Wilhelm Kimmich (20 May 1897 in Lauterbach, Baden-Württemberg – 18 September 1986 in Lauterbach), was a German painter and is considered one of the most important Black Forest painters of the 20th century.

Biography

The early years

From 1904 to 1911 Wilhelm Kimmich attended primary school in Lauterbach and made first attempts in drawing as early as 1909. He had a business training and was a soldier in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

from 1916 to 1918 and returned from a POW camp in 1920. From 1926 till his retirement in 1960 he worked for the Lauterbach

Volksbank There are several banks that operate under the name "Volksbank" (Afrikaans, Dutch and German for "people's bank"). There are also 1,099 independent local Volksbanken in Germany. They are completely separate from the Austrian Association of Volksb ...

, since 1929 as a member of the executive board.
He took also part in

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 ...

since 1943 and was released from French captivity in 1946.
Since 1916 Kimmich had been active as a draughtsman and painter and he took drawing lessons with Hans Lembke in Freiburg in the 1920s and with Hermann Gehri in the 1930s, although he later referred to himself as a "self-taught" painter. Since 1934 Kimmich took part in group exhibitions and had his first individual exhibition in 1937.

The years of artistic maturity

Since 1956 Wilhelm Kimmich, together with his painter friend Professor Hermann Anselment (1905-1981), had travelled to

Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...

and to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

.
Although, as a result of these trips, he created landscapes depicting those southern areas Kimmich soon returned to his proper motifs, i. e. the Black Forest and its people. Since the middle of the 1950s he "completely refurbished" Black Forest painting from a stylistic point of view. This accomplishment determines Kimmich's standing in the history of art in the southwest of Germany.
As for his stylistic influences, Kimmich stuck to traditional values. He admitted to influences of

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

as well as Expressionism and in his works the influence of

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. Durin ...

and

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...

are visible as well as that of

Henri 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

Emil Nolde Emil Nolde (born Hans Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German-Danish painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of th ...

.Bernhard Rüth in Wilhelm Kimmich - Werkverzeichnis pp. 8f. (see Bibliography #2) In 1970 Kimmich moved to his new house on Lauterbach's Fohrenbühl, where he had his own studio. He was awarded an

honorary citizen Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

ship of his birthplace Lauterbach in 1977 His wife Hildegard Lutz from

Munderkingen Munderkingen () is the smallest town in the district of Alb-Donau (district), Alb-Donau in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is situated on the Danube, 9 km southwest of Ehingen, and 31 km southwest of Ulm. Buildings Danube Bridge The ...

, whom he had married in 1949, died in 1980. For the last four years of his life Wilhelm Kimmich lived together with Elisabeth Sandfort.

The last years

Kimmich's friend and biographer Egon Rieble comments on Kimmich's last period of artistic creativity: "In his late period of artistic production Kimmich gives up the art of beautiful appearance, to render individual impression to his imagination. In Kimmich's last paintings the fragility of the traditional Black Forest myth is felt in a menacing way."(see Kimmich's last painting)
Until his death on 18 September 1986 the painter had created about 2,000 paintings, in addition to numerous drawings and sketches. What works were still his own were bequeathed to the municipality of Lauterbach along with the condition to present them to the public in a foundation.

Kimmich's standing as a German painter

The emphasis on Kimmich's role as a painter of the Black Forest has often led to neglecting other aspects of his work. There are a number of paintings and drawings of other areas in the South West of Germany and − as mentioned before − of the Ticino and Northern Italy. He was impressed by the people in his neighbourhood and portrayed them very accurately, e. g. his neighbour ''Oberbauer David'' in 1972.

Kimmich's Legacy

Two years after Kimmich's death, Lauterbach established a gallery in the old town hall, where many of Kimmich's paintings, but also works of other, in particular regional, artists are shown. Initiated by Manfred Schlayer (1934 − 2005), the longstanding mayor of Lauterbach, the ''Kunstverein Wilhelm Kimmich'' (see external links) was founded in 1997. This

voluntary association A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteers, to form a body (or organization) to ac ...

is instrumental in preserving and presenting Kimmich's work in the gallery, and in publishing a complete register of his legacy. The first part of volume I was published in 1999 and comprises the paintings in private possession. The second part of volume I, comprising the paintings in private possession, was published in 2007.

Notes

External links

Website of Kunstvereins Wilhelm Kimmich in Lauterbach
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimmich, Wilhelm 1897 births 1986 deaths 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists Black Forest German male painters