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Hans Baluschek (9 May 1870 – 28 September 1935) was a German painter, graphic artist and writer. Baluschek was a prominent representative of German Critical Realism, and as such he sought to portray the life of the common people with vivid frankness.Hans Baluschek: '' Im Kampf um meine Kunst,'' in: ''
Die Gartenlaube (; ) was the first successful mass-circulation German newspaper and a forerunner of all modern magazines.Sylvia Palatschek: ''Popular Historiographies in the 19th and 20th Centuries'' (Oxford: Berghahn, 2010) p. 41 It was founded by publisher ...
'' Nr. 27, 1920; Seiten 447–450.
His paintings centered on the working class of Berlin. He belonged to the
Berlin Secession The Berlin Secession was an art movement established in Germany on May 2, 1898. Formed in reaction to the Association of Berlin Artists, and the restrictions on contemporary art imposed by Wilhelm II, German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, 65 artist ...
movement, a group of artists interested in modern developments in art. Yet during his lifetime he was most widely known for his fanciful illustrations of the popular children's book '' Little Peter's Journey to the Moon'' (German title: ''Peterchens Mondfahrt''). Hans Baluschek, after 1920, was an active member of the
Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...
.


Life


Childhood and youth (1870–1889)

Hans Baluschek was born on 9 May 1870 in Breslau, at the time Germany's sixth-largest city (now
Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...
, Poland), to Franz Baluschek, a surveyor and railway engineer and his wife.''Ein echter Berliner aus Breslau 1870–1893.'' In: Bröhan 2002, S. 14–24 He had three sisters, two of whom died of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
in childhood. After the
Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
and foundation of the German Empire in 1871, Franz became an independent engineer for the railways, and lived for a time in the much smaller town of Haynau (now
Chojnów Chojnów () is a small town in Legnica County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is located on the Skora river, a tributary of the Kaczawa at an average altitude of above sea level. Chojnów is the administrative seat of ...
, Poland). It was during his childhood that Hans Baluschek developed a fascination with railways that later would be shown in his paintings. In 1876 the family, with 6-year-old Hans, moved to Berlin, where during the next decade they changed their residence five times, living in a succession of newly built apartments developed expressly for workers. Berlin found itself in the midst of an economic crisis following the
Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the "L ...
, but Franz Baluschek was fortunate in maintaining railway employment and was able to support his family in ''kleinbürgerlich'' (petit bourgeois) style amid the family's less affluent proletarian neighbors. Following primary school, Hans Baluschek at age 9 entered the Askanische Gymnasium, a secondary school in the
Tempelhof-Schöneberg Tempelhof-Schöneberg () is the seventh borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former boroughs of Tempelhof and Schöneberg. Situated in the south of the city it shares borders with the boroughs of Mitte and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in ...
district of Berlin, which offered curricula in the humanities and natural sciences. During the 1880s, young Baluschek was profoundly impressed by a Berlin exhibition of paintings by Russian artist
Vasily Vereshchagin Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (; 26 October 184213 April 1904) was a Russian painters, Russian painter, war artist, and traveller. The Violence in art, graphic nature of his Realism (arts), realist scenes led to many of them never being printe ...
, whose works portrayed the horrors of war, particularly the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. These paintings were widely debated in Berlin artistic circles, where their graphic realism came as a shock to some. Baluschek began to copy pictures and to paint his own war scenes in the manner of Vereshchagin, whose influence may be detected in some of Baluschek's later works. In 1887, his father took a job with the railway on the large German island of
Rügen Rügen (; Rani: ''Rȯjana'', ''Rāna''; , ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic ci ...
, and the family moved to nearby
Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...
, where Baluschek completed his ''Gymnasium'' education. In Stralsund he was influenced by instructor Max Schütte, who taught his students the principles of socialism, particularly emphasizing the relationship between economic and social issues — and who was ultimately dismissed because of his left-wing political views. Baluschek and his classmates devoted themselves to studying the political works of
Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using pre-reform Russian orthography. ; ), usually referr ...
and Zola which were popular at the time. When Baluschek passed his ''Abitur'' (school-leaving exam) in 1889 and graduated from the ''Gymnasium'', he stated that he wished to become a painter.


