Adolf Wissel (19 April 1894 – 17 November 1973) was a German

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

. He was one of the official artists of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

Biography

He was born the son of a farmer in Velber, near

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, and first attended the Humboldtgymnasium in Hanover until he completed his secondary school leaving certificate. He then studied at the local arts and crafts school, from 1911 to 1914, especially under , to which Wissel remained associated throughout his life. After studying at the Kassel Art Academy in the early 1920s, he returned to Velber near Hanover in 1924. There he achieved his first regional recognition, before 1933. His works from this time are from a style similar to

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

. As a painter of the rural world, he achieved some success during the National Socialist era. In particular, his painting of the ''Kalenberg Farming Family'' (1938–1939), was widely exhibited and reproduced. Wissel's paintings were exhibited several times in the

Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung The Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (Great German Art Exhibition) was held a total of eight times from 1937 to 1944 in the purpose-built Haus der Deutschen Kunst in Munich. It was representative of art under Nazism. History The ''Great Ge ...

in the

Haus der Kunst The ''Haus der Kunst'' (, ''House of Art'') is a museum for modern and contemporary art in Munich, Bavaria. It is located at Prinzregentenstraße 1 at the southern edge of the Englischer Garten, Munich's largest park. It was built between 1933 an ...

, in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, from 1939 to 1943. In 1939, he received an honorary professorship from Hitler. In 1944, Wissel was included in the

Gottbegnadeten list The ''Gottbegnadeten-Liste'' ("God-gifted list" or "Important Artist Exempt List") was a 36-page list of artists considered crucial to National Socialist culture. The list was assembled in September 1944 by Joseph Goebbels, the head of the Mi ...

of the Reich Ministry for Propaganda. A painter in the genre of Nazi folk art, the idea was that his paintings should depict the simple, natural life of the farming people. The phrase 'union with the soil' describes well the subject of his art. Wissel was the painter of idealised farming life for predominantly urban viewers. These paintings were part of the Nazis' '

blood and soil Blood and soil (, ) is a nationalist slogan expressing Nazi Germany's ideal of a racially defined Body national, national body ("Blood") united with a settlement area ("Soil"). By it, rural and farm life forms are idealized as a counterweight t ...

' campaign, designed to associate the ideas of health, family and motherhood with the country. Wissel painted many paintings in this style, but his work also contains subtle distortions and accentuations influenced by

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 rad ...

and

. He continued his career after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, in a discrete, apolitical manner. Irmela Wilckens and Claudia Rump wrote on him: He died in Velber in 1973, aged 79 years old. Wissel artwork was subject of two major exhibitions, a memorial exhibition held at the

Historisches Museum Hannover () is an historical museum situated in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. The museum was founded in 1903 as the Homeland Museum of the City of Hanover (). Its collections are related to the Timeline of Hanover, history of the city, ...

, in 1974, and at the in 2012.Helmut Plath, Ernst Lüddeckens, ''Der Maler Adolf Wissel 1894 - 1973'', Gedächtnisausstellung. Ausstellungsführer des Historischen Museums, Hannover, 1974 (German)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wissel, Adolf 1894 births 1973 deaths 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters Artists in the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung