Fritz Mühlenweg (also Fritz Muhlenweg; 11 December 1898 – 13 September 1961) was a German painter and author. His most famous book is ''In geheimer Mission durch die Wüste Gobi'' (part one in English ''Big Tiger and Compass Mountain''), published in 1950. It was later shortened and translated into English under the title ''Big Tiger and Christian.''

Early life

Fritz Mühlenweg was born in 1898 as a son of a chemist in

Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...

. He was educated as a chemist in

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...

and took over the family business after his father died. He left Konstanz in 1926 for Berlin. There, Mühlenweg began to work as an accountant for

Deutsche Luft Hansa ''Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G.'' (from 1933 styled as ''Deutsche Lufthansa'' and also known as ''Luft Hansa'', ''Lufthansa'', or DLH) was a German airline. It served as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and t ...

, a newly formed airline company.

Work with Luft Hansa

In 1927, Luft Hansa contributed to the Sino-Swedish expedition to Central and South Asia, following plans for an airline connection between

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. With

Sven Hedin Sven Anders Hedin, KNO1kl RVO,Wennerholm, Eric (1978) ''Sven Hedin – En biografi'', Bonniers, Stockholm (19 February 1865 – 26 November 1952) was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer and illustrator ...

as their guide, the expedition would check out meteorological conditions. Mühlenweg joined to expedition as the financial and materials manager from 1927 to 1928. He returned for a second trip to Central Asia in the winter of 1929-1930. In 1931, Mühlenweg took his last and longest trip to the area, to observe weather conditions with a German meteorologist in the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

Career in art

In 1932, Mühlenweg joined the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and studied painting, but soon dropped out. In Vienna he met his future spouse, Elisabeth Kopriva. In 1934, after their wedding, the couple moved to

Allensbach Allensbach is a municipality in the district of Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Allensbach is located between Konstanz and Radolfzell on Lake Constance. Notable institution Allensbach is known for being the home of the Institut f� ...

, where both worked as independent artists. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Mühlenweg was drafted as a customs officer guarding the Swiss border. The Mühlenwegs had seven children.''Big Tiger and Christian'' (1954); dustjacket He started publishing literary works in 1946. His greatest success, ''In geheimer Mission durch die Wüste Gobi'', was published in 1950 as the two parts ''Großer-Tiger und Kompaß-Berg'' and ''Null Uhr fünf in Urumtschi''. The juvenile adventure novel was set in China and Mongolia, and was based on the experiences Mühlenweg collected during his expeditions. Mühlenweg died in Allensbach in 1961 from the effects of a stroke. His wife survived him less than two days.

Works

* ''In geheimer Mission durch die Wüste Gobi'' (heute Großer-Tiger und Christian), Freiburg ** Teil 1. ''Großer-Tiger und Kompaß-Berg'', 1950 ** Teil 2. ''Null Uhr fünf in Urumtschi'', 1950 * ''Das Tal ohne Wiederkehr oder Die Reise von Magog nach Gog'', Freiburg 1952 * ''Nuni'', Freiburg 1953 * ''Das kleine Buch vom Bodensee'', Konstanz 1954 (zusammen mit Lotte Eckner) * ''Kasperl mit der Winduhr'', Freiburg 1956 * ''In jenen Tagen'', Freiburg i.Br. 1957 * ''Der Familienausflug'', Freiburg i.Br. 1960 * ''Das Schloß des Drachenkönigs'', