Richard Klein (artist)

Richard Klein ( born January 7, 1890 in Munich, † 31 July 1967 Weßling ) was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist and medalist. From 1935 he was director of the State School of Applied Arts in Munich. As for the Nazi regime important artist, he was on the so-called Gottbegnadeten list.

Career

After attending a specialized school for sculpture and stucco craft Klein worked as a plasterer. From 1908 he studied under Angelo Jank and Franz von Stuck at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1917, Klein worked in his own studio in Munich. He produced during the 1st World War, among other things patriotic postcards. Since 1919 he was a member of the Munich Secession.

In 1935 he was appointed director of the State School of Applied Arts in Munich, according to the survey of state school to college as an academy for applied art by the Nazi rulers also professor. From 1937 he was with Albert Speer, Fritz Todt and Leonhard Gall to the artistic advisory board of the journal Art in the Third Reich.

Klein was a kingdom culture and Senator from 1936 Presidential Council of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts.

Works and exhibitions

Klein created sculptures in bronze and terracotta, paintings preferably in oil and etchings, with which he participated in exhibitions of the Munich Secession in 1915. In the 1930s and 1940s, the art understanding of National Socialism undertook Great German Art Exhibition in Munich's Haus der Deutschen Kunst showed Richard Klein's works.

Theme of Klein's first medals were politicians and artists of his time. From 1933 he designed especially Nazi emblems, medals and victory trophies, including the sash for the winner of the brown band, the distinctive mark of the " Great German Art Exhibition " and the Nazi version of Munich city coat of arms.

Richard Klein designed some of the published in Nazi Germany Stamps, including the race for the brown belt issued annually commemoratives and definitives with the portrait of Adolf Hitler.