Heinz Zander (born 2 October 1939) is a German painter, graphic artist, illustrator and writer. Zander belongs to the Leipzig School. His fields of work are painting (oil), drawing, graphics and illustration. He is also active as a writer and publishes novels, stories and essays. Zander worked with painting techniques oriented towards the Old Masters, from which he developed a completely independent pictorial language. He was inspired by Bosch, Grünewald, Altdorfer,

Cranach Cranach is a German-language surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Augustin Cranach (1554–1595), German painter *Hans Cranach (c. 1513–1537), German painter *Lucas Cranach the Elder (c. 1472–1553), German artist *Lucas Cranach th ...

and Italian Mannerists (

Pontormo Jacopo Carucci (May 24, 1494 – January 2, 1557), usually known as ''Jacopo da Pontormo'', ''Jacopo Pontormo'', or simply Pontormo, was an Italian Mannerism, Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine School. His work represents a pr ...

Bronzino Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( it, Il Bronzino ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italian Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or reddis ...

). He works mainly with colourful resin-oil glazes.

Studies, early work and middle work (1959 to 1983)

From 1959 to 1964 Heinz Zanders studied at the

Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig The Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (HGB) or Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig is one of the oldest art schools in Germany, dating back to 1764. The school has four colleges specializing in fine arts, graphic design, photography and new media a ...

(with

Bernhard Heisig Bernhard Heisig (31 March 1925 – 10 June 2011) was a German painter and graphic artist. Long-time director of the Leipzig Academy (Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst; 1961–64, 1976–87) and a leading figure in East Germany's Leipzig School ...

). Even in his student years, he was regarded as an exceptional talent by both professors and fellow students. Zanders' broad interest in art history led him to experiment with a wide variety of aesthetic approaches. The few works that have survived are not easily identifiable as genuine Zander works, as they masterfully imitate certain styles (such as those of Velázquez). His diploma work on Edgar Allan Poe's ''

The Fall of the House of Usher "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839 in ''Burton's Gentleman's Magazine'', then included in the collection ''Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque'' in 1840. The short story ...

'', which is a sought-after collector's item due to its small edition, has been particularly singled out among colleagues. During his Meisterschüler studies with the sculptor

Fritz Cremer Fritz Cremer was a German sculptor. Cremer was considered a key figure in the DDR art and cultural politics. His most notable for being the creator of the "Revolt of the Prisoners" (Revolte der Gefangenen) memorial sculptor at the former concentra ...

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 ...

, Heinz Zander simultaneously worked designing stage sets. A number of paintings reflect his intimate contacts with the Berlin theatre scene. His intense preoccupation with literature, especially with the works of

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

and

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

, found fruitful expression in numerous graphic illustrations and already displayed Zander's typical style. After his return to

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

(1970), Zander turned to historical material. In the commemorative year of the 450th anniversary of the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositio ...

(1975), a Peasants' War Museum was set up in the secularised Kornmarktkirche of

Mühlhausen Mühlhausen () is a city in the north-west of Thuringia, Germany, north of Niederdorla, the country's geographical centre, north-west of Erfurt, east of Kassel and south-east of Göttingen. Mühlhausen was first mentioned in 967 and bec ...

, that also was given the epithet "

Thomas Müntzer Thomas Müntzer ( – 27 May 1525) was a German preacher and theologian of the early Reformation whose opposition to both Martin Luther and the Roman Catholic Church led to his open defiance of late-feudal authority in central Germany. Müntzer w ...

Town". Thus, in connection with the Thomas Müntzer commemorative year, a cycle of paintings of several parts on the Peasants' War were commissioned (exhibited in the Kornmarktkirche, Mühlhausen), as well as a large triptych for the Reformation and Luther commemorative year (exhibited in the Angermuseum, Erfurt). Meanwhile,

Werner Tübke Werner Tübke (30 July 1929 in Schönebeck, Germany – 27 May 2004 in Leipzig, Germany) was a German painter, best known for his monumental '' Peasants' War Panorama'' located in Bad Frankenhausen Bad Frankenhausen (officially: Bad Frankenhaus ...

