Ewald Wilhelm Hubert Mataré (25 February 1887 in Burtscheid, Aachen – 28 March 1965 in Büderich) 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 ...

and

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 sc ...

, who dealt with, among other things, the figures of men and animals in a stylized form.

Career

Mataré began his instruction as an artist at the

Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts () was a state arts academy first established in 1694 by prince-elector Frederick III of Electorate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg in Berlin, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and later king in Kingdom of ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1907. He was a student of Prof. Julius Ehrentraut (b. 1841),

Lovis Corinth Lovis Corinth (21 July 1858 – 17 July 1925) was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism. Corinth studied in Paris and Munich, joined the Berlin Secessio ...

(1858–1925), and

History painter History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek mythology, Greek and Roman my ...

Arthur Kampf Arthur Kampf (28 September 1864 – 8 February 1950) was a List of German painters, German painter. He was associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Life Kampf studied under Peter Janssen, among others, at the Kunstakademie Düssel ...

. In 1918, he joined the November Group. Mataré first dedicated himself to sculpture after finishing his painting studies. A great part of his sculpted work are of animal figures. In 1932 he received a professorship at the

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Blinky Palermo, Ma ...

. After the

Machtergreifung The rise to power of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919, when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He quickly rose t ...

of 1933 however, all cultural and artistic life in Germany was brought into ideological alignment by the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

s; Mataré was denounced as "degenerate" and expelled from his position. One of his sculptures "Die Katze" (The cat) was placed into the exhibition of shame and derision "Entartete Kunst" (Degenerate Art) staged by the Nazis in Munich, 1937. Church commissions became his sole source of income. After the war, Mataré was asked to become the director of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, but he quickly resigned because he felt there were still too many professors at the Akademie who had been actively teaching there during the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. Furthermore, no one was interested in his ambitious reform plans, which would have allowed fourteen-year-olds to study at the Akademie. However he was active at the Academy – albeit in an off-site studio – for long enough to teach artists like Günter Haese, Erwin Heerich,

Georg Meistermann Georg Meistermann (June 16, 1911 – June 12, 1990) was a German painter and draftsman who was also famous for his stained glass windows in the whole of Europe. From 1930, Meistermann studied art at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Wer ...

Hannes Rosenow Hannes Rosenow (5 May 1925 in Ratibor – 28 July 2000 in Munich) was a German portrait and landscape painter. Biography After his graduation from the gymnasium in Ratibor in Upper Silesia, military draft and release from military internment ...

, and, most famously,

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( ; ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and Aesthetics, art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism and sociology. With Heinrich Böll, , Caroline Tisdall, Rober ...

. Adriani, Götz, Winfried Konnertz, and Karin Thomas: Joseph Beuys: Life and Works. Trans. Patricia Lech. Woodbury, N.Y.: Barron’s Educational Series, 1979. During the post-war era, Mataré took many commissions from the public sector; he also worked on many churches, e.g. he built four doors for the south portal of the

Cologne Cathedral Cologne Cathedral (, , officially , English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia belonging to the Catholic Church. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archd ...

. He participated in

documenta Documenta (often stylized documenta) is an Art exhibition, exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. Documenta was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgarte ...

1 (1955) and 2 (1959).

Work

Matare's work varies from the simplicity of his animal forms in which he explores shape and line, to the profound spirituality of his religious works. A 2006 exhibition of his work in Salzburg, Austria, demonstrated the heights which his work could achieve.

Personal life

In 1922, Mataré married the 31-year-old Hanna Hasenbäumer. Nonetheless, at 37 years old, he entered into a deep depression. They had a daughter, Sonja Beatrice (b. 9 August 1926). Mataré died in 1965 from a

pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain ...

. His nephew Herbert Franz Mataré (1912–2011) was a German physicist and co-inventor of the "European

transistor A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch electrical signals and electric power, power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semicondu ...

" in 1948.

Awards

* 1914 Silver Medal at the

. * 1952

Thorn Prikker Prize Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to: Botany * Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants * ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species Comics and literature * Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Comi ...

from the city of

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...

* 1955 Gold medal at the

Milan Triennial The ''Milan Triennial'' (Triennale di Milano) is an art and design exhibition that takes place every three years at the Triennale di Milano Museum in Milan, Italy. History The exhibition was originally established in 1923 as a biennial architect ...

* 1957 Stefan Locher Medal from the City of

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

* 1958 Großes Verdienstkreuz of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

Works

Mataré's most famous works include: * Doors of the south portal of

* Doors of the Church of Peace in

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

* Altar design in St. Andreas Church in Düsseldorf * The entire interior of St. Rochus Church in Düsseldorf (partially destroyed, lost) * The phoenix in the

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Parliament (''Landtag'') building * The pigeon fountain in front of Cologne Cathedral * Entrance gate and windows of the

* Portal of St. Lambertus Basilica in Düsseldorf * Façade as well as Portal and Balcony at the Essen Minster Schatzhaus. * Façade of Haus Atlantis in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

* Soldier Memorial in

Cleves Kleve (; traditional ; ; ; ; ; Low Rhenish: ''Kleff'') is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. From the 11th century onwards, Cleves was capital of a county and later a duchy ...

* His last large project (1965): Entrance doors and décor of the chapel at the Catholic Social Institute (KSI) of the

Archdiocese of Cologne The Archdiocese of Cologne (; ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and northern Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. History At an early date Christianity came to Cologne with the Roman soldiers ...

Bad Honnef Bad Honnef () is a spa town in Germany near Bonn in the Rhein-Sieg district, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the border of the neighbouring state Rhineland-Palatinate. To the north it lies on the slopes of the Drachenfels (Siebengebirge), ...

References

* The information in this article is largely based on a translation of its German version.

External links

Biography & Available works by Ewald Mataré
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matare, Ewald 1887 births 1965 deaths Deaths from pulmonary embolism 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters German male sculptors German modern sculptors Artists from Aachen Painters from North Rhine-Westphalia Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Academic staff of Kunstakademie Düsseldorf 20th-century German sculptors