Wolfram Aïchele (29 April 1924 – 9 June 2016) was an artist from
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
in Southern Germany.
His work has been exhibited in America, Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
His paintings have been acquired by the French state, the City of Paris, The Museum of the History and Art of Luxemburg, the State of Baden-Württemberg, the Federal Bank of Germany and Daimler-Benz, as well as many private collectors.
Son of the distinguished animal artist,
Erwin Aichele
Erwin Aichele (5 May 1887 – 29 June 1974) was a German painter and animal artist from Baden-Württemberg in Southern Germany.
His life and work was the subject of a 1988 monograph, ''Der Tiermaler Erwin Aichele'' by Hans Schöner.
Early ye ...
, Aïchele's
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
childhood is the subject of a 2011 book by the author and historian
Giles Milton
Giles Milton FRHistS (born 15 January 1966) is a British writer who specialises in narrative history. His books have sold more than one million copies in the UK. and been published in twenty-five languages. He has written twelve works of non-fi ...
(who is also his son-in-law) called ''
Wolfram: The Boy Who Went To War''.
Aïchele's work has been the subject of a number of critical studies, notably Franz Elgar's ''Wolfram''.
He is listed in Gérard Xuriguéra's "Le dessin, le pastel, l’aquarelle dans l’Art Contemporain"
[''Le dessin, le pastel, l'aquarelle dans l'Art Contemporain'', Editions Mayer
Paris, 1987. ]
Early years
Aïchele's childhood was spent in the artists’ colony of Eutingen, near
Pforzheim
Pforzheim () is a city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany.
It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname "Goldstadt" ("Golden City") ...
in
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
. His father, Erwin Aichele, worked from a studio in the grounds of the house.
Aïchele developed an interest in folk art at an early age. He had a particular passion for the medieval Gothic art of southern Germany. Lucas Moser's altarpiece in Tiefenbron, the sculptures of
Tilman Riemenschneider
Tilman Riemenschneider (c. 1460 – 7 July 1531) was a German sculptor and woodcarver active in Würzburg from 1483. He was one of the most prolific and versatile sculptors of the transition period between late Gothic and Renaissance, a master i ...
and the fortress architecture of
Bad Wimpfen
Bad Wimpfen () is a historic spa town in the district of Heilbronn in the Baden-Württemberg region of southern Germany. It lies north of the city of Heilbronn, on the river Neckar.
Geography
Bad Wimpfen is located on the west bank of the River ...
and other Swabian towns and villages all influenced his early artwork.
At the age of 17, Aïchele decided to train as a sculptor and was accepted on a four-year woodcarving course at the Bavarian State Woodcarving School in
Oberammergau
Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The small town on the Ammer River is known for its woodcarvers and woodcarvings, for its NATO School, and around the world for its 380-year tradition of ...
.
War years
In 1942, Aïchele's studies were interrupted by 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 ...
. He was conscripted into the German army and sent to the
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
. Severe illness saw him transferred to a military hospital in Marienbad.
Once recuperated, he was sent to Normandy where he served as a communications officer in the German 77th Infantry Division.
He surrendered to American forces at the end of July, 1944 and spent the next two years as a prisoner of war, first in England and then in America.
Studies and influences
Aïchele returned to Oberammergau in 1946 and completed his sculpting course with distinction. One of his finest works, a processional church staff, is on display in the church of St Peter and St Paul in Oberammergau.
The Bavarian State Woodcarving School was open in spirit: Aïchele discovered modern artists whose work had been banned under the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, notably
Emil Nolde
Emil Nolde (born Hans Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German-Danish painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of the ...
,
Paul Klee
Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...
and other artists of
Der Blaue Reiter
''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider) is a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the almanac of the same name, first published in mid-May ...
(The Blue Rider).
Aïchele continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Art in Stuttgart, where his tutor was the sculptor Otto Baum. He became particularly interested in religious - and especially Byzantine - art.
In 1954, Aïchele embarked on an artistic pilgrimage to
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
,
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
,
Macedonia and
Mount Athos
Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the penins ...