, the second grand master of the Leipzig School, was granted one of the largest art projects of the 20th century through the East German government, his monumental 14 m × 123 m Peasants' War Panorama, which Zander had also applied for. However, he was probably considered too cryptic for such an important state commission. Instead, he was awarded, among other things, the commission to create paintings based on Richard Wagner's operas for the

Gewandhaus Gewandhaus is a concert hall in Leipzig, the home of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics. History The first Gewandhaus (''Altes Gewandhaus'') The fi ...

. Unlike other contemporaries, however, Zander always managed to maintain a very strict artistic distance from the political apparatus. Criticism, however, is expressed above all through enigmatisation and a cultivated exaggeration with the help his

mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...

pictorial language.

Pre-Peaceful-Revolution period to the present

In the 1980s, he wrote a whole series of novels and short stories parallel to his paintings and graphic works. This cross-genre approach marks the artist's mature work. Paintings before the

Peaceful Revolution The Peaceful Revolution (german: Friedliche Revolution), as a part of the Revolutions of 1989, was the process of sociopolitical change that led to the opening of East Germany's borders with the West, the end of the ruling of the Socialist Unity ...

are characterised on the one hand by the fact that they display an immense number of glazes and complexity, but are often determined by one colour tone (e.g. by being bluish or reddish). The paintings created at the time of the

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

made subtle comments on contemporary events, which Zander did not engage in by taking direct sides as an active participant, but rather by seismographically recording them as an observer. The etchings and paintings of the post-reunification period oscillate between melancholic seclusion and an enchanted, burlesque exoticism, and are populated by varying figures from history, contemporary life as well as mythology, such as Diana,

Actaeon Actaeon (; grc, Ἀκταίων ''Aktaion''), in Greek mythology, son of the priestly herdsman Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia, was a famous Theban hero. Like Achilles in a later generation, he was trained by the centaur Chiron. He fell to ...

or Nessus. Often, the pictures contain a wide variety of animals, plants, people and geological structures of rock, mystical-magical landscapes of various climatic zones, stormy ocean waves and elaborate cloud pictures. At other times, however, purely black backgrounds are chosen, which emphasise the presented figures and their wielded objects in all their enigmatic diversity. In most cases, the female figures emanate a dangerously seductive aura, to which the male figures succumb in a grotesque manner. It is not only the pictorial themes that draw on an immense range, but also their painterly and technical realisation. Their selection, however, is not a coincidental product of the respective composition, but usually encodes a wide variety of meanings in deeper, ambiguous

symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sy ...

. Delivered with an inimitable sweep and a pronounced rigour of line, reminiscent of the Florentine early

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

and

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

, Heinz Zander's painterly oeuvre alone is estimated at well over a thousand panels.

Literary works

* ''Stille Landfahrten. Ein märchenhafter Roman und romantische Geschichten.'' Novel, Hinstorff (publishing house), Rostock 1981 * ''Das sanfte Labyrinth.'' Novel, Hinstorff (publishing house), 1984 * ''Der Höfling im Delta des Mississippi. Märchen, Miniaturen und eine Novelle.'' Robinson 1984. * ''Narrenbegräbnis. Groteske Bilder.'' Renate Hartleb (editor). Eulenspiegel Verlag (publishing house), Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-359-00035-8. * ''Das Max-und-Moritz-Syndrom. Ein burlesker Liebesroman.'' Hinstorff (publishing house), Rostock 1987 * ''Puppenspiel mit Moralitäten oder Von der Kunst des Spazierengehens.'' Hinstorff (publishing house), Rostock 1989 * ''Colberts Märchen nach der Mode. Ein kleines Erotikon.'' Hinstorff (publishing house), Rostock 1989, ISBN 3-356-00215-5.