Early years as an artist (1890–1894)

After graduating, Baluschek was admitted to the
Berlin University of the Arts The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the second largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research uni ...
(Universität der Künste), where he became acquainted with the German painter Martin Brandenburg, with whom he was to maintain a lifelong friendship. The university, however, remained quite conservative despite many new trends in the arts, such as the widely popular French
Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
. Instruction focused on traditional techniques and art history. Baluschek lived in the
Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Te ...
district of Berlin. His earliest known sketch book dates from 1889 and includes a self-portrait showing him in student dress. Among his early works are military and war scenes, along with portrayals of street life in Stralsund and Berlin. In the 1890s he produced illustrations of class differences and proletarian life in Berlin, in which he finally departed from traditional techniques. Baluschek left the arts university in 1893 and began to work as an independent artist, now focusing almost exclusively on social-class differences — which made him an outsider in the conservative arts scene of
Wilhelmine The Wilhelmine period or Wilhelmian era () comprises the period of German history between 1888 and 1918, embracing the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II in the German Empire from the death of Kaiser Friedrich III until the end of World War I and Wilh ...
Germany. Meanwhile, he was reading the left-leaning works of
Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of Naturalism (literature), literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into h ...
,
Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using pre-reform Russian orthography. ; ), usually referr ...
,
Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...
,
Johannes Schlaf Johannes Schlaf (21 June 1862 in Querfurt – 2 February 1941 in Querfurt) was a German playwright, author, and translator and an important exponent of Naturalism. As a translator he was important for exposing the German-speaking world to the wo ...
und
Arno Holz Arno Hermann Oscar Alfred Holz (26 April 1863 – October 1929) was a German naturalist poet and dramatist. He is best known for his poetry collection ''Phantasus'' (1898). He was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel prize in litera ...
and was heavily influenced by the literature of Naturalism.


Artistic development (1894–1914)

