, supplement, p. 2.
  • Obituary in the Aachener Nachrichten / Aachener Zeitung on May 5, 2008

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Inauguration of Ludwig-Erhard-Büste, p. 82 ( Memento of March 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Isedore B. Jonas: Late meeting in Travemünde: Thomas Mann and Wolf Ritz. in: From the second-hand bookshop. Ed. Dr. Karl H. Pressler. 1984/4, pp. A125ff.
  3. ^ Aachener Nachrichten, May 5, 2008, June 1, 1985, p. 18A.
  4. ↑ Bust of Ernst Jünger ( Memento from June 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Ritz, wolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ritz, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German portrait painter and sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Langenberg (Rhineland)
DATE OF DEATH April 26, 2008
Place of death Hamburg