Xaver Fuhr

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Franz Xaver Fuhr (born September 23, 1898 in Neckarau near Mannheim ; † December 16, 1973 in Regensburg ) was a German painter who worked in Mannheim after 1920. His works were considered degenerate during the Nazi era and were partially confiscated in 1937. After 1943 he retired to the Upper Palatinate. In 1946 he was appointed professor at the art academy in Munich. After 1950 he lived and worked in Regensburg.

life and work

Fuhr began as an autodidact and initially orientated himself on the art of Paul Cézanne , Vincent van Gogh and the artists of the bridge . But very soon he found his own style, inspired by Cubism and New Objectivity . Fuhr achieved initial success in 1920 when the director of the Mannheim Kunsthalle , Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub , bought some of his works and, in addition to financial support, gave him the opportunity to live and work in the Mannheim Palace . This was followed by exhibitions in Berlin , Danzig , Königsberg , Düsseldorf and Lübeck, among others . Finally, Xaver Fuhr was accepted into the German Association of Artists . In 1930 he received the Prize of the Prussian Academy of the Arts , in 1931 the Villa Romana Prize of the German Association of Artists.

The thematic focus of his work are urban motifs, industrial plants, landscapes and figure representations. His pictures are often structured by a network-like, strictly graphic linearity, which together with strong colors and hard black and white contrasts shape Fuhr's personal style. Regardless of his representational imagery, Fuhr did not strive to reflect reality as faithfully as possible; rather, his works permeate an individual worldview that often reveals aspects beyond what is objectively represented.

Like many artists, Fuhr suffered from the cultural policy of National Socialism : From 1934, 23 of his works were confiscated in German museums and in 1937 some of them were presented in the Munich exhibition “ Degenerate Art ”. Fuhr himself was banned from working. In the years from 1936 to 1946, Fuhr therefore had to limit himself almost exclusively to watercolor painting.

His most famous work, the “Mannheim Vision” from 1931, seemed to herald the disaster that would fall a few years later in Germany and especially in the artist's hometown: The painting showed a coffin-like structure in dark black and gray tones with ghostly mask-like grimaces above the Neckar estuary floating.

Already monitored by the Gestapo since 1936, the artist was reported to the Gestapo in 1942 by an informer as "politically unreliable". In October 1943 his apartment and part of the Fuhrs works stored in Mannheim were destroyed in a bomb attack. In order to avoid further political pressure, Xaver Fuhr and his wife Josefine first moved to Nabburg ( Upper Palatinate ) in 1943 . After the end of the war, they came to Regensburg in 1950 with the support of the museum director Walter Boll , where Fuhr was able to set up his own small studio in an attic apartment in Albertstrasse 7a and stayed there until his death. In 1946 he became a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich , where he taught for twenty years. The art critic Franz Roh and the Munich gallery owner Günter Franke campaigned for Fuhr's work with publications and exhibitions after the end of the war. In 1952 Franz Xaver Fuhr took part in the 26th Venice Biennale and in 1955 in documenta 1 in Kassel . In 1958 he received the Albertus Magnus Medal of the City of Regensburg and in 1963 the Hans Thoma Prize . The artist spent the last years of his life withdrawn in Regensburg. In 1968 he received the cultural promotion award of the city of Regensburg there .

In Mannheim ( Neuostheim district ) and in Regensburg ( Burgweinting district ) streets were named after him.

Famous works

A large part of Fuhr's works is now privately owned or is considered lost. In public museums are among others:

Exhibitions

  • 1929: Large art exhibition, Kunstverein Kassel

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ kuenstlerbund.de: Ordinary members of the German Association of Artists since it was founded in 1903 / Fuhr, Xaver ( Memento from October 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on July 31, 2015)
  2. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 (= The time of National Socialism. Vol. 17153). Completely revised edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-17153-8 , p. 154.
  3. ↑ MARCHIVUM: street names, Xaver-Fuhr-Straße. Retrieved August 27, 2018 .
  4. ^ Karl Bauer: Regensburg Art, Culture and Everyday History . MZ-Buchverlag in H. Gietl Verlag & Publication Service GmbH, Regenstauf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86646-300-4 , p. 590 f .
  5. ↑ Mittelbayerische.de: Exhibition organizer in the "Empty Bag" (accessed on July 31, 2015)

literature

  • Zienicke, Axel: Xaver Fuhr 1898–1973 paintings and watercolors (with a directory of oil paintings), Recklinghausen 1984, ISBN 3764703644
  • Stather, Martin (ed.): Xaver Fuhr - The Mannheim Years, Mannheim 1994 (catalog), without ISBN
  • AK (exhibition catalog): Xaver Fuhr 1898–1973 - retrospective. Museums of the City of Regensburg, Städtische Galerie Karlsruhe 1999
  • Drove, Xaver . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists of the XX. Century. tape 2 : E-J . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1955, p. 176 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Drove, Xaver
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fuhr, Franz Xaver (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Neckarau near Mannheim
DATE OF DEATH 16th December 1973
Place of death regensburg