The main period of Bakluschek's artistic development began in 1894 and extended for two decades, until the beginning of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
in 1914. Baluschek identified with opposition to traditional representative art and forged relationships with artists in the circle dominated by impressionist
Max Liebermann Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...
(later classified by the Nazis as a practitioner of " degenerate art"). Baluschek's paintings from this period show life on the outskirts of Berlin, where construction of factories, apartment complexes and railroads was booming. His favorite themes included factories, cemeteries and above all the common working people of Berlin. For example, his 1894 work ''Noon'' (''Mittag'') depicts women with children bringing lunch baskets to their men employed at the factories, and evokes the "endless drudgery" of working-class life, with its constant repetition of daily tasks.''Bilderbuch des sozialen Lebens 1894–1914.'' In: Bröhan 2002, S. 25–54 With ''Railwayman's Evening Free'' (''Eisenbahner-Feierabend'') in 1895, this theme is represented by an individual worker who returns exhausted from work against a backdrop of railroad installations, smoke stacks and overhead tram wires, and is greeted by anxious children. At the time Baluschek maintained a friendly relationship with the avant-garde poet
Richard Dehmel Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (18 November 1863 – 8 February 1920) was a German poet and writer. Life A forester's son, Richard Dehmel was born in Hermsdorf near Wendisch Buchholz (now a part of Münchehofe) in the Brandenburg Province, ...
, known for poems such as ''The Working Man'' (''Der Arbeitmann'') and ''Fourth Class'' (''Vierter Klasse''). Baluschek produced a cover illustration for Dehmel's ''Woman and the World'' (''Weib und Welt''), a collection of poems that appeared in 1896. Baluschek developed relationships with several left-leaning writers, among them the poet and playwright
Arno Holz Arno Hermann Oscar Alfred Holz (26 April 1863 – October 1929) was a German naturalist poet and dramatist. He is best known for his poetry collection ''Phantasus'' (1898). He was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel prize in litera ...
, best known for ''Phantasus'' (1898), a poetry collection describing the starving artists of the Wedding district of Berlin. Holz was for Baluscheck a key figure of literary naturalism and a spiritual mentor. About this time, Baluschek developed his own painting style, using watercolor and
gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouach ...
techniques; he seldom painted in oils. The surface was first prepared with oil-chalk pencil, which Baluschek believed was particularly receptive to the gray urban tones of working-class Berlin. In the second half of the 1890s Baluschek progressively gained recognition in the Berlin arts scene, especially after exhibitions in 1895, 1896 and 1897 with Martin Brandenburg. Although Baluschek had been shown earlier in small galleries, these were his first exposure to a larger public. While Liebermann and other artists had painted proletarian themes, Baluschek's work now was seen as new and unusual. The Berlin art collector Karl Bröhan noted that the "direct honesty" of Baluschek's "slices of life" were "disturbingly provocative." His portrayal of the inhumane living environment and bleak working conditions behind society's often glitzy facade showed, said art critic Willy Pastor, "that more was hidden behind the scenes than a cozy story."Willy Pastor: ''Studienköpfe.'' Berlin 1902. Zitiert nach Bröhan 2002, S. 39. At these exhibitions, art critics wandered with amazement from picture to picture, which some of them found lacking in taste and refinement. In such works as ''Hasenheide Amusement Park'' (1895), a superficial holiday mood contrasts with the sour expressions of the supposed merrymakers. In ''Here a family can make coffee'' (1895), the worn and lined faces of the women evoke a similar mood, while in ''Tingle-tangle'' (1890), the patriotically decorated interior of a nightspot contrasts with a risqué performance by a prostitute. In ''Berlin Amusement Park'', a cigarette-smoking adolescent worker contrasts with a child blowing up a balloon, and the watercolor ''New Houses'' (1895) depicts monotonous rows of empty new tenements near a factory. At the end of the 19th century the Berlin art scene split into two camps due to the dissatisfaction of innovative artists with officially sanctioned exhibits in the city's museums. Under the leadership of impressionist
Walter Leistikow Walter Rudolf Leistikow (1865–1908) was a German landscape painter, graphic artist, designer and art critic. Biography His father was a pharmacist who owned a Kräuterlikör manufacturing plant in Kujawien that provided much of the family's ...
, "The XI" art group was established in 1892, and Baluschek was invited to participate in XI exhibits. In 1898 many members of XI, also led by Leistikow, formed the
Berlin Secession The Berlin Secession was an art movement established in Germany on May 2, 1898. Formed in reaction to the Association of Berlin Artists, and the restrictions on contemporary art imposed by Wilhelm II, German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, 65 artist ...
 — among them Baluschek, who became the group's secretary. The Secession also enlisted German artists
Käthe Kollwitz Käthe Kollwitz ( born Schmidt; 8 July 186722 April 1945) was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including ''The Weavers'' and ''The Peasa ...
, Otto Nagel and
Heinrich Zille Heinrich Rudolf Zille (10 January 1858 – 9 August 1929) was a German lithographer, illustrator, caricaturist, painter, and photographer. Celebrated as a keen observer of urban life, Zille became best known for his empathetic yet satirical dep ...
, and championed
French impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject ...
,
pointillism Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism ...
and
symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...
. Baluschek regularly debuted his work in Secession exhibitions, becoming a foil for conservative critics. For example, Waldemar Count von Oriola, a Reichstag deputy from the National Liberal Party, termed his work a "rampant travesty of aesthetic norms. In 1900 Baluschek fell in love with stage actress Charlotte von Pazatka-Lipinsky. He painted an artistic declaration of love for her in the form of a fairytale picture, in which he appeared as an elf giving a rose to a lady resembling Pzatka-Lipinsky. They were married in 1902 and moved into a house in the Tiergarten district of Berlin. However, their initially romantic marriage proved childless and personally unsatisfying, and they were divorced in 1913. Baluschek was profiled in 1904 as the first in a monograph series by Hermann Esswein titled ''Modern Illustrators'', which later included
Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( ; ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His 1893 work ''The Scream'' has become one of Western art's most acclaimed images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inher ...
,
Toulouse-Lautrec ''Comte'' Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), known as Toulouse-Lautrec (), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful an ...
and
Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley ( ; 21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Woodblock printing in Japan, Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. ...
. Esswein highlighted not only Baluschek's popular fairytale illustrations, but also his gritty renderings of Berlin working-class life.Hermann Esswein: ''Hans Baluschek''. Piper, München und Leipzig 1910. In 1908 Baluschek became a member of the board of directors of the Berlin Secession, in which capacity he became involved in increasingly contentious debate. The advent of
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 ...
led to arguments among Secession members. For example,
Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, drawing, draftsman, printmaker, sculpture, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the m ...
complained of "one brazen impudence after another" by the new breed of painters, and Liebermann obstructed a Secession exhibit featuring
Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...
. In 1910, a more avant-garde splinter group, the New Secession, led by Georg Tappert and Max Pechstein, staged an "exhibition of works rejected by the Berlin Secession." Internal controversy peaked in 1913, precipitating the resignation of 42 artists from the Secession, including the entire board of directors, among them Baluschek. That same year Baluschek, then 43, married Irene Drösse, a 25-year-old former art student. Their marriage endured and during World War I Irene gave birth to two daughters.


Development during World War I (1914–1918)

The First World War had a profound influence on the arts scene in Berlin and on individual artists. Germany's declaration of war on Russia and France led to a release of pent-up tensions that had been building for decades due to strained international relations and repeated crises. Even in the artistic community, there were optimistic patriotic expressions, although a few German artists, such as Kollwitz and Nagel, did not participate in the wave of popular enthusiasm. Baluschek and Liebermann were among those who contributed to art critic Paul Cassierer's journal ''Wartime'' (''Kriegszeit''), an attempt to show support for the war effort by the artistic community, and to the weekly publication ''Artists Journal of the War'' (''Künstlerblätter zum Krieg''). Several former Secession members, including Beckmann and
Erich Heckel Erich Heckel (31 July 1883 – 27 January 1970) was a German people, German Painting, painter and printmaker, and a founding member of the group ''Die Brücke'' ("The Bridge") which existed 1905–1913. His work was part of the art competition ...
, volunteered for the German Army.''Kriegszeit 1914–1918.'' In: Bröhan 2002, S. 69–79. Baluschek's patriotic stance was at odds with his longstanding aversion to the Hohenzollern monarchy, but perhaps reflected an underlying resentment of the pervasive influence of French art in Germany. In 1915, he contributed nearly two dozen drawings to a war map published under the auspices of a hospital association. It included illustrations of modern weapons accompanied by a "glowing patriotic text," and grisly depictions of battle scenes and field hospitals. Although in his 40s, Baluschek volunteered for military service, and in 1916 was posted as a reservist first to the Western Front, then to the Eastern Front. During his time in the Army, he drafted more solemn depictions of battle scenes. (His close friend Martin Brandenburg, a fellow Secessionist, was severely wounded in the fighting, losing an eye, and was to die from his wounds after the war in 1919.) Baluschek's 1917 painting ''To the Homeland'' (''Zur Heimat'') depicts a soldier's coffin bearing medals being loaded for transport to Germany, and evokes the soldier's patriotic sacrifice. The end of the war in 1918, with its catastrophic outcome for Germany, shook Baluscheck deeply, and he kept his distance from the revolution that spawned the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...
. His artistic output shrank to a few illustrations and a ''Self-portrait'' showing him with a somber expression. Baluschek Der Krieg Tafel 1 Bild.jpg, ''Attack'' – (Depicting German troops) Baluschek Der Krieg Tafel 12 Bild.jpg, ''Field Hospital'' Baluschek Der Krieg Tafel 9 Bild.jpg, ''War'' Baluschek Der Krieg Tafel 3 Bild.jpg, ''Defeat'' – (Depicting Russian troops) Baluschek Der Krieg Tafel 2 Bild.jpg, ''Punishment'' – (Depicting killed
Francs-tireurs (; ) were irregular military formations deployed by France during the early stages of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). The term was revived and used by partisans to name two major French Resistance movements set up to fight against Nazi G ...
)
Baluschek Der Krieg Tafel 6 Bild.jpg, ''Snowed In'' Baluschek Der Krieg Tafel 7 Bild.jpg, ''December'' Baluschek Der Krieg Tafel 10 Bild.jpg, ''The Church Window''


The Weimar years (1918–35)

