Max Schwimmer (9 December 1895 – 12 March 1960) was a German painter, graphic artist and illustrator.
Life
Schwimmer was born in Leipzig as the son of a factory bookbinder. He attended the there. He then worked for several years as a school teacher in in the Erzgebirge and in
Marienberg. During the First World War, he was drafted as a soldier. After returning from the war, he began studying art history and philosophy at the
Leipzig University in 1919. This period saw the beginnings of his artistic activity. He also found a connection to the anti-bourgeois cabaret scene, which was dominated by
Hans Reimann Hans Reimann may refer to:
* Hans Reimann (writer) (1889–1969), German satirist, novelist, and playwright
* Hans-Georg Reimann (born 1941), East German race walker
{{Hndis, Reimann, Hans ...
,
Erich Weinert, Slang (Fritz Hampel), and
Ringelnatz
Joachim Ringelnatz is the pen name of the German author and painter Hans Bötticher
(7 August 1883, Wurzen, Saxony – 17 November 1934, Berlin). His pen name ''Ringelnatz'' is usually explained as a dialect expression for an animal, possibly a ...
. He worked for the satirical magazines ''
Die Aktion'' and ''
Der Drache''. With the help of
Johannes R. Becher
Johannes Robert Becher (, 22 May 1891 – 11 October 1958) was a German politician, novelist, and poet. He was affiliated with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) before World War II. At one time, he was part of the literary avant-garde, writin ...
, Schwimmer managed to establish himself in the left-wing art scene.
After travelling through France and Italy, Schwimmer began teaching at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Leipzig. In 1922 he married the graphic artist
Eva Götze (1901–1986), with whom he had two daughters (Gabriele *1923, Francis *1925). The couple separated in 1933. After the
Machtergreifung
Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...
by the
Nazis
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 ...
, he was immediately dismissed from teaching in 1933. Nine of his works were defamed as "
degenerate art" and confiscated.
[ Ernst Klee: ''Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945.'' S. Fischer, Frankfurt 2007, , .] Schwimmer now devoted himself more to book illustration, and by 1944 over 25 titles illustrated by him had appeared. In 1939, he was drafted into the medical service in Leipzig, but was soon discharged. In 1943, Schwimmer married the painter Ilse (Ilske) Naumann (1915–1969). On 24 August 1944, Schwimmer was finally drafted into the Wehrmacht. After a preparatory camp in
Komotau, he was transferred to the guard unit of the
Stalag IV-B
Stalag IV-B was one of the largest prisoner-of-war camps in Germany during World War II. Stalag is an abbreviation of the German ''Stammlager'' ("Main Camp"). It was located north-east of the town of Mühlberg in the Prussian Province of Sa ...
prisoner-of-war camp in
Mühlberg/Elbe at the end of September 1944. In April 1945, the guards of the prisoner-of-war camp fled to Altenburg in the American occupation zone. Schwimmer made his way on foot to his wife in Wohlbach in the Vogtland.
After the end of the war, he joined the
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...
and in 1946 received an appointment as professor and head of the graphics department 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
Graphic design is a profe ...
.
He worked there from 1946 to 1950. In 1951, he was relieved of his duties as a result of a targeted campaign. On 29 October 1951, he was officially appointed to the Dresden
Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden
The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (German ''Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden''), often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany. The present institution is the product o ...
as head of the graphics department, where he remained until his death.
Schwimmer died in Leipzig at the age of 64 as a result of a heart attack.
[Magdalena George: Max Schwimmer: Leben und Werk. Publisher: Akademie der Künste der DDR. Verlag der Kunst, 1981, (limited preview in Google Book Search).] On 23 March 1960, the urn burial took place at the Leipzig-
Lindenau cemetery.
Schwimmer counts as an expressive realist among the most important painters of Saxony from the last century. He was a member of the
Academy of Arts, Berlin from 1952.
Awards
* 1955:
Vaterländischer Verdienstorden
The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...
in Silver
* 1956:
Nationalpreis der DDR
The National Prize of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) (german: Nationalpreis der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik) was an award of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) given out in three different classes for scientific, artistic, ...
II. Klasse for his illustrations to
Heines Heines is a German language surname. It is similar to Heine.
List of people with the surname
* Edmund Heines (1897–1934), German Nazi politician
* Martin Heines (born 1962), American politician from Texas
See also
* Haines (disambiguation) ...
''Wintermärchen'' and
Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a Early modern France, French polymath. At various times in his life, he was a watchmaker, inventor, playwright, musician, diplomat, spy, publisher, Horticulture, hort ...
' ''Figaros Hochzeit''
Work
The artist's estate in the possession of the includes 72 paintings, 30
gouaches, 1494 watercolours, 1880 drawings, 2335 book illustrations. Among them are 1267 works from the estate of Ilske Schwimmer, Max Schwimmer's second wife.
Further reading
* Schwimmer, Max. In
Hans Vollmer (ed.): ''Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart''. Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. Volume 30: Scheffel–Siemerding. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1936, .
* Schwimmer, Max. In Hans Vollmer (ed.): ''Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler des XX. Jahrhunderts''. Volume 4: Q–U. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1958, .
* Schwimmer, Max. In Hans Vollmer (ed.): ''Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler des XX. Jahrhunderts''. Volume 6, Nachträge H–Z. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1962, .
* ''Briefe und Tagebücher.'' Herausgegeben von Inge Stuhr. Lehmstedt Verlag, Leipzig 2004, .
* Inge Stuhr: ''Max Schwimmer. Eine Biographie''. Lehmstedt Verlag, Leipzig 2010.
* Anke Scharnhorst: Schwimmer, Max. In ' 5. edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, .}
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwimmer, Max
20th-century German painters
20th-century German male artists
Communist Party of Germany members
Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany
Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver
1895 births
1960 deaths
Artists from Leipzig
German Army personnel of World War I
German Army soldiers of World War II