. He drew particular inspiration from the medieval monasteries of Kosovo, particularly
Gračanica Monastery Gračanica () may refer to:
Places
Bosnia and Herzegovina
*Gračanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a town and municipality in Tuzla
*Gračanica (Bugojno), a village in Central Bosnia
*Gračanica, Gacko, a village in Republika Srpska
*Gračanica, Proz ...
,
Studenica Monastery
The Studenica Monastery ( sr, / ), ) is a 12th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery situated southwest of Kraljevo and east of Ivanjica, in central Serbia. It is one of the largest and richest Serb Orthodox monasteries.
Stefan Nemanja, the foun ...
and
Sopoćani Monastery
)
, other_names =
, image = Manastir Sopocani 2.jpg
, caption = Overview of the Sopoćani
, order = Serbian Orthodox
, established = 1259 - 1270
, disestablished = 1689
, reestablished = 1926
, ...
, as well as the Byzantine treasures of
Mount Athos
Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the penins ...
.
On returning to Germany, he became increasingly interested in iconography. He painted icons using the traditional technique of egg tempera.
His aim was to return to the pure iconographical style represented by medieval masters such as
Andrei Rublev
Andrei Rublev ( rus, Андре́й Рублёв, p=ɐnˈdrʲej rʊˈblʲɵf , also transliterated as ''Andrey Rublyov'') was a Muscovite icon painter born in the 1360s who died between 1427 and 1430 in Moscow. He is considered to be one of the ...
- a style that had been corrupted in the 19th century.
Among his works from this period is the iconostasis of the Russian Orthodox Church of St Mary Pokrov in Düsseldorf.
The Paris years
Aïchele moved to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
in 1956. He continued to paint icons but was increasingly drawing inspiration from elsewhere - Eastern European folk art, Persian miniatures and such modern artists as
Paul Klee
Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...
,
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
and, above all,
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...
and the masters of
Cubism
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
.
In the 1970s, Aïchele began to be represented by the celebrated Parisian gallery owner Jean-Louis Roque and his work became known to a wider public.
He was no longer painting icons: his preferred medium was now watercolour, through which he created his own highly idiosyncratic style.
The influence of folk art and iconographical techniques can be seen in many works from this period. Aïchele also drew inspiration from his visits to the Alps: the forms of these mountain ranges are often visible in his paintings.
In the late 1970s, Wolfram's work metamorphosed into a unique blend of
figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real object sources and so is, by definition, representational. The term is often in contrast to abstract a ...
and
abstract art
Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.
Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...
. The figurate elements provide the key to unlocking the abstract, whereby the tensions in the composition suddenly reveal a landscape with its horizons and points of light.
Alongside his watercolours, Aïchele has also created different types of
collage
Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...
from paper that he has painted and then torn. These collages have a tactile quality that is enhanced by the intensity of the colour.
Later Works
In his later years, Aïchele worked in a smaller format, displaying particular interest in the interaction between figurative and abstract and shape and form, working with multiple horizons and shafts of light.
He is represented by Galerie Capazza in Nancay, France.
A 2009 exhibition in Aïchele's native Baden brought together works by eight artist members of the family.
Family life
Aïchele married Barbara Rodi in 1964. They have two children, the jeweller
Benedikt Aichele Benedikt may refer to:
*Benedikt, a spelling of the name Benedict
*Benedikt, Benedikt
Benedikt () is the central settlement in the Municipality of Benedikt in northeastern Slovenia. Before 1998, it was part of the Municipality of Lenart. It lies ...
, and the artist and illustrator,
Alexandra Milton. Aïchele lived in Paris.
See also
*
List of German painters
This is a list of German painters.
A
> second column was into info box -->
* Hans von Aachen (1552–1615)
* Aatifi (born 1965)
* Karl Abt (1899–1985)
* Tomma Abts (born 1967)
* Andreas Achenbach (1815–1910)
* Oswald Achenbach (1827 ...
References
External links
The official website of AïcheleThe website of Gallery Cappaza
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aichele, Wolfram
20th-century German painters
20th-century German male artists
German male painters
21st-century German painters
21st-century German male artists
2016 deaths
1924 births
German Army officers of World War II
German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United Kingdom
German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States
People associated with Mount Athos