Franz Wilhelm Seiwert (March 9, 1894 – July 3, 1933) was a German painter and sculptor in a constructivist style. He was also politically active as a

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

making significant contributions, both graphic and theoretical to ''

Die Aktion ''Die Aktion'' ("The Action") was a German literary and political magazine, edited by Franz Pfemfert and published between 1911 and 1932 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf; it promoted literary Expressionism and stood for left-wing politics. To begin with, '' ...

''.

Franz Wilhelm Seiwert Selbstbildnis 1928

Seiwert was born in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. He was seriously burned in 1901, at the age of seven, in an experimental

radiological In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visib ...

treatment. As a result, he subsequently lived with the fear that his life would be short. He studied from 1910 to 1914 at the Cologne School of Arts and Crafts.Michalski 1994, p. 218 In 1919 he met

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism ...

and took part in

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...

activities. He was invited to exhibit in the large Dada exhibit in Cologne but withdrew at the last moment. In that same year he formed the

Stupid Stupidity is a lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, or wit. It may be innate, assumed or reactive. The word ''stupid'' comes from the Latin word ''stupere''. Stupid characters are often used for comedy in fictional stories. Walter B ...

group which included

Heinrich Hoerle Heinrich Hoerle (1 September 1895 – 7 July 1936) was a German constructivist artist of the New Objectivity movement. Hoerle was born in Cologne. He studied at the Cologne School of Arts and Crafts but was mostly self-taught as an artist. Afte ...

and

Anton Räderscheidt Anton Räderscheidt (October 11, 1892 – March 8, 1970) was a German painter who was a leading figure of the New Objectivity. Räderscheidt was born in Cologne. His father was a schoolmaster who also wrote poetry. From 1910 to 1914, Räderscheidt ...

. According to Ernst, "Stupid was a secession from Cologne Dada. As far as Hoerle and especially Seiwert were concerned, Dada's activities were aesthetically too radical and socially not concrete enough". His first large solo exhibition was in Cologne at the Kunstverein in 1923, and by the mid-1920s he was a leader of the " Group of Progressive Artists", who sought to reconcile constructivism with realism while expressing radical political views. In 1929 he founded the magazine "a-z", a journal of progressive art. This became a vehicle for the exposition of

Figurative Constructivism Figurative Constructivism is an art movement that arose principally in Germany. The term was introduced by Franz Seiwert in 1929 using the phrase "gegenständlichen constructive", and this was subsequently taken up by Gerd Arntz and then by art his ...

Politics

Seiwert was actively involved in the international discussions concerning

proletarian culture Working-class culture is a range of cultures created by or popular among working-class people. The cultures can be contrasted with high culture and folk culture, and are often equated with popular culture and low culture (the counterpart of high ...

during the revolutionary upsurge following the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. "Throw out the old false idols! In the name of the coming proletarian culture" Seiwert was the leading theorist of

describing its origins as "From the expressionist-cubist art-form abstract constructivism was developed, which in turn led into Figurative Constructivism". When

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

came to power in 1933, Seiwert briefly fled to the mountain range

Siebengebirge The (), occasionally Sieben Mountains or Seven Mountains, are a hill range of the German Central Uplands on the east bank of the Middle Rhine, southeast of Bonn. Description The area, located in the municipalities of Bad Honnef and König ...

, but his health was badly deteriorating, and friends brought him back to Cologne, where he died on July 3, 1933.

Contributions to ''Die Aktion''

'' ran from 1911-1932. Seiwert made 43 contributions (see Wikisource (German language)):

Images

In the two years from 1917 to 1919 Seiwert had seven untitled woodcuts published in ''Die Aktion''. File:Seiwert (1917) untitled wood cut.png, 8 September 1917, File:Seiwert (1918a) untiled woodcut.png, 9 February 1918, File:Seiwert (1918b) untitled woodcut.png, 29 June 1918, File:Seiwert (1918c) untitled woodcut.png, 5 October 1918, File:Seiwert (1918d) untitled woodcut.png, 5 October 1918, File:Seiwert (1919a) untitled woodcut.png, 19 April 1919, File:Seiwert (1919b) untitled woodcut.png, 24 May 1919,''Die Aktion'', No. 20, 24 May 1919, p. 335

Articles

# (1919a) " Eine Osterpredigt" (An Easter Sermon), ''Die Aktion'', No. 14/15, 19 April 1919, p. 205–207 # (1920a) "Tuet Bekenntnis, fordert Bekenntnis" (Start commitment, urge commitment), ''Die Aktion'', Vol. 10, No. 7/8, 21 February 1920, p. 110–1 # (1920b) "Das Loch in Rubens Schinken" (The hole in Rubens Ham), ''Die Aktion'', Vol. 10, No. 29/30, 24 July 1920, p. 418–319 # (1920c) " Worum handelt es sich?" (What's it about?), ''Die Aktion'', Vol. 10, No. 37/38, 18. September 1920, p. 514 # (1920d) "Es kommt auf das Fundament an" (It depends on the fundamentals), ''Die Aktion'', Vol. 10, No. 43/44, 30. October 1920, p. 613–615 # (1920e) " Aufbau der Proletarischen Kultur" (The Structure of the Proletarian Cultural), ''Die Aktion'', Vol. 10, No. 51/52, 25 December 1920, p. 719–724 # (1921a) "Gesellschaft und Prostitution", ''Die Aktion'', No. 9/10, 5. March 1921, p. 134–136 # (1921b) " Offener Brief an den Genossen Bogdanow" (Open Letter to Comrade

Bogdanov Bogdanov (Богданов) or Bogdanova (Богданова; feminine) is a common Russian language, Russian surname that derives from the given name Bogdan and literally means ''Bogdan's''. Translated: Bogu dan = God gave. Notable people with the ...

), ''Die Aktion'', No. 27/28, 9 July 1921, p. 373–374 # (1921c) "Das Leben des Proleten" (The Life of the Proletarians), ''Die Aktion'', No. 51/52, 25 December 1921, p. 721–722 # (1922a) "Die Entwicklung der kommunistischen Bewegung in Deutschland" (The Development of the Communist Movement in Germany), ''Die Aktion'', No. 39/40, 15 October 1922, p. 551–554 # (192?) # (192?) # (192?) . . .

Notes

References

*Michalski, Sergiusz (1994). ''New Objectivity''. Cologne: Benedikt Taschen. *Spies, Werner and John William Gabriel (1991). ''Max Ernst collages: the invention of the surrealist universe''. New York: Abrams. {{DEFAULTSORT:Seiwert, Franz Wilhelm 1894 births 1933 deaths 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters German sculptors German male sculptors 20th-century sculptors Constructivism (art)