Heinrich Ehmsen (9 August 1886 – 6 May 1964) was a German painter and graphic artist.

Life

Apprenticeship, School of Arts and Crafts

Born in

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

, Ehmsen, he was the son of a master and his wife. He started a four-year apprenticeship as a house painter in 1901. At the same time he attended the Städtische Gewerbeschule in Kiel, where he – at times together with , Werner Lange and Karl Peter Röhl – had an arts and crafts apprenticeship with Gerd Zimmermann.Knut Nievers (ed.): ''Kunstwende. The Kiel Impulse of Expressionism 1915 - 1922''. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1992, . With the help of a scholarship, Ehmsen was able to train as a decorative painter from 1906 to 1909 at the Kunstgewerbeschule Düsseldorf under

Peter Behrens Peter Behrens (14 April 1868 – 27 February 1940) was a leading Germany, German architect, graphic and industrial designer, best known for his early pioneering AEG turbine factory, AEG Turbine Hall in Berlin in 1909. He had a long career, desi ...

Fritz Helmuth Ehmcke Fritz Helmuth Ehmcke (1878–1965) was a German graphical designer, typographer and illustrator. Born in Inowrocław, Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia (now Poland), Ehmcke was educated as a lithographer in Berlin during 1893–1897. In 1900, h ...

and . In 1909, together with Lauweriks, Ehmsen designed a room for the Düsseldorf Exhibition "Christliche Kunst".

Paris, Académie Colarossi and Café du Dôme

During a stay in Paris from 1910 to 1911, Ehmsen studied at the

Académie Colarossi The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...

, and at the

Le Dôme Café Le Dôme Café () or Café du Dôme is a restaurant in Montparnasse, Paris that first opened in . Based on the example established by La Closerie des Lilas (created in 1847) and followed by Café de la Rotonde (created in 1911), Le Select (cre ...

he had contacts with

Ernesto de Fiori Ernesto de Fiori (12 December 1884 – 24 April 1945) was a German painter and sculptor of Italy, Italian and Austrian descent. A dazzling personality himself, he rose to fame as a society portraitist and a major protagonist of Berlin's vi ...

Jules Pascin Julius Mordecai Pincas (March 31, 1885 – June 2, 1930), known as Pascin (, erroneously or ), Jules Pascin, also known as the "Prince of Montparnasse", was a Bulgarian artist of the School of Paris, known for his paintings and drawings. He ...

and

Alfred Flechtheim Alfred Flechtheim (1 April 1878 – 9 March 1937) was a German Jewish art dealer, art collector, journalist and publisher persecuted by the Nazis. Early years Flechtheim was born into a Jewish merchant family; his father, Emil Flechtheim, was a ...

Munich

In 1911, Ehmsen moved to Munich, where he was influenced by the painters of the

Neue Künstlervereinigung München The Neue Künstlervereinigung München (N.K.V.M.), ("New Artists' Association Munich") was an Expressionism art group based in Munich. The registered association was formed in 1909 and prefigured ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), the first ...

and the Blauer Reiter. In particular, he maintained contact with

Marianne von Werefkin Marianne von Werefkin (born Marianna Vladimirovna Veryovkina; , ; – 6 February 1938) was a Russian artist, whose work is celebrated as a central part of German Expressionism. Life and career In Russia 1860–1896 Werefkin was born to ...

and

Alexej von Jawlensky Alexej Georgewitsch von Jawlensky (; 13 March 1864 – 15 March 1941), surname also spelt as Yavlensky, was a Russian expressionist painter active in Germany. He was a key member of the New Munich Artist's Association ( Neue Künstlervereinigung ...

. Jawlensky once characterised the latter: "Yes, Jawlensky is already a human being! – He could be canonised."

World War I

From 1914 to 1918, Ehmsen was stationed as a soldier in the First World War in France, Romania and Flanders. His impressions from the years 1918 to 1919 during the conflicts and the disintegration of the

Bavarian Soviet Republic The Bavarian Soviet Republic (or Bavarian Council Republic), also known as the Munich Soviet Republic (), was a short-lived unrecognised socialist state in Bavaria during the German revolution of 1918–1919. A group of communists and anarchist ...

are reflected in many of his works.

1920s

In 1919, Ehmsen joined the November Group. In 1920, he applied for a residence permit at the Aliens Office at the Munich Police Headquarters for Werefkin, Jawlensky, Helene Nesnakomoff and Andreas Jawlensky which gave them the opportunity to dissolve their Munich flat. On 24 March 1921, Ehmsen signed the guest book of in Wiesbaden as a painter residing in Munich. In the summer of 1921, Jawlensky rented Ehmsen's flat in Munich and from there visited

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

, who was then living in Possenhofen on

Lake Starnberg Lake Starnberg, or ''Starnberger See'' ) — called Lake Würm or ''Würmsee'' until 1962 — is Germany's second-largest body of fresh water, having great depth, and fifth-largest lake by area. It and its surroundings lie in three different Bava ...

. After an extended trip in 1928 to

Martigues Martigues ( in classical norm, ''Lou Martegue'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune northwest of Marseille. It is part of the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the eastern end of the Canal de Caronte. A ...

in southern France Ehmsen moved to Berlin in 1929.

