Adolf Uzarski (April 14, 1885 – July 14, 1970) was a German writer, artist, and illustrator associated with the

New Objectivity The New Objectivity (in german: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, wh ...

movement. He was born in

Ruhrort Ruhrort () is a district in the borough of within the German city of Duisburg situated north of the confluence of the Ruhr and the Rhine, in the western part of the Ruhr area. Ruhrort has the largest river harbour in the World, with quays extendin ...

bei

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in ...

and studied at the

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

School of Architecture before enrolling in 1906 at the

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

School of Arts and Crafts.Michalski 218 Initially, Uzarski's work was in the tradition of Art Nouveau. He exhibited in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

and

Hagen Hagen () is the 41st-largest city in Germany. The municipality is located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne and Volme (me ...

in the years before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and also became a successful commercial artist. During the war, his work began displaying elements of

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it ra ...

. While directing the advertising department of the

Tietz Tietz is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anton Ferdinand Tietz (1742–1810), German composer * Gerold Tietz (1941–2009), German author * Hermann Tietz (1837–1907), merchant and founder of one of the first German departm ...

department store, in 1916–17 he produced the portfolio of

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

s, ''Totentanz'' ("Danse Macabre"). Beginning in 1919 he exhibited with "Das Junge Rheinland" (

Young Rhineland Young Rhineland (Das Junge Rheinland) was an association of avant-garde artists formed in Düsseldorf on 24 February 1919. History The poet Herbert Eulenberg was one of the main instigators of the group, along with painter Arthur Kaufmann and t ...

), of which he was a founding member. This stylistically diverse group, which also included

Arthur Kaufmann Arthur Kaufmann (4 April 1872 in Iași, Romania – 25 July 1938 in Vienna) was an Austrian attorney, philosopher and chess master. Life Kaufmann was the second son of a wealthy, Jewish merchant family in Iaşi, Romania. In early childhood, he m ...

and

Herbert Eulenberg Max Herbert Eulenberg (1876–1949), was a German poet and author born in Cologne-Mülheim, Germany. He was married from 1904 to Hedda Eulenberg. Biography 1920s Eulenberg was the publisher of many books, for which he wrote the introduct ...

, was united only by their rejection of academic art. Active as a visual artist and also as a writer of poetry and fiction, Uzarski illustrated his own books and those of others. During the Weimar years he was one of the artists championed by the Düsseldorf art dealer

Johanna Ey Johanna Ey (4 March 1864 – 27 August 1947) was a German art dealer during the 1920s. She became known as ''Mutter Ey'' (Mother Ey) for the nurturing support she provided to her artists, who included Max Ernst and Otto Dix. Biography Ey was ...

, until a rift between them in 1923, after which Uzarski left the "Young Rhineland" group to form the "Rheingruppe" (Rhine group), with whom he exhibited from 1925 to 1930. His art was caricatural in style and sharply satirical of

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. ...

society. In 1942, condemned as a

degenerate art Degenerate art (german: Entartete Kunst was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, ...

ist by the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

s, he was forbidden to paint, and went into hiding in

Robertville, Belgium Robertville ( wa, Li Rbiveye (locally as ''Rebîveye'' or ''Rubîveye'')) is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Waimes, located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On 1 January 2005 it had 2402 inhabitants. It was a se ...

. At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Uzarski returned to Düsseldorf and continued his career. He was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Berlin Academy of Arts in 1967. Uzarski died in Düsseldorf in 1970. A portrait of Uzarski by

Otto Dix Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix (; 2 December 1891 – 25 July 1969) was a German painter and printmaker, noted for his ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of German society during the Weimar Republic and the brutality of war. Along with George ...

is in the

Museum Kunstpalast The Kunstpalast, formerly Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf is an art museum in Düsseldorf. History The roots of the museum go back around 300 years. In 1932, the collection of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Academy of Art) was housed in the Kunstmus ...

.''Bildnis des Adolf Uzarski'', 1923 von Otto Dix
in

Books written by Uzarski

*''Möppi'',

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, 1921 *''Die spanische Reise'', Munich, 1921 *''Chamäleon. Ein Heldenbuch.'', Munich, 1922 *''Die Reise nach Deutschland.'',

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...

, 1924 *''Tun-Kwang-pipi'', Potsdam, 1924 *''Herr Knobloch'', Munich, 1926 *''Kurukallawalla'', Munich, 1927 *''Der Fall Uzarski'', Munich, 1928 *''Das Hotel Zum Paradies'', Munich, 1929 *''Beinahe Weltmeister'', Munich, 1930 *''Panoptikum'', Berlin, 1955 *''Lager-Schaden'', Berlin, 1985

Notes

References

*Michalski, Sergiusz (1994). ''New Objectivity''. Cologne: Benedikt Taschen. 1885 births 1970 deaths German artists People from the Rhine Province German male writers {{Germany-artist-stub