Nicola Perscheid - Berhard Hoetger um 1924

Bernhard Hoetger (4 May 1874 in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is th ...

– 18 July 1949 in

Interlaken , neighboring_municipalities= Bönigen, Därligen, Matten bei Interlaken, Ringgenberg, Unterseen , twintowns = Scottsdale (USA), Ōtsu (Japan), Třeboň (Czech Republic) Interlaken (; lit.: ''between lakes'') is a Swiss town and mun ...

) was a German

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

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 ...

and handicrafts artist of the Expressionist movement.

Life

Hoetger was the son of a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

, he studied

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of t ...

from 1888 to 1892, before directing a workshop in Rheda-Wiedenbrück. After a spell at the Düsseldorf Arts Academy, he took a trip 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. ...

, where he was deeply influenced by Auguste Rodin, but also got to know Paula Modersohn-Becker. Later he was able to familiarise himself with

Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, '' sui generis'' style. Most are located in Barc ...

. In 1911, Hoetger was called up to the Darmstadt Artists' Colony, where he was to remain for some time.

Böttcherstraße

In 1914, inspired by Modersohn-Becker, he moved to Worpswede. It was here where he met the

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie H ...

entrepreneur Ludwig Roselius, with whom he would go on to make his masterpiece, Bremen's '' Böttcherstraße'', in an Expressionist style. In particular he was responsible for the Atlantis House, which reflected the race-theories of the Nazi ethnographer Herman Wirth.

HAG-TURM

He also designed the HAG-TURM, a building sponsored by Roselius's firm Kaffee HAG at the 1928 '' Pressa'' International Press Exhibition. The HAG-Turm was a tower. This was built in 70 days. The building had ten storeys which contained all the working machinery necessary to create a working factory. 37 flags were on display on the front of tower representing the global reach of the company. Statistical and historical information was provided about coffee production, highlighting the part played by Café HAG. Scientific and medical experts were also present to provide further information to the public. Café HAG had become famous for their process of decaffination and so there was also information about the bad effects of

caffeine Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is mainly used recreationally as a cognitive enhancer, increasing alertness and attentional performance. Caffeine acts by blocking binding of adenosine t ...

on human and animal health.

Nazi party links

Although Roselius was an ardent supporter of Nazism, Hitler denounced the art and architecture in the Boettcherstrasse. Roselius contemplated suicide, but his secretary Barbara Goette intervened with Hitler in Berlin and Café HAG, Roselius' corporation, invested heavily in Focke-Wulf consequently outmanoeuvering Hitler.Leidig, Ludwig. Bombshell. sbpra 2013. Like his patron Ludwig Roselius, Hoetger sympathised with the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

ideals and became a member of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

. He moved to Berlin in 1934 and tried, in vain, to instill himself through his art into the party, but in 1936

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

declared it to be

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, ...

. Expelled from the party, in 1943 Hoetger fled to Switzerland, where he died in 1949.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoetger, Bernhard 1874 births 1949 deaths German architectural sculptors German Expressionist painters 19th-century German painters German male painters 20th-century German painters Artists from Dortmund People from the Province of Westphalia Kunstakademie Düsseldorf alumni 20th-century German sculptors 20th-century German male artists German male sculptors 19th-century sculptors Nazi Party members 19th-century German male artists