Carlo Mense (May 13, 1886 – August 11, 1965) was a German artist, associated at various times with the

Düsseldorf school of painting The Düsseldorf school of painting is a term referring to a group of painters who taught or studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Academy (now the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf or Düsseldorf State ...

, Rhenish Expressionism and

New Objectivity The New Objectivity (in german: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, wh ...

. Mense was born in Rheine. He studied with Peter Janssen at the

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Magdalena Jetelová ...

from 1906 to 1908, and then with

Lovis Corinth Lovis Corinth (21 July 1858 – 17 July 1925) was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism. Corinth studied in Paris and Munich, joined the Berlin Sec ...

at the

Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts (German: ''Preußische Akademie der Künste'') was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and late ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

in 1909. In 1913, he co-organized (with August Macke) the first exhibition of the Rhenish Expressionists in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

. In 1914, he spent some time at the artists' colony at Ascona, where he met Georg Schrimpf and

Heinrich Maria Davringhausen Heinrich Maria Davringhausen (21 October 1894 – 13 December 1970) was a German painter associated with the New Objectivity. Davringhausen was born in Aachen. Mostly self-taught as a painter, he began as a sculptor, studying briefly a ...

. From 1921 to 1925, Mense lived in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, where he became associated with the New Objectivity style, in particular being heavily influenced by Schrimpf, as well as by the Italian

Valori Plastici ''Valori plastici'' (meaning ''Plastic Values'' in English) was an Italian magazine published in Rome in Italian and French. The magazines existed between 1918 and 1921. History and profile ''Valori plastici'' was established in Rome by the paint ...

group, with whom he exhibited in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

in 1922. In 1925, he was appointed professor at the Kunstakademie Breslau. Alexander Kanoldt, also associated with New Objectivity, was appointed professor at the same time, and the two attempted to establish a center of New Objectivity there, but came into conflict with the mainly avant garde circle centered on Oskar Moll. Mense remained a professor at Breslau until 1932; soon thereafter, his works were branded

degenerate art Degenerate art (german: Entartete Kunst was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, ...

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 N ...

, and 34 works were seized and destroyed. He lived from 1945 in

Bad Honnef Bad Honnef () is a spa town in Germany near Bonn in the Rhein-Sieg district, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the border of the neighbouring state Rhineland-Palatinate. To the north it lies on the slopes of the Drachenfels (“Dragon' ...

, and died in 1965 in

Königswinter Königswinter ( ksh, Köningkswinte; Low Franconian: ) is a town and summer resort in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Königswinter is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, opposite Bad Godesberg, at t ...

. He was awarded the '' Bundesverdienstkreuz'' in 1961.

References

Homepage of Carlo Mense
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mense, Carlo 1886 births 1965 deaths People from Rheine People from the Province of Westphalia 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters Modern painters Kunstakademie Düsseldorf alumni Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Düsseldorf school of painting