Henry Gowa (25 May 1902 – 23 May 1990) was a German painter and stage designer.

Life and career

Gowa was born Hermann Gowa in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. After studying in

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 ...

he established himself as a stage designer, and was active in Munich,

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

and

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

.Künstlerlexikon Saar:: Gowa, Hermann Henry
Biography by the ''Institut für aktuelle Kunst im Saarland''. In 1931 the progressive gallery owner Ludwig Schames organised the first exclusive exhibition of Gowa, displaying his paintings as well as stage designs. With the rise to power of the Nazis, Gowa emigrated to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and was interned several times during the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

.Rektoren/Präsidenten
Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach website. He changed his name to Henry to distance himself from his namesake

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

. Through his contacts in the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

, Gowa found refuge in a village in the mountains of Southern France, and escaped

The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. After 1945 he returned to Germany and became the director of the ''Schule für Kunst und Handwerk'' in Saarbrücken,Hermann Henry Gowa
Profile at ketterkunst.de. where he established a connection with

Frans Masereel Frans Masereel (31 July 1889 – 3 January 1972) was a Flemish painter and graphic artist who worked mainly in France, known especially for his woodcuts focused on political and social issues, such as war and capitalism. He completed over ...

. Later he became director of the ''Werkkunstschule'' in Offenbach am Main (today the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach), and played a key role in its internationalisation, through exhibitions such as ''Young French Painting'' (Offenbach, 1955) and ''Young German Painting'' (Paris, 1955). In 1957 he became the chief commissioner of the German section of the

Paris Biennale The ''Biennale de Paris'' (English: Paris Biennale) is a noted French art festival. History The 'Biennale de Paris' was launched by Raymond Cogniat in 1959 and set up by André Malraux as he was Minister of Culture to present an overview of young ...

. He later received the Federal Cross of Merit. He died in Munich, having spent his final years in

Oberschleißheim Oberschleißheim () is a municipality in the district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany. It is located 13 km north of Munich (centre). As of 2005 it had a population of 11,467. Oberschleißheim is best known for the Schleissheim Palace and ...

, where his estate of 1,200 works was stored. This estate is now on permanent loan at the

Ludwig Meidner Ludwig Meidner (18 April 1884 – 14 May 1966) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker born in Bernstadt, Silesia. Meidner is best known for his painted, drawn, and printed portraits and landscapes, but is especially noted for h ...

Archive of the

Jewish Museum Frankfurt The Jewish Museum Frankfurt am Main is the oldest independent Jewish Museum in Germany. It was opened by Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl on 9 November 1988, the 50th anniversary of ''Kristallnacht''. The Jewish Museum collects, preserves and com ...

.Ludwig Meidner Archive
at

Work

Initially a devotee of Cézanne, while in exile Gowa was influenced by the protagonists of the French

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

, whom he came to know personally, including

Bonnard Bonnard is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Abel Bonnard (1883–1968), French poet, novelist and politician * (18881959), Swiss scholar and translator of classical Greek * Jean-Louis Bonnard (1824&ndas ...

Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...

and Picasso. After the war he increasingly sought more universal modes of expression, creating abstract compositions poised between explosive dynamics and balanced harmony.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gowa, Henry 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1902 births 1990 deaths

Life and career

Work

See also

Notes