Will Grohmann
Will Grohmann ( born December 4, 1887 in Bautzen, † May 6, 1968 in Berlin) ( pseudonym: Olaf Rydberg ) was a German art historian and art critic.
Life
Grohmann was born as the son of the area sergeant and later post on the secretary Flinzstraße in Bautzen. The family later moved to Dresden, where Will Grohmann visited the Cross through high school. He studied in Leipzig and Paris art and literature, history, philosophy and Oriental Studies. The state examination, he passed with distinction. In 1914 he received a doctorate in phil. From 1914 he worked as a teacher in Dresden - mainly in the reform school, King George, where he, Latin, Hebrew and Sanskrit taught French, English, Italian, Spanish. Erich Kästner was one of his students.
By evening classes and lectures, he took an early part in the Dresden 's cultural life. He participated in the Dresden Secession, sought the meeting with young painters of the artists group Die Brücke, was sponsor of the Bauhaus and took the dancer Mary Wigman in Dresden.
As a committed innovator in all aspects of art, he was dismissed in 1933 from all offices. He dealt with archaeological issues in the Reich Chamber, and wrote, among other things about the connections between the oriental and early Christian cultures.
Until his dismissal in 1933 he was assistant professor at the Dresden Art Gallery and worked on the artist Encyclopedia of Thieme and Becker. In 1924, he founded the band over the drawings of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner His famous artist monographs. In addition to Kirchner Grohmann made friends with the painters Karl Schmidt- Rottluff, Otto Dix, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Oskar Schlemmer and Willi Baumeister, when the public barely knew anything of the impending new art movements. He worked tirelessly for the better understanding of the new art, wrote catalogs for exhibitions, published in international art journals such as Cahiers d'Art, and made especially German Expressionism in France mainstream. At that time, the opinions of the artists of bridge and Bauhaus were far apart, and Grohmann managed to make many threads. At the closest was the relationship with Paul Klee, as were both very similar as art philosopher. Grohmann had a special ability to put oneself into the mind of the artist, and to connect with his profound knowledge, the artists and the audience.
In 1935, he wrote under the pseudonym Olaf Rydberg a monograph on Palucca, with whom he was romantically involved at the time. Nevertheless, he took in the Third Reich an ambivalent attitude. For one, he maintained contact with the 'degenerate' artists ostracized and remained an important confidant and source of information for them. On the other hand, he came to terms with the political system by embarking on the path of political expediency and the agreement with the Nazi Kunstschriftstellertum was looking for.
After 1945 he was appointed rector of the Academy of Art in Dresden factory. However, due to political differences, he moved in 1947 in the Western part of Berlin. He was at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin -Charlottenburg professor of art history. He was also a member of the documenta - Council participated in the Documenta exhibitions in Kassel, the Venice Biennale, in international exhibitions as a consultant from the U.S. to Japan. He was referred to as the Pope and doyen of German art criticism. In the 50s of the 20th century he delivered partly bitter debates with the representational painter Karl Hofer to evaluate the representational and abstract art. The latter looked Grohmann as the only way forward.
He felt also new talents such as Gerhard Richter. The Museum of Modern Art in New York made him an honorary member. Grohmann received the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. On the occasion of his 80th birthday, the Will- Grohmann - prize was donated. After his death in 1968 the Grohmann archive in Stuttgart State Gallery was established and endowed a scholarship for young artists.
He promoted his writings the abstract art in Germany. His publications include monographs on Paul Klee, Willi Baumeister, Henry Moore, Heinz Trökes, Wassily Kandinsky and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Grohmann maintained a long-standing friendship with the Greek- French art critic Christian Zervos.