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Otto Freundlich (10 July 1878 – 9 March 1943) was a German painter and sculptor of Jewish origin. A part of the first generation of abstract painters in Western art, Freundlich was a great admirer of
Freundlich was born in Stolp, Province of Pomerania,
"Heinz Kiwitz: gekämpft · vertrieben · verschollen"
(PDF) Stiftung Brennender Dornbusch. Folder from an exhibition in honor of the 100th anniversary of Kiwitz' birth. Liebfrauenkirche, Duisburg (7 November – 5 December 2010), p. 5. Retrieved 10 February 2012 He moved to France in 1924, and during the occupation moved with his wife to the Pyrenees. Freundlich was interned by the Vichy authorities but released, for a time, under the influence of
''Das Geht Nur Langsam (It Takes Time)''
was released in 2012. The film traces his vision to build streets of sculptures running through Europe symbolizing his utopian ideas for a world society. In Stolp there is bust erected in memory of Otto Freundlich.
File:Otto Freundlich Mein roter Himmel 1933.jpg, My red heaven (1932)
File:Komposition (1932) by Otto Freundlich.jpg, Composition (1932)
File:Otto Freundlich Sphärische Körper 1925 WVZ 234.jpg, Spherical bodies (1925)
File:Entartete Kunst. Ausstellungsführer. Reichspropagandaleitung, Amtsleitung Kultur 1937. Heft. Degenerate art. Exhibition guide cover. "Der neue Mensch" by Otto Freundlich. df dat 0005888.jpg, Exhibition guide to the Degenerate Art Exhibition with his sculpture Der Neue Mensch on the cover
File:Otto Freundlich - Die Mutter - BG-M 2047-80 - Berlinische Galerie.jpg, The Mother
File:Otto Freundlich Komposition 1939 WVZ 197.jpg, Komposition (1939)
File:Otto freundlich, composizione, 1911.jpg, Composition (1911)
A Forcing of Barriers
- A staged encounter between Freundlich and Nazi sculptor, Arno Breker, conceived by Per-Oskar Leu for the online magazine, Triple Canopy.
Biographic Details
Das Geht Nur Langsam (It Takes Time)
Documentary Film. {{DEFAULTSORT:Freundlich, Otto 1878 births 1943 deaths Abstract painters People from Słupsk German Jews who died in the Holocaust 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 20th-century German painters Jewish painters Modern painters People who died in Majdanek concentration camp People from the Province of Pomerania German civilians killed in World War II German people executed in Nazi concentration camps Executed people from Pomeranian Voivodeship 20th-century German sculptors 20th-century German male artists German male sculptors 19th-century sculptors People of Montmartre
cubism
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
.
Life
Freundlich was born in Stolp, Province of Pomerania, Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
. His mother was a first cousin of the writer Samuel Lublinski. Otto studied dentistry before deciding to become an artist. He went to Paris
Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
in 1908, living in Montmartre
Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...
in Bateau Lavoir near to Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
, Braque
Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he play ...
and others. In 1914 he returned to Germany. After 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, ...
, he became politically active as a member of the November Group. In 1919, he organized the first Dada
Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...
- exhibition in 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 ...
with Max Ernst
Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...
and Johannes Theodor Baargeld
Johannes Theodor Baargeld was a pseudonym of Alfred Emanuel Ferdinand Grünwald (9 October 1892 – 16 or 17 August 1927), a German painter and poet who, together with Max Ernst, founded the Cologne Dada group. He also used the name Zentro ...
. In 1925, he joined the Abstraction-Création
Abstraction-Création was a loose association of artists formed in Paris in 1931 to counteract the influence of the Surrealist group led by André Breton.
Founders Theo van Doesburg, Auguste Herbin, Jean Hélion and Georges Vantongerloo start ...
group.
After 1925, Freundlich lived and worked mainly in France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. In Germany, his work was condemned by the Nazis as degenerate and removed from public display. Some works were seized and displayed at the infamous Nazi exhibition of 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, ...
including his monumental sculpture '' Der Neue Mensch (The New Human)'' which was photographed unsympathetically and used as the cover illustration of the exhibition catalogue. ''Der Neue Mensch'' was never recovered and is assumed to have been destroyed. One of his sculptures was recovered in an excavation in Berlin and put on display at the Neues Museum
The Neues Museum (English: ''New Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. Built from 1843 to 1855 by order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia in Neoclassical and Renaissance Revival styles ...
.
While in Paris, he became a member of the Union des Artistes Allemands Libres The Union des Artistes Allemands Libres was a federation of exiled German artists living in Paris, France, after the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the establishment of the Third Reich after the Nazis seized power. It was founded in autumn 193 ...
.Siegfried Gnichwitz"Heinz Kiwitz: gekämpft · vertrieben · verschollen"
(PDF) Stiftung Brennender Dornbusch. Folder from an exhibition in honor of the 100th anniversary of Kiwitz' birth. Liebfrauenkirche, Duisburg (7 November – 5 December 2010), p. 5. Retrieved 10 February 2012 He moved to France in 1924, and during the occupation moved with his wife to the Pyrenees. Freundlich was interned by the Vichy authorities but released, for a time, under the influence of
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
. In 1943 he was arrested and deported to Majdanek Concentration Camp
Majdanek (or Lublin) was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It had seven gas chambers, two wooden gallows, ...
, where he was murdered on the day he arrived.
Legacy
Although Otto Freundlich has been largely overlooked since being vilified by the Nazis, a documentar''Das Geht Nur Langsam (It Takes Time)''
was released in 2012. The film traces his vision to build streets of sculptures running through Europe symbolizing his utopian ideas for a world society. In Stolp there is bust erected in memory of Otto Freundlich.
Gallery
See also
*List of German painters
This is a list of German painters.
A
> second column was into info box -->
* Hans von Aachen (1552–1615)
* Aatifi (born 1965)
* Karl Abt (1899–1985)
* Tomma Abts (born 1967)
* Andreas Achenbach (1815–1910)
* Oswald Achenbach (182 ...
References
External links
A Forcing of Barriers
- A staged encounter between Freundlich and Nazi sculptor, Arno Breker, conceived by Per-Oskar Leu for the online magazine, Triple Canopy.
Biographic Details
Das Geht Nur Langsam (It Takes Time)
Documentary Film. {{DEFAULTSORT:Freundlich, Otto 1878 births 1943 deaths Abstract painters People from Słupsk German Jews who died in the Holocaust 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 20th-century German painters Jewish painters Modern painters People who died in Majdanek concentration camp People from the Province of Pomerania German civilians killed in World War II German people executed in Nazi concentration camps Executed people from Pomeranian Voivodeship 20th-century German sculptors 20th-century German male artists German male sculptors 19th-century sculptors People of Montmartre