__NOTOC__ Heinrich Amersdorffer (10 December 1905 – 2 December 1986) was a German painter, printmaker, war artist and art teacher.

Life

Amersdorffer was a son of Alexander Amersdorffer (1875–1946), the successor to art historian Ludwig Justi as director of the

Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts (German: ''Preußische Akademie der Künste'') was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and late ...

.Klee, Ernst: ''The Cultural Encyclopedia of the Third Reich – before and after 1945'', S. Fischer Verlag,

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

2007, S. 15, reprinted 2009. During the 1930s he exhibited a number of times in the

National Socialist Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung The Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (Great German Art Exhibition) was held a total of eight times from 1937 to 1944 in the purpose-built Haus der Deutschen Kunst in Munich. It was representative of art under National Socialism. History The ...

'' (Great German art exhibition) at Munich. During the Second World War he worked as a war artist on behalf of the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

, covering the western campaign and the

invasion of France France has been invaded on numerous occasions, by foreign powers or rival French governments; there have also been unimplemented invasion plans. * the 1746 War of the Austrian Succession, Austria-Italian forces supported by the British navy attemp ...

, including the depiction of undamaged French cathedrals amidst the ruins of bombed cities, which was used to propagate the claim that German forces gave "magnanimous protection to architectural cultural heritage". His cycles of war art made his name within the Third Reich, especially a painting of

Rouen Cathedral Rouen Cathedral (french: Cathédrale primatiale Notre-Dame de l'Assomption de Rouen) is a Roman Catholic church in Rouen, Normandy, France. It is the see of the Archbishop of Rouen, Primate of Normandy. It is famous for its three towers, each i ...

, exhibited in 1941. In January 1942 Amersdorffer said in the magazine ''Art for All'': "It has been granted to me to be able to work on this great task on behalf of the armed forces".Quotation from Ernst Klee’s ''Lexicon of culture'' In the postwar period Amersdorffer was appointed to a teaching position at the

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

, and later became an honorary professor. In 1976 he gave his collection of about 1,000 ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Roman coins Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction to the Republic, during the third century BC, well into Imperial times, Roman currency saw many changes in form, denom ...

to the Berlin Antiquities Collection. A chief condition of the donation was that it would forever remain a part of the collection of antiquities, and consequently, could not become part of the Berlin Coin Cabinet.

Bibliography

*Dorffer, Heinrich Bunting: ''Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Henry Amersdorffer collection'', Berlin, 1963 *''Heinrich Amersdorffer 70th anniversary exhibition, including oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, etchings''. Rathaus Galerie,

Wittenau Wittenau () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the borough (''Bezirk'') of Reinickendorf, Berlin. History Originally named Dalldorf it was first mentioned in 1332. In 1869 the city of Berlin had acquired land in the Dalldorf in order to ...

, Berlin, 1976 *''Ancient coins from the Amersdorffer collection of the National Museum's cultural heritage of Prussia'' pp. 28,29, Mann Verlag, Berlin, 1976. (illustrated issue) *''Heinrich Amersdorffer: Work Biography: arts and education, a life in tension between improvisation and organization'', Rembrandt-Verlag, Berlin, 1978.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amersdorffer, Heinrich 1905 births 1986 deaths 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters German war artists World War II artists 20th-century German printmakers

Life

Bibliography

See also

References