Walter Reimann (2 June 1887 – 8 November 1936) was a German

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 ...

and

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

. He was an Expressionist and member of the group of artists associated with Zurich magazine,

Der Sturm ''Der Sturm'' () was a German List of avant-garde magazines, avant-garde art and literary magazine founded by Herwarth Walden, covering Expressionism, Cubism, Dada and Surrealism, among other artistic movements. It was published between 1910 an ...

. He worked on the production design of a number of films during his career, the most important of which was The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Along with fellow members of the ''Der Sturm'' group,

Walter Röhrig Walter Röhrig (13 April 1897 – 1945) was a German art director.Stephens p.163 Selected filmography * '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920) * ''Masks'' (1920) * ''Parisian Women'' (1921) * '' Island of the Dead'' (1921) * ''Miss Julie'' (192 ...

and

Hermann Warm Hermann Warm was a German art director for films. Born in 1889 (died 1976) in Berlin, Germany, Warm was an important figure in the expressionist movement of the 1920s. Warm entered the German film industry in 1912 after working on-stage for a whil ...

, Reimann created skewed, dreamlike sets that distorted geometry and indicated the interior states of mind of the characters. ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' was an international success and the production design has had a lasting influence on other movies - especially in the horror and film noir genres - since then. The Caligari design is echoed in the sets produced by Universal Studios for their series of classic monster movies in the 1930s. Reimann continued to work as an art director in Germany until his death in 1936, but none of his subsequent designs had the impact of Caligari. In 2017, the

Art Directors Guild The Art Directors Guild (ADG; IATSE Local 800) is a trade union, labor union and local of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE) representing 2,979 motion pic ...

honored Reimann's work and legacy with a tribute at

Grauman's Egyptian Theatre Grauman's Egyptian Theatre is a historic movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater ...

in Hollywood.

Selected filmography

* ''

The Plague of Florence ''The Plague in Florence'' (German: ''Pest in Florenz'') is a 1919 German silent historical film directed by Otto Rippert for Eric Pommer's Deutsche Eclair (Decla) production company. The screenplay was written by Fritz Lang.Workman, Christopher; ...

'' (1919) * '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920) * ''

Algol ALGOL (; short for "Algorithmic Language") is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in 1958. ALGOL heavily influenced many other languages and was the standard method for algorithm description used by the ...

'' (1920) * '' The Eternal Curse'' (1921) * ''

A Dying Nation ''A Dying Nation'' or ''Dying Peoples'' (german: Sterbende Völker) is a 1922 German silent historical drama film directed by Robert Reinert and starring Paul Wegener, Otto Gebühr, and Fritz Kortner. It was released in two parts ''Heimat in No ...

'' (1922) * ''

The False Dimitri ''The False Dimitri'' (german: Der falsche Dimitri) is a 1922 German silent historical film directed by Hans Steinhoff and starring Alfred Abel, Agnes Straub and Eugen Klöpfer.Klossner, Michael. ''The Europe of 1500–1815 on Film and Televisi ...

'' (1922) * ''

Nora Nora, NORA, or Norah may refer to: * Nora (name), a feminine given name People with the surname * Arlind Nora (born 1980), Albanian footballer * Pierre Nora (born 1931), French historian Places Australia * Norah Head, New South Wales, headlan ...

'' (1923) * ''

The Island of Tears ''The Island of Tears'' (German: ''S.O.S. Die Insel der Tränen'') is a 1923 German silent film directed by Lothar Mendes and starring Lya De Putti, Paul Wegener, and Lyda Salmonova.Bock & Bergfelder p.83 Cast * Lya De Putti as Lilian - Hardin ...

'' (1923) * ''

The Green Manuela ''The Green Manuela'' (German: ''Die grüne Manuela'') is a 1923 German silent drama film directed by Ewald André Dupont and starring Lucie Labass, Josef Winter and Grete Berger. The film is based on a novel by Clara Ratzka. A gypsy dancer b ...

'' (1923) * ''

A Woman, an Animal, a Diamond ''A Woman, an Animal, a Diamond'' (german: Ein Weib, ein Tier, ein Diamant) is a 1923 German silent film directed by Hanns Kobe and starring Charlotte Ander, Fritz Kortner and Paul Bildt.Bock & Bergfelder p. 385 The film's sets were designed by ...

'' (1923) * ''

Our Heavenly Bodies ''Our Heavenly Bodies'' (german: Wunder der Schöpfung, literally: ''Wonder of the Creation'') is a 1925 German educational film written by Hanns Walter Kornblum and Ernst Krieger which attempts to represent everything known about the cosmos a ...

'' (1925) * ''

Cock of the Roost ''Cock of the Roost'' (german: Der Hahn im Korb) is a 1925 German silent comedy film directed by Georg Jacoby and starring Reinhold Schünzel, Elga Brink and Maly Delschaft. The film's sets were designed by the art director Walter Reimann. Cas ...

'' (1925) * ''

The Island of Dreams ''The Island of Dreams'' (german: Die Insel der Träume) is a 1925 German silent film directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Liane Haid, Harry Liedtke, and Alfons Fryland. The film's sets were designed by the art director Walter Reimann W ...

'' (1925) * ''

The Wig ''The Wig'' () is 2005 South Korean horror film directed by Won Shin-yun, and starring Chae Min-seo and Yoo Sun. It was first released on August 12, 2005, in South Korea and was released onto DVD in the United States in 2008. Plot A young wom ...

'' (1925) * ''

Fire of Love ''Fire of Love'' is the debut album of the American rock band the Gun Club, released in 1981 on Ruby Records. Production The Flesh Eaters' singer Chris D. produced five tracks on the album ("Sex Beat", "Preaching the Blues", "Fire Spirit", "Gho ...

'' (1925) * ''

The Last Waltz ''The Last Waltz'' was a concert by the Canadian-American rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. ''The Last Waltz'' was advertised as The Band's "farewell concert a ...

'' (1927) * ''

A Daughter of Destiny ''Alraune'' is a 1928 German silent science fiction horror film directed by Henrik Galeen and starring Brigitte Helm in which a prostitute is artificially inseminated with the semen of a hanged man. The story is based upon the legend of Alraune ...

'' (1928) * ''

Guilty Guilty or The Guilty may refer to: * Guilt (emotion), an experience that occurs when a person believes they have violated a moral standard Law *Culpability, the degree to which an agent can be held responsible for action or inaction *Guilt (law) ...

'' (1928) * ''

Retreat on the Rhine ''Retreat on the Rhine'' (german: Zapfenstreich am Rhein) is a 1930 German musical comedy film directed by Jaap Speyer and starring Charlotte Susa, Hans Stüwe, and Hermann Böttcher. It was made as an operetta film which emerged as a popular gen ...

'' (1930) * ''

Police Spy 77 ''Police Spy 77'' (German: ''Polizeispionin 77'') is a 1930 German crime film directed by Willi Wolff and starring Ellen Richter, Nikolai Malikoff and Robert Garrison. It was shot at the Staaken Studios in Berlin and on location in Antwerp, ...

'' (1930) * '' The Woman Without Nerves'' (1930) * ''

Rasputin, Demon with Women ''Rasputin, Demon with Women'' (German: ''Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen'') is a 1932 German drama film directed by Adolf Trotz and starring Conrad Veidt, Paul Otto and Hermine Sterler. It portrays the influence wielded by Grigori Rasputin over th ...

'' (1932) * ''

Paprika Paprika ( US , ; UK , ) is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers. It is traditionally made from ''Capsicum annuum'' varietals in the Longum group, which also includes chili peppers, but the peppers used for paprika tend to be milder an ...

'' (1932) * ''

Secret of the Blue Room ''The Secret of the Blue Room'' is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery film directed by Kurt Neumann and starring Lionel Atwill, Gloria Stuart, Paul Lukas and Edward Arnold. The film's plot concerns a group of wealthy people who stay at a Europe ...

'' (1932) * ''

Maid Happy ''Maid Happy'' is a 1933 British musical film directed by Mansfield Markham and starring Charlotte Ander, Johannes Riemann and Dennis Hoey.Wood p.78 It was made at Elstree Studios by British International Pictures but distributed independently ...

'' (1933) * ''

The Gentleman from Maxim's ''The Gentleman from Maxim's'' (german: Die Herren vom Maxim) is a 1933 German comedy film directed by Carl Boese and starring Lee Parry, Johannes Riemann and Oskar Karlweis. It was shot at the Johannisthal Studios in Berlin. The film's sets we ...

'' (1933) * ''

What Am I Without You ''What Am I Without You'' (german: Was bin ich ohne Dich) is a 1934 German musical comedy film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Wolfgang Liebeneiner, Betty Bird, and Olga Chekhova. The film's sets were designed by the art director ...

'' (1934) * '' Elisabeth and the Fool'' (1934) * '' The Girl Irene'' (1936)

References

Bibliography

* Michael L. Stephens. ''Art Directors in Cinema: A Worldwide Biographical Dictionary''. McFarland, 1998.

External links

* 1887 births 1936 deaths German art directors Artists from Berlin {{Germany-film-bio-stub