Karl Völker

Karl Völker ( born October 17, 1889 in Giebichenstein in Halle an der Saale, † December 28, 1962 in Weimar ) was a German painter, printmaker and architect.

Life and work

Peoples was the son of Halle master painter in whose operation he received training as a decorative painter from 1904 to 1910. After two years of professional activity in Leipzig from 1912 to 1913, he attended the Dresden Arts and Crafts School in the master studio for mural painting at Richard Guhr. In 1913 he returned to Halle and has since worked independently.

In 1914, Karl received peoples from the city architect of the city of Halle ( Saale ), Wilhelm Jost, the first public commission for the cupola frescoes in the large chapel at the cemetery Gertraud. It is the only work of the mural by peoples, which is obtained in Halle ( Saale) today. Due to poor lighting conditions many decades it was, however, through hardly noticed. One of the character of the structure contradictory lighting system that was installed during the restoration of 1979/80 - there was even the intention to install a suspended ceiling - finally prevented almost completely the view of the dome. Only in the course of thanks to the activities of the charitable Feuerbestattungsverein Hall Association in 1991 onset of renovation work, the work could be made available to viewers. ".

The interior of the village church of Schmirma (city Mücheln ( Geisel ) in Saalekreis ) was designed in color in the 1920s by Karl peoples. Also located in the Church 14 expressive ceiling paintings Völkers. For the preservation and restoration of these and other works by the artist threatened by decay is a membership organization founded in June 2006, the last but not least also aims to make the work of Karl Völkers known to the public.

In 1919 he gründere with Richard Horn, Martin Knauthe, Paul Horn and Charles Oesterling the Halle group of artists with connections to the November groups. In the 1920s he created especially expressive woodcarvings with socially critical content and influenced by constructivism industrial images. He also worked with Otto Haesler to social housing projects.

In the era of National Socialism a part of Völkers works was outlawed as degenerate art. Wolfgang Will Rich published in 1937 Nazi propaganda pamphlet "cleansing the temple of art " calls him one of its " industrial images " was shown in the exhibition " Degenerate Art". He survived this time, not least through contracts for the design of churches, including the parapet painting very well preserved in the church of Holleben on the western outskirts of Halle. 1944 peoples was even drafted into the Volkssturm, a prisoner of war he was in the American internment of Bad Kreuznach.

After the war, people employed at first, especially with re- architecture-related work. He participated in competitions for urban renewal of the city hall and created murals for the hall 's intimate theater, stained glass windows for the Erfurt Thomas Church and further developments on public buildings. In the 1950s created gesso drawings, which are to be regarded as the late work Karl Völkers. In 1961 Karl Völker the Art Prize of the City Hall.

Color design

In 1920, the color design of the town hall and other houses on the market square in Halle was. In collaboration with Bruno Taut in 1922 followed the color scheme of the Magdeburg City Hall. In this context, a first contact with Otto Haesler revealed. For Haeslers new estate Italian Garden in Celle gave Karl peoples held in blue and red color scheme. From 1928 to 1932 he worked as a designer at office Haesler in Celle with the processing of a number of housing projects (Berlin hazel Horst, Karlsruhe Dammerstock, Kassel Rothenberg, Celle Blum warehouses field Rathenow Friedrich -Ebert- settlement ). In 1931 he participated with Haesler at the Berlin Building Exhibition. 1932 was the exit from the office Haesler and the return to Halle.

Reception

A major retrospective of his work on Karl peoples and offered the Stiftung Moritzburg - Kunstmuseum of Saxony- Anhalt, with an exhibition from March 25 to June 17, 2007 under the title "Utopia and objectivity. Karl Völker 1889-1962 ". Was accompanied this exhibition of the life's work of Charles peoples. Due to smaller thematic exhibitions in several galleries in Halle, as to his Halleschen landscapes, his chalk drawings and to his beach pictures On the website for the exhibition of the Moritzburg Foundation states: " Karl peoples is one of the most interesting German artists of the mid-20th century, whose works themselves connoisseurs, however, is often only in single images present."

On the Moritzburg in Halle / Saale, the tablets with the Karl peoples crafted, beautifully restored ceiling paintings of the Church of Schmirma be shown October 17, 2013 to January 5, 2014. They had been severely damaged by wet due to a leaking church roof, heating induced by soot and dense layers of cobwebs.