1930s

In 1930, he became a member of the ''Kampfkomitee der Künstler und Geistesarbeiter'' in support of the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

in the Reichstag elections. From 1932 to 1933, he stayed in the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, where he had an exhibition in Moscow and his works were bought by museums. Until his arrest by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

on 18 October 1933, Ehmsen was an artistic employee at Junkers-Werke. Friedrich Peter Drömmers had arranged the job for him. During his imprisonment in the

Columbia concentration camp Columbia concentration camp (also known as Columbia-Haus) was a Nazi concentration camp situated in the Tempelhof area of Berlin. It was one of the first such institutions established by the regime. Development Originally called ''Strafgefängni ...

in Berlin, his works were removed from all German museums. Although eight works were shown in the 1937 exhibition '' Degenerate Art'' it came to be admitted to the

Reich Chamber of Culture The Reich Chamber of Culture (''Reichskulturkammer'', abbreviated as RKK) was a government agency in Nazi Germany. It was established by law on 22 September 1933 in the course of the ''Gleichschaltung'' process at the instigation of Reich Ministe ...

in 1939.Knut Nievers (ed.): ''Kunstwende. Der Kieler Impuls des Expressionismus 1915–1922.'' Wachholtz, Neumünster 1992, .

1940s

From 1940 to 1944 he was a soldier in the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

. He was employed in the propaganda department of the

German military administration in occupied France during World War II The Military Administration in France (; ) was an Military Administration (Nazi Germany), interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western French Third ...

, which received its instructions from the Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda and the MBF jointly. Lieutenant Ehmsen, responsible for visual arts, was a "comrade" of Lieutenant Gerhard Heller and organised with him the trip of French writers to the 1941 European Meeting of Poets. He organised a trip of French painters and sculptors to Germany in 1941, among them

André Derain André Derain (, ; 10 June 1880 – 8 September 1954) was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse. In 2025, all of Derain’s work entered the public domain in the United States. Life and career Early ...

and

Maurice de Vlaminck Maurice de Vlaminck (; 4 April 1876 - 11 October 1958) was a French painter. Along with André Derain and Henri Matisse, he is considered one of the principal figures in the Fauve movement, a group of modern artists who from 1904 to 1908 were ...

. However, the Breker exhibition in Paris was not organised by Ehmsen, but by Karl Epting and the Deutsches Institut.

After the Second World War

In 1945, Ehmsen – together with

Karl Hofer Karl Christian Ludwig Hofer or ''Carl Hofer'' (11 October 1878 – 3 April 1955) was a German expressionist painter. He was director of the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts. One of the most prominent painters of expressionism, he never was a me ...

– was one of the co-founders of 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 ...

Berlin-Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...

, of which he was deputy director as well as head of the liberal arts department. Because of a declaration of solidarity for the Paris ''Congrès mondial des partisans pour la paix'' (World Peace Movement), he was dismissed in 1949. In 1950, Ehmsen became a full member of the

Akademie der Künste der DDR The Akademie der Künste der DDR was the central art academy of the German Democratic Republic (DDR). It existed under different names from 1950 to 1993. Then it merged with the "Akademie der Künste Berlin (West)" to become the Academy of Arts, ...

and took over the

master class ''Master Class'' is a 1995 play by American playwright Terrence McNally, presented as a fictional master class by opera singer Maria Callas near the end of her life, in the 1970s. The play features incidental vocal music by Giuseppe Verdi, Giac ...

for painting.

Legacy

His estate is now held by the

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts () is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The academy's predecessor organization was founded in 1696 by Elector F ...

, and includes seven paintings.

Awards

* 1961:

Patriotic Order of Merit The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...

in Silver

Work

* ''Erschießung'', 1919 * ''Meine Kinder'', 1922 * Radierungen zu

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 ...

's novel ', 1927 * ''Der Angler von Cassis'', 1930 * ''Erschießung des Matrosen Engelhofer'', 1932–1933 * ''Harlekine des Krieges'', 1945

Works in public collections

* Stadtgalerie Kiel *

Exhibitions

* 1913: Galerie

Der Sturm ''Der Sturm'' () was a German List of avant-garde magazines, avant-garde art and literary magazine founded by Herwarth Walden, covering Expressionism, Cubism, Dada and Surrealism, among other artistic movements. It was published between 1910 a ...

, Berlin, Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon, Gruppenausstellung * 1913: Städtisches Museum Essen, Einzelausstellung unter dem Namen Heinz Ehmke. * 1914: Wiener und Münchner Galerien, Holzschnitte * 1920: Galerie Goltz, Munich, Einzelausstellung * 1926: Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Graphic works together with

Emil Nolde Emil Nolde (born Hans Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of the early ...

and

Frans Masereel Frans Masereel (31 July 1889 – 3 January 1972) was a Belgium, Belgian painter and graphic artist who worked mainly in France. He is known especially for his woodcuts which focused on political and social issues, such as war and capitalism. He ...

* 1926:

Kunsthalle Kiel The Kunsthalle zu Kiel is an art museum in the German city of Kiel. With 2,000 m2 of display space, it is the largest museum in the city. It is north of the city centre on Düsternbrooker Weg. It has a lecture hall, a small cafe and a sculptu ...

, ''Holsteinische Künstler'', Gruppenausstellung * 1968:

Staatliches Museum Schwerin The Staatliches Museum Schwerin (State Museum Schwerin) is an art gallery and museum in Schwerin in Germany. It was established by Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1882 its historicist Haupthaus as the ''Staatsgalerie' ...

, ''Gedächnisausstellung aus dem Nachlaß des Künstlers.''Ingeborg Michailoff: ''Heinrich Ehmsen 1888–1964. Gemälde. Gedächnisausstellung aus dem Nachlaß des Künstlers.'' Staatliches Museum, Schwerin 1968.

References

External links

*
Heinrich-Ehmsen-Archiv
im Archiv der

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ehmsen, Heinrich 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German printmakers Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver 1886 births 1964 deaths Artists from Kiel Painters from Schleswig-Holstein Academic staff of the Berlin University of the Arts