Hans Schroedter

Self-Portrait 1952

Hans Adolf Schroedter (sometimes written Schrödter; b. 14 July 1872 in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden, German Empire; d. 8 December 1957 in Hausen vor Wald south of Hüfingen near Donaueschingen, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany) was a German artist (painter and illustrator).

Life

Waldarbeiter, 1939

Emil Fehrenbacher, Mayor of Hauser vor Wald

Hans Schroedter was born in Karlsruhe into a family of artists. He was the first child, but he had two younger sisters and a brother (d. 1955). His parents were engineer Max Schroedter and his wife Selma, née Nottebohm. His paternal grandparents also lived in Karlsruhe; his grandfather Adolf Schroedter was a painter, grandmother Alwine, née Heuser, became known as a flower painter. These grandparents had originally lived in Düsseldorf and came to Karlsruhe because their grandfather had been appointed by the then Grand Duke Frederick I (Großherzog Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig von Baden) as an ornamentist at the Technical University of Karlsruhe.

His grandparents encouraged the teenager in his desire to become an artist himself. Remaining with his grandparents when his parents moved to Bad Cannstatt near Stuttgart, Hans attended the Humanistic High School (Bismarck-Gymnasium) in Karlsruhe. In 1891, after his Abitur, he began his studies at the Karlsruhe Art Academy (Großherzoglich Badische Kunstschule Karlsruhe), where famous painters such as the Professors Robert Poetzelsberger, Leopold Karl Walter Graf von Kalckreuth, Ernst Schurth and Carlos Grethe were his teachers and allowed him to acquire basic artistic knowledge.

During two summer stays in the Duhnen artists' colony near Cuxhaven and Berlin (Prof. Otto Lessing, Carl Röchling), he deepened his studies and worked intensively on the new style of Impressionism. In 1899, he made a study trip to Paris, followed by trips to London and Italy. From the spring of 1900 he spent four years in Munich, during which he was mainly involved in landscape painting. In 1904, Schroedter returned to Karlsruhe and became Professor Hans Thoma's pupil teacher (Meisterschüler) for two years. He soon received a series of larger commissions, so that the beginning of his artistic career was very promising. He became a co-founder of the association of art prints artists in Karlsruhe, and through his activities and those of his artist friends, the graphic arts in particular gained a strong momentum. After marrying in 1906, the painter spent summers in the Baar in Wolterdingen.

In addition to landscape painting, Schroedter's creative field included portraiture and genre painting, still lifes, and flower paintings. He also established himself as an illustrator of children's books and sacred literature.

Major projects such as the painting of the Way of the Cross in St. Blaise's Cathedral from 1910, the painting of the Protestant Church of Christ in Pforzheim-Brötzingen from 1911 and the decoration of the children's suite on the ocean liner "Hamburg" with fairy-tale motifs from 1926 made the artist nationally known. Schroedter exhibited ten works in 1911 at the Jubiläums-Ausstellung der Münchener Künstler-Genossenschaft at the Glaspalast. Between 1912 and 1914 he was often present in the Glaspalast exhibitions. In 1913, he participated in the Deutsche Kunstausstellung in Kassel.

The rugged landscape of the Baar plateau and the nearby Black Forest fascinated the young artist, who in 1914 made Wolterdingen his adopted home. From 1914, he served on the Western Front as a soldier of the Imperial German Army and then as a "war correspondent" (Kriegsberichter) and "war painter" (Kriegsmaler) until the end of the First World War. His excessive need for peace and tranquility, probably also a necessary reorientation in suddenly so different circumstances, made the couple decide to give up their apartment in Karlsruhe and ultimately take up permanent residence in Wolterdingen.

In 1919, the Schroedter family moved to Hausen vor Wald, 13 km south of Wolterdingen. There the artist built his house, equipped with a studio and atelier, in which he lived until his death. In addition to landscape painting, Schroedter's creative field included portraiture and genre painting, still lifes, and flower paintings. In 1929, Schroedter was present at the Kunstausstellung der Deutschen Kunstgesellschaft in Lübeck. He took part in many exhibitions organized by the Badischer Kunstverein (e.g. 1934 Sonderschau, 1937 Nachlaßschau, 1939 Nachlaßschau).

From April to May 1936, he participated with three paintings in the exhibition Ausstellung Blut und Boden, Kunstausstellung der NS-Kulturgemeinde im Kunstverein Karlsruhe from August Gebhard; The following year he took part in the exhibition Schwarzwaldmaler unserer Zeit exhibition in Furtwangen. In 1938, Schroedter took part in the important National Socialist exhibition Deutsche Bauer – Deutsches Land and his painting on display Abend was purchased by the Reichsnährstand-Verlag. Schroedter was a member of the NSDAP and actively involved in the activities of the party branch in Hausen vor Wald. He took part in the exhibitions of the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (Great German Art Exhibition) of Munich with four works. His painting Waldarbeiter was featured 1939 in the official magazine Die Kunst im Deutschen Reichof 1939 as

"one of the most extraordinary works at GDK 1939. The healthy and popular tendency of this new German painting is found above all in the peasant paintings of Constantin Gerhardinger, Franz Eichhorst, Thomas Baumgartner, Sepp Hilz, Oskar Martin-Amorbach, Erwin Puchinger, Hans Schmitz-Wiedenbrück, Hans Schachinger, Georg Ehmig, Hans Schroedter and Carl Ederer, just to mention the most surprising, in their particularly evident rural expression."

Waldarbeiter was bought at the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung by Joachim von Ribbentrop, and reproduced in many magazines in the early 40s. From 5 to 30 July 1942, the Badischer Kunstverein organized the Jubiläumsausstellung Hans Schoedter zum 70. Geburtstag to honour his 70th birthday with painters Otto Graeber, Wilhelm Jörger and Carolus Vocke.

Hans Schroedter often represented his adopted homeland, the Baar, in many pictures: countless works of art describe the landscape and the simple life of the locals. He cultivated an academically realistic painting style, his motifs were connected to his homeland and people, his still lifes and landscape paintings that also show echoes of Impressionism. He drew many illustrations for books in a romantic or classical style, drawing from the classics of the nineteenth century. Hans Schroedter celebrated his greatest achievements throughout his life. With the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, his work lost much consideration in modern criticism but not that of the public.

In 1952, he was awarded the State Prize Hans-Thoma-Preis, Staatspreis des Landes Baden-Württemberg for the work carried out during its existence. In the same year a large exhibition was set up in Bernau with many of the artist's paintings.

Death

Hans Schroedter died in 1957 in Hausen vor Wald, Hüfingen. The Stadtmuseum Hüfingen manages his legacy and in the past has dedicated numerous special exhibitions dedicated to the life and works. The painting Waldarbeiter with dimensions 150 x 130 cm is now owned by the Belvedere Museum in Vienna together with the other works of the collection of Reichsaußenminister Joachim von Ribbentrop.

Family

In 1906, Schroedter married his fiancée Thusnelda Edle von Födransperg in Cologne; the young woman was a singer, soprano at the Kölner Stadttheather, and so in his house music was added to the visual arts. The fact that the housewife was also an active artist meant, above all, that she understood her dear husband perfectly at all times and from this very understanding created all the prerequisites that he needed for his work: the stillness and concentration, far from all everyday trifles that so often want to paralyze the soul; far away even, as far as possible, from the worries and needs of life.

On 19 May 1909, daughter Clara "Kuni" was born and on 26 March 1912, son Max Heinrich, who served with the Luftwaffe in World War II.

Gallery

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External links

• Hans Schroedter, Gallery "Thule" (Italian)
• Hans Schroedter, Die Holzsäger, germanartgallery.eu