Walther Klemm (June 18, 1883 – August 11, 1957) 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 ...
,
printmaker
Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...
, and
illustrator
An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...
.
He was born in
Karlsbad and studied at the
University of Applied Arts Vienna
The University of Applied Arts Vienna (german: Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, or informally just ''Die Angewandte'') is an arts university and institution of higher education in Vienna, the capital of Austria. It has had university sta ...
and the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...
. In 1904 he exhibited with the
Vienna Secession
The Vienna Secession (german: Wiener Secession; also known as ''the Union of Austrian Artists'', or ''Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs'') is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austri ...
and moved to
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
and established a studio with
Carl Thiemann
Carl Thiemann (November 10, 1881 – December 3, 1966) was a Bohemian artist and member of the Vienna Secession, best known for his color woodcuts.
Life
Carl Theodor Thiemann was born in Carlsbad, Bohemia, which was then part of the Austrian Emp ...
. Klemm and Thiemann moved to the
Dachau art colony
The Dachau Artists' Colony was located in Dachau, Germany, and flourished from around 1890 until 1914.
History
In the early 19th century, the then-bucolic village of Dachau (located just 12 miles from Munich) began attracting landscape painters. ...
in 1908 and both joined 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
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 ...
around 1910.
Klemm was appointed professor of graphics at the
Weimar Saxon Grand Ducal Art School
The Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School, Weimar (German:Großherzoglich-Sächsische Kunstschule Weimar) was founded on 1 October 1860, in Weimar, Germany, by a decree of Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. It existed until 1910, when i ...
in 1913 and after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
aided in the reconstruction of the Weimar Art School. In 1952 he was named an honorary senator of the Weimar School of Architecture and Civil and Structural Engineering (now absorbed by the
Bauhaus University, Weimar
The Bauhaus-Universität Weimar is a university located in Weimar, Germany, and specializes in the artistic and technical fields. Established in 1860 as the Great Ducal Saxon Art School, it gained collegiate status on 3 June 1910. In 1919 the sc ...
). He died in 1957 in Weimar.
In 1928 he won a bronze medal in the art competitions of the Olympic Games for his "Schlittschuhlaufen" ("Skating"). In 1953 he received the
Nordgau-Kulturpreis for visual art.
References
Further reading
* "Klemm, Walther". In: Hans Vollmer (ed.): ''
Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Begründet von Ulrich Thieme und Felix Becker''. Band 20: Kaufmann–Knilling. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1927, pp. 470–472
* Florian Hufnagl: "Klemm, Walther". In: ''
Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB)''. Band 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, , p. 32 f.
online version
* ''Walther Klemm und Carl Thiemann. Zwei Meister des Farbholzschnitts''. Katalog Gemäldegalerie Dachau. Dachau 2016,
External links
Literary estate of Walther Klemm in the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden
1883 births
1957 deaths
20th-century German painters
20th-century German male artists
German male painters
Olympic bronze medalists in art competitions
Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics
Academic staff of Bauhaus University, Weimar
Olympic competitors in art competitions
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