Werner Heuser (1880–1964) was a German painter, engraver, drafter, and professor. He had been a professor of art at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Art Academy) from 1926 until 1937, and he was removed from his position by the National Socialists for being a "degenerate artist". After World War II, he rebuilt the academy, serving as the Director between 1946 until 1949.

Early life and education

Werner Heuser was born 11 November 1880 in Gummersbach,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

to Eugenie Hoestermann and Franz Eugen Heuser. His father was the editor of the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung newspaper. When Heuser was one year old his father ran off with his neighbor's wife, emigrated to New Braunfels, Texas and changed his name to Eugen Kailer. As a result of family issues, Werner Heuser was sent to live with his paternal family in Bonn, Germany. He attended high school in Bonn and Siegburg. He studied at Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) in Dresden and at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Art Academy) with

Peter Janssen Johann Peter Theodor Janssen (12 December 1844, Düsseldorf – 19 February 1908, Düsseldorf) was a German historical painter. Biography Janssen was born in Düsseldorf, son of the engraver (1817–1894), by whom he was first instructed befo ...

Adolf Maennchen Theodor Gustav Alwin Adolf Maennchen (7 September 1860, Rudolstadt - 30 March 1920, Düsseldorf) was a German landscape and Genre art, genre painter. Life and work He was born to Carl Maennchen, a Master Tanner (occupation), tanner, and his w ...

, and

Eduard Gerhardt Eduard Gerhardt (29 April 1813 in Erfurt – 6 March 1888 in Munich) was a German painter, lithographer and architect. Biography He began his career as a lithographer, and then studied architecture at Cologne and under Semper at Dresden ...

. On 11 October 1907 he married in Düsseldorf, to Mira Sohn-Rethel, the daughter of painter Karl Rudolf Sohn. Together they had two children, Klaus Heuser and

Ursula Benser Ursula Benser, née Ursula Maria Luise Heuser (1915–2001) was a German painter and draftsperson. She worked in pastels, watercolor, and gouache, on paper or canvas. She was born on 1 August 1915 in Düsseldorf, Germany, to parents Mira (née ...

(née Heuser). Around 1907, Werner Heuser travelled to Rome and met up with his brother-in-laws Karli Sohn-Rethel, and Otto Sohn-Rethel, and artists

Karl Hofer Karl Christian Ludwig Hofer or ''Carl Hofer'' (11 October 1878, Karlsruhe – 3 April 1955, Berlin) was a German expressionist painter. He was director of the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts. One of the most prominent painters of expressionis ...

, Hermann Haller and Maurice Sterne.

Career

In 1919, Heuser was one of the first members of the

Young Rhineland Young Rhineland (Das Junge Rheinland) was an association of avant-garde artists formed in Düsseldorf on 24 February 1919. History The poet Herbert Eulenberg was one of the main instigators of the group, along with painter Arthur Kaufmann an ...

(Das Junge Rheinland) artists' group, alongside

Heinrich Nauen Heinrich Nauen (1 June 1880, in Krefeld – 26 November 1940, in Kalkar) was a German Expressionist artist. He created oils, watercolors, and prints; as well as murals and mosaics. A large part of his output consists of landscapes and floral stil ...

Adolf Uzarski Adolf Uzarski (April 14, 1885 – July 14, 1970) was a German writer, artist, and illustrator associated with the New Objectivity movement. He was born in Ruhrort bei Duisburg and studied at the Cologne School of Architecture before enrolling in 1 ...

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, Carlo Mense,

Walter Ophey Walter Hugo Ophey (25 March 1882 – 11 January 1930) was a German painter and graphic designer, known for Rhenish Expressionism. He was a member of the Sonderbund group and Young Rhineland art groups. Biography Walter Hugo Ophey was born o ...

, and architect

Wilhelm Kreis Wilhelm Kreis (17 March 1873 – 13 August 1955) was a prominent German architect and professor of architecture, active through four political systems in German history: the Wilhelmine era, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the founda ...

. In 1926, he was appointed to the Düsseldorf Art Academy, as a professor of drawing and composition. Some of his students included Herbert Zangs, Else Harney, Georg Meistermann, Caspar Walter Rauh, among others.

''Entartete Kunst'' exhibit

Between 1927 until 1937, Germany was experienced a rise in Nazi Party power. In 1927, the National Socialist Society for German Culture was formed, in order to halt the "corruption of art" and inform the people about the relationship between race and art through pseudoscientific racist theories. Starting in 1933, the group labeled modern artwork and artists as "Jewish," "degenerate," and "Bolshevik". In 1937, the Nazi officials purged German museums and removed the art they considered to be degenerate and formed a special exhibit of the work called, '' Entartete Kunst.'' ''Entartete Kunst'' featured 650 works of art and travelled throughout Germany, and was popular with viewers. Heuser was one of the artists in the exhibition and he was labeled as a "degenerate". That same year, 1937, Heuser's contract work as a professor was not extended.

World War II and post-war

During World War II he initially was staying in Sanary-sur-Mer, followed by a stay in Allgäu and Breisgau. In 1943, the Sohn-Rethel home at Goltsteinstraße 23 in Düsseldorf, where he lived and worked, was fire bombed destroying his art work and his art collection. He followed his family to

Bollschweil Bollschweil is a municipality in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located approximately 10 km south of Freiburg. History The earliest surviving written record of the settlement appears in the records of th ...

by 1945. After the end of National Socialist rule, he returned to Düsseldorf and by 1 November 1945 he resumed teaching. He was appointed as Director of the Düsseldorf Art Academy on 7 January 1946, and by 31 January 1946, the school was rebuilt and reopened.

Death and legacy

Werner Heuser died of heart failure in Düsseldorf on 11 June 1964 and is buried at Nordfriedhof Düsseldorf cemetery. His daughter

(1915–2001) was a painter, and she was married to photographer

Walther Benser Walther Benser (23 October 1912 – 21 April 2002) was a photographer, photo journalist and merchant from Germany. He traveled as a freelance photographer with a Leica camera, gave slide lecture tours and established the stock photo agency ZEFA. ...

. His work is included in various collections, including the Library of Congress.

Exhibitions

* 1912 – Internationale Kunstausstellung des Sonderbundes Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler (International art exhibition of the Sonderbund West German art lovers and artists),

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, Germany * 1941 – Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (Great German Art Exhibition), Munich, Germany

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heuser, Werner 1880 births 1964 deaths Kunstakademie Düsseldorf alumni Academic staff of Kunstakademie Düsseldorf Artists from Düsseldorf 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists