Heinrich Nauen (1 June 1880, in

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...

– 26 November 1940, in

Kalkar Kalkar ( is a municipality in the district of Kleve, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the Rhine, approx. 10 km south-east of Cleves. The catholic church St. Nicolai has preserved one of the most significant sacral inven ...

) was a German

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

artist. He created oils, watercolors, and prints; as well as murals and

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s. A large part of his output consists of landscapes and floral

still-life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, boo ...

Biography

He was born to a family of bakers, but expressed an interest in art at an early age. In 1898, he was accepted at the

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Magdalena Jetelová, ...

, then attended a private art school in Munich. He completed his studies at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart from 1900 to 1902. Soon after, he joined the circle of artists that formed around the sculptor

George Minne George (Georges) Minne (born ''Georgius Joannes Leonardus Minne''; 30 August 1866 – 18 February 1941) was a Belgian artist and sculptor famous for his idealized depictions of man's inner spiritual conflicts, including the "Kneeling Youth" scu ...

in the Flemish village of

Sint-Martens-Latem Sint-Martens-Latem () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders, in Belgium. The municipality comprises the towns of Deurle and Sint-Martens-Latem proper. In 2021, Sint-Martens-Latem had a total population of 8,285. The t ...

. In 1905, he married the artist, and accompanied her to Paris. There, he came under the influence of

Fauvism Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...

and the works of

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inclu ...

. In 1906, they moved to Berlin, where he became a member of the

Berlin Secession The Berlin Secession was an art movement established in Germany on May 2, 1898. Formed in reaction to the Association of Berlin Artists, and the restrictions on contemporary art imposed by Kaiser Wilhelm II, 65 artists "seceded," demonstrating ag ...

and was elected to the board of the

Deutscher Künstlerbund The Deutscher Kuenstlerbund (Association of German Artists) was founded in 1903 the initiative of Count Harry Kessler, promoter of arts and artists, Alfred Lichtwark, director of the Hamburg Art Gallery and the famous painters Lovis Corinth, Ma ...

. He and

Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 1920 ...

discussed the possibility of forming a new "Secession", but his career largely came to a standstill there. Things worked out differently in the

Rheinland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

, where he spent most of the spring and summer at several locations. His large format painting "The Harvest" was displayed in Paris in 1910 and brought a letter of appreciation from

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

. The following year, he left Berlin for good and settled near Brüggen, taking a wing of for his studio. Many of his works were done in the garden and surrounding forests. Regular visitors there included

Heinrich Campendonk Heinrich Mathias Ernst Campendonk (3 November 1889 – 9 May 1957) was a painter and graphic designer born in Germany who became a naturalized Dutch citizen. Life Campendonk was born in Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He was the ...

Erich Heckel Erich Heckel (31 July 1883 – 27 January 1970) was a German painter and printmaker, and a founding member of the group ''Die Brücke'' ("The Bridge") which existed 1905–1913. His work was part of the art competitions at the 1928 Summer Oly ...

Franz Marc Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), a journal whose name later b ...

and

August Macke August Robert Ludwig Macke (3 January 1887 – 26 September 1914) was a German Expressionist painter. He was one of the leading members of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). He lived during a particularly act ...

. His first solo exhibition came in 1914, sponsored by the art collector

Alfred Flechtheim Alfred Flechtheim (1 April 1878 – 9 March 1937) was a German Jewish art dealer, art collector, journalist and publisher persecuted by the Nazis. Early years Flechtheim was born into a Jewish merchant family; his father, Emil Flechtheim, was a g ...

at his gallery in Düsseldorf. This happy situation was temporarily disrupted by the war. He was inducted into the army and assigned to an artillery regiment but, after being in combat only briefly and being exposed to poison gas, he was engaged as a war artist instead. In 1917, he was awarded the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...

.Kunstchronik: Wochenschrift für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe, Nr. 20, 9. Februar 1917, S. 195
/ref> In 1918, after the war, he became one of the co-founders of the artists' group,

Young Rhineland Young Rhineland (Das Junge Rheinland) was an association of avant-garde artists formed in Düsseldorf on 24 February 1919. History The poet Herbert Eulenberg was one of the main instigators of the group, along with painter Arthur Kaufmann and ...

. In 1921, he received an appointment as a Professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. His notable students included ,

Julo Levin Julo Levin, originally Julius (5 September 1901, Stettin - 1943, KZ Auschwitz) was a German Expressionist painter of Jewish ancestry. Most of his surviving works are watercolors and sketches, however his family have some of his paintings. He was ...

Franz Monjau Franz Monjau (30 January 1903, Cologne - 28 February 1945, KZ Buchenwald) was a German Expressionist painter and art teacher. Biography His father, Max Monjau, was a manufacturer from Barmen. His mother Paula, née Meyer, was the daughter of a ...

, , and . In 1937, his works were classified as "

degenerate art Degenerate art (german: Entartete Kunst was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, ...

" by the

Nazi 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 ...

government and he was forced to retire. Several of his paintings were displayed at the Degenerate Art Exhibition in Munich. After that, he and Marie retired to the town of Kalkar, where he died of stomach cancer two years later. His grave there now has a monument; created by

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( , ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and anthroposophy. He was a founder of a provocative art mov ...

, after a design by

Ewald Mataré Ewald Wilhelm Hubert Mataré (25 February 1887 in Burtscheid, Aachen – 28 March 1965 in Büderich) was a German painter and sculptor, who dealt with, among other things, the figures of men and animals in a stylized form. Career Mataré bega ...

Selected paintings

File:Heinrich Nauen Bienenstöcke im Garten.jpg, Beehives in the Garden File:Nauen-Park.jpg, The Park in Dilborn File:Nauen-Garden.jpg, Garden with Greenhouse Beds File:Heinrich Nauen - Badende Frauen.jpg, Bathing Women File:Nauen-OldMan.jpg, Old Man and Young Girl in the Garden

References

External links

More works by Nauen
@ ArtNet *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nauen, Heinrich 1880 births 1940 deaths 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German Expressionist painters German landscape painters People from Krefeld Deaths from cancer in Germany German Army personnel of World War I Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914) Deaths from stomach cancer 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German war artists

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links