Wolfgang Lettl (18 December 1919 – 10 February 2008) was a surrealist

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

who was born and who died in Augsburg, Germany. His retrospective was exhibited at the

Schaezlerpalais The Schaezlerpalais is a baroque palace in Augsburg. The palace extends far back from the street, encompassing dozens of rooms, courtyards and gardens. The gilded mirrored ballroom was built between 1765-1770 and has survives intact. it is widely r ...

in 2019. In 1939, at the age of 20, Wolfgang joined the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

and served as a communications officer in occupied Paris from 1940 to 1943, during which time he worked on his watercolours and first became exposed to surrealism. Later in the war, he became a reconnaissance airman in Norway, where he was captured at the end of the war and held for four months. He returned to Augsburg in 1945, and worked there as a freelance painter from 1945 to 1948. In 1949, however, the

currency reform Monetary reform is any movement or theory that proposes a system of supplying money and financing the economy that is different from the current system. Monetary reformers may advocate any of the following, among other proposals: * A return t ...

forced him to turn to construction work to make ends meet. He continued working on his landscapes, portraits and surrealist art while working construction jobs and odd jobs. From 1954 onwards, he was able to concentrate on his art. He married Franziska Link in 1949. Success with his freelance art led him to develop his surrealism, and in 1963 he participated in the ''Grosse Kunstausstellung München'' (the "Grand Art Exhibition Munich"), becoming a member of the ''Neue Münchener Künstlergenossenschaft'' ("New Munich Artists' Cooperative Society"). One-man shows in Germany and abroad followed. In addition to his surrealist work, the landscapes around

Manfredonia Manfredonia is a town and commune of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, from which it is northeast by rail. Manfredonia is situated on the coast, facing east, to the south of Monte Gargano, and gives its name to the gulf to the east of i ...

, his second home in

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

, Italy, inspired him to sometimes paint in an impressionistic style. In 1992, on the occasion of a retrospective exhibition at the Toskan Hall of Columns, he offered his paintings to the city of Augsburg on permanent loan. After the opening of the "Lettl Atrium - Museum for Surreal Art" in Augsburg in 1993, Lettl has concentrated on experiments in other media (including film), as well as continuing with his painting. A major retrospective exhibition was held in Augsburg in 2000.

References

External links

Official Lettl Website

Wolfgang Lettl
at

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world. It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...

1919 births 2008 deaths German Army personnel of World War II 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters 21st-century German painters 21st-century German male artists Artists from Augsburg {{Germany-painter-stub