Kurt Roth (1899,

Ratingen Ratingen ( li, Rotinge) is a town in the district of Mettmann in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies in the northwestern part of Berg about 12 km northeast of Düsseldorf. Administration With a communal reform of 1975 the independent mu ...

– 30 October 1975,

Uetersen Uetersen (, formerly known as ''Ütersen (Holstein)'') is a town in the Pinneberg (district), district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approximately south of Elmshorn, and northwest of Hamburg at the small Pinnau Ri ...

) was a 20th-century

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

Life

He was born in 1899 in Ratingen near

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

. 1920 he and his father, the painter Ludwig Max Roth, moved to Uetersen, where they lived at the monastery Uetersen in very modest circumstances. He received his training as an artist arts academies in Düsseldorf, Wroclaw,

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Kurt Roth, also known to the

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

society as a

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

painter painted his pictures in oil, preferably depicting motives of his

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

region

Holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...

, especially of the Old Town of Uetersen, where he lived. Roth was a great admirer of

Adolph Menzel Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel (8 December 18159 February 1905) was a German Realist artist noted for drawings, etchings, and paintings. Along with Caspar David Friedrich, he is considered one of the two most prominent German painters of th ...

, saying: "He devoted his whole life to the drawing. He was only able to do it because of constant exercises. Talent only is a foundation." This was also true of Kurt Roth. He spent his last years in bitter

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

. Sometimes the way former mayor of Uetersen Heinrich Wilkens was his only customer, buying the pictures because "You cannot let the poor monastery painter starve to death." and having them on display in public buildings and schools. Shortly before his death, the painter reviewed his life and stated: "Today I am poor. It might have been better if I had become an art teacher after studying. But life is over now". On 30 October 1975 Kurt Roth died lonely and abandoned in his small attic flat. Today, the museum of local history of Uetersen keeps alive the memory of the "poor monastery painter", devoting a large

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

to him and his works.

Sources

''Stadtgeschichtliches Heimatmuseum Uetersen'' (2005) (Permanent exhibition on the upper floor) {{DEFAULTSORT:Roth, Kurt German artists German printmakers People from Uetersen 1899 births 1975 deaths