Zander as illustrator (selection)

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

: ''

'', Diploma thesis at the

, 1964 *

Peter Hacks Peter Hacks (21 March 1928 – 28 August 2003) was a German playwright, author, and essayist. Hacks was born in Breslau (Wrocław), Lower Silesia. Displaced by World War II, Hacks settled in Munich in 1947, where he made acquaintance with T ...

: ''Zwei Märchen.'' Philipp Reclam jun. (publishing house), Leipzig 1985 *

Ludwig Bechstein Ludwig Bechstein (24 November 1801 – 14 May 1860) was a German writer and collector of folk fairy tales. He was born in Weimar, the illegitimate child of Johanna Carolina Dorothea Bechstein and Hubert Dupontreau, a French emigrant who disappe ...

: ''Hexengeschichten.'' Hinstorff (publishing house), Rostock 1986 *

: ''Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe.'' Philipp Reclam jun. (publishing house), Leipzig 1968 *

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

: ''Moll Flanders.'' C.H.Beck (publishing house), 1991, ISBN 9783763240036 * Anonymus: ''Historia von D. Johann Fausten.'' Philipp Reclam jun. (publishing house), Leipzig 1979Erstdruck des Textes Johann Spies, Frankfurt 1587. UT: ''... dem weitbeschreyten Zauberer und Schwartzkünstler.'' Wieder in: ''Das Volksbuch von Doctor Faust.'' 2. Aufl. Niemeyer, Halle 1811. Reprint der "Berliner Ausgabe" (ohne die Abb.) 2013, ISBN 1482363496 *

Oswald von Wolkenstein Oswald von Wolkenstein (1376 or 1377 in Pfalzen – August 2, 1445, in Meran) was a poet, composer and diplomat. In his diplomatic capacity, he traveled through much of Europe to as far as Georgia (as recounted in "Durch Barbarei, Arabia"). He wa ...

: ''Um dieser Welten Lust.'' Insel (publishing house), Leipzig 1968 * Bernd Pachnicke (editor): ''Deutsche Volkslieder für Singstimme und Gitarre''. Verlag Neue Musik (publishing house), Berlin 1978

Art Catalogues

* ''Malerei, Zeichnung, Grafik.''

Museum der bildenden Künste The Museum der bildenden Künste (German: "Museum of Fine Arts") is a museum in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. It covers artworks from the Late Middle Ages to Modernity. History Museum Foundation and First Museum The museum dates back to the fo ...

, Leipzig 1984 * ''Malerei und Zeichnungen.'' Galerie am Sachsenplatz, Leipzig 1989 * ''Gemälde Zeichnungen.'' Städtische Kunstsammlung Freital, 1992 * ''Hortus conclusus.'' Panoramamuseum Bad Frankenhausen, 1995 * ''Zwischen den Inseln.''

Universität Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest University, universities and the List of universities in Germany#Universities by years of existence, second-oldest university (by conse ...

, Kustodie 1999 * ''In verschwiegener Landschaft.'' Meininger Museen, 2010 * ''Heinz Zander. Gemälde.'' Sandsteinverlag, Dresden 2014, ISBN 978-3-95498-137-3 * ''Wanderungen auf vergessenen Wegen.'' Panoramamuseum Bad Frankenhausen, 2016 * ''Arkadische Begebenheiten.'' galerie thoms, Mühlhausen 2015 * ''Wanderungen mit Wächtern.'' galerie thoms, Mühlhausen 2017

References

External links

small selection of Zander at the art gallery Thoms

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zander, Heinz 1939 births Living people People from Bitterfeld-Wolfen People from the Province of Saxony 20th-century German novelists 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists 21st-century German painters 21st-century German male artists German contemporary artists German draughtsmen German essayists German graphic designers German illustrators German male painters German male novelists German male short story writers German short story writers Writers from Saxony-Anhalt 20th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig alumni