For Baluschek the artist, the following years were dominated by illustrations of fairytales, and those he contributed to ''Little Peter's Journey to the Moon'' (''Peterchens Mondfahrt'') in 1919 are still considered classics of children's literature.''In einer besseren Welt. Phantasie und Märchen.'' In: Bröhan 2002, S. 80–85 Baluschek illustrated other children's books, among them ''What the Calendar Tells Us'' (''Was der Kalender erzählt''), ''Into Fairytale-land'' (''In's Märchenland'') and ''About Little People, Little Animals, and Little Things'' (''Von Menschlein, Tierlein, Dinglein''), appearing in 1919, 1922 and 1924 respectively. He also illustrated a 1925 edition of ''Grimm's Fairytales.'' Meanwhile, he produced posters and promotional materials for the theater and cinema, along with drawings of costumes for producers, and imaginative scenes of Berlin life for the famed Lutter & Wegner wine bar. Like many other artists, Baluschek found himself in crisis after the war, but he seized opportunities, and decided to become active in cultural education. He supported production of the film '' Mother Krause's Journey to Happiness'' (1919), which depicted the cruelty of poverty and lauded Communism as a saving force. In 1920, he was among founders of the People's School of Greater Berlin (Volkshochschule Gross-Berlin) and taught painting there.''Für die Republik. 1920–1935.'' In: Bröhan 2002, S. 86–109 Baluschek also was among founders of the League for Proletarian Literature (Bund für proletarische Literatur), and in 1924 was appointed to the literary advisory board of the Social Democratic Party's "book circle." He joined the party in 1920 and served as chairman of the artists representatives from the
Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Te ...
district. He became an advisor to Mayor Gustav Böss, and played a leading role in foundation of the Welfare Bureau for Berlin Artists, of which he was for a time chairman. File:Peterchens Mondfahrt - Die Mondkanone, engl. The Moon Cannon, Illustration von Hans Bartuschek, Verlagsanstalt Hermann Klemm K.G., Leipzig.JPG, ''The Moon Cannon'' File:Hans Baluschek, Illustration - Little Peter's trip to the Moon, Night.JPG, ''Night'' File:Peterchens Mondfahrt - Gemälde S. 52 -, Das Schloss der Nachtfee, engl. The Palace of the Night Fairy, Illustration von Hans Bartuschek, Verlagsanstalt Hermann Klemm.JPG, ''Palace of the Night Fairy'' Hans Baluschek Peterchens Mondfahrt Sternwiese.jpg, ''Starry Meadow'' Peterchens Mondfahrt - Gemälde S. 108 -, Der Kampf mit dem Mondmann, engl. The Battle with the Man-on-the-Moon, Illustration von Hans Bartuschek, Verlag Hermann Klemm.JPG, ''The Battle with the Man-in-the-Moon'' Hans Baluschek, Illustration - Little Peter's trip to the Moon, Wieder Daheim.JPG, ''Back Home'' File:Hans Baluschek, Illustration - Peter and Anneli's Journey to the Moon.jpg, An illustration from ''Journey to the Moon'' Baluschek illustrated a number of periodicals, including the Social Democratic ''Illustrated National Banner'' (''Illustrierte Reichsbannerzeitung''), and also school books and novels; his fascination with rail transport shows in illustrations from this period. He belonged to the left wing of the Social Democrats, and was comfortable with activities of the Communists, a sizeable political force in Weimar Germany. His painting ''Future'' (''Zukunft'') appeared as the title page of the Communist journal ''Hammer and Sickle'' in 1920. Baluschek was among 10 German left-leaning artists who contributed to a 1924 international antiwar conference in Amsterdam. In 1929–31 he was director of the Greater Berlin Art Exhibition. File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H0806-0501, Berlin, Jury der Berliner Sezession.jpg, Judges of the
Berlin Secession The Berlin Secession was an art movement established in Germany on May 2, 1898. Formed in reaction to the Association of Berlin Artists, and the restrictions on contemporary art imposed by Wilhelm II, German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, 65 artist ...
(1908), left to right:
Fritz Klimsch Fritz Klimsch (10 February 1870 – 30 March 1960) was a German sculptor, and the younger brother of the painter Paul Klimsch. He was one of the famous artists in the era of Weimar republic. Early life Klimsch was born on 10 February 1870 in ...
,
August Gaul August Gaul (; October 22, 1869 – October 18, 1922) was a German sculptor and expressionism artist, born in Großauheim (now part of Hanau). August Gaul was a founding member of the Berlin Secession. On close terms with art dealers like Bruno ...
,
Walter Leistikow Walter Rudolf Leistikow (1865–1908) was a German landscape painter, graphic artist, designer and art critic. Biography His father was a pharmacist who owned a Kräuterlikör manufacturing plant in Kujawien that provided much of the family's ...
, Hans Baluschek, Paul Cassirer,
Max Slevogt Max Slevogt (8 October 1868 – 20 September 1932) was a German Impressionist painter and illustrator, best known for his landscapes. He was, together with Lovis Corinth and Max Liebermann, one of the foremost representatives in Germany of t ...
(seated), George Mosson (standing),
Max Kruse Max Bennet Kruse (; born 19 March 1988) is a German former professional association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or forward (association football), forward. Early years Kruse was born in Reinbek, Stormarn (district ...
(standing),
Max Liebermann Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...
(seated), Emil Rudolf Weiß (standing),
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 ...
(standing). File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-13931-0031, Berlin, Große Kunstausstellung, Eröffnung (cropped).jpg,


Proscribed by Nazis

Predictably, after the Nazis came to power in January 1933 they branded Baluschek a "Marxist artist" and classified his work as so-called degenerate art (''entartete Kunst''). He was dismissed from all his posts and banned from exhibiting. Hans Baluschek died on 28 September 1935 in Berlin, aged 65, and was buried in the Wilmersdorf Forest Cemetery in Stahnsdorf, south of Berlin near Potsdam.


Postwar events

Hans Baluschek is not among the most well-known artists of the Berlin Secession. In postwar West Germany he received comparatively little attention, while in East Germany he was lionized for his left-leaning themes, and his works frequently were reproduced as illustrations in various publications. Exhibits of his works were staged on anniversaries of his death, notably in the Märkisches Museum in East Berlin. In 1981, a memorial plaque was placed on a house he had occupied in the
Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Te ...
district of Berlin.''Gedenktafel für Hans Baluschek.'' In: ''
Der Tagesspiegel (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington, D.C., and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, since reunificati ...
'', 27. September 1981.
After reunification, in 2004 a small park in Schöneberg () was named after him.


Selected works

File:Hans Baluschek Anfahrender Schnellzug 1909.jpg, ''The Express Train Arrives'', 1909 File:Hans Baluschek Großstadtwinkel.jpg, ''Corner of the Big City'', 1929 File:Hans Baluschek Bahnhofshalle.jpg, ''Railway Station'', 1929 File:Hans Baluschek Arbeitsnachweis.jpg, ''Employment Office'', 1931 File:Baluschek Kälte.jpg, ''Cold'', 1917 File:Hans Baluschek Beim Weihnachtsbaumverkauf.jpg, ''Christmas Tree Sale'' 1930 File:Hans Baluschek Tiefer Schnee.jpg, ''Deep Snow'', 1918 File:Hans Baluschek Sommerfest.jpg, ''Summer Festival'', 1909 File:1927 Baluschek Alt-Berlin Waisenstrasse anagoria.JPG, ''Orphan Street, Berlin'', 1927 File:Baluschek-Brunnen.jpg, ''Fountain near the City Gate'', 1935


References


Sources

* Margit Bröhan: ''Hans Baluschek. 1870–1935. Maler, Zeichner, Illustrator''. 2. erweiterte Auflage. Bröhan-Museum, Berlin 2002, . * Hermann Esswein: ''Hans Baluschek''. Piper, München und Leipzig 1910. * Hans Mackowski: ''Hans Baluschek.'' In: ''Kunst und Künstler. Illustrierte Monatsschrift für bildende Kunst und Kunstgewerbe.'' Verlag von Bruno Cassirer, Berlin 1903 (Jg. 1), S. 331–338. *
Günter Meißner Günter Meißner (3 July 1936 – 19 November 2015) was a German art historian, who became known as editor-in-chief and publisher of the ''Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon''. Life Born in Hanover, Meißner studierte am Kunsthistorischen Institut de ...
: ''Hans Baluschek''. Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1985. * Friedrich Wendel: ''Hans Baluschek – Eine Monographie''. Dietz Nachf., Berlin 1924.


Further reading

* Hg. von Tobias Hoffmann und Fabian Reifferscheidt. ''GEHEIMCODES. HANS BALUSCHEKS MALEREI NEU LESEN!''. 1st ed. Bröhan-Museum, Berlin 2024. * Bröhan, Margit. ''Hans Baluschek. 1870–1935. Maler, Zeichner, Illustrator''. 2nd ed. Bröhan-Museum, Berlin 2002, * Esswein, Hermann. ''Hans Baluschek''. Piper, Munich and Leipzig 1910. * Gottwaldt, Alfred. ''Poesie der Schiene. Erinnerungen an Hans Baluschek, Eisenbahnmaler in Berlin''. In: EisenbahnGeschichte 41 (2010), pp. 68–72. * Meißner, Günter. ''Hans Baluschek''. Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1985. * Wendel, Friedrich. ''Hans Baluschek – Eine Monographie''. Dietz Nachf., Berlin 1924.


External links

* * * Janca Imwolde, Lutz Walthe
Hans Baluschek
dhm.de * * * Thomas Noßke

In: ''www.epoche2.de'', 2007
Entry for Hans Baluschek
on the
Union List of Artist Names The Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) is a free online database of the Getty Research Institute using a controlled vocabulary, which by 2018 contained over 300,000 artists and over 720,000 names for them, as well as other information about artist ...

Brief biography of Baluschek
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baluschek, Hans 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists 1870 births 1935 deaths Painters from Wrocław Artists from the Province of Silesia German Army personnel of World War I Berlin University of the Arts alumni Artists in the Degenerate Art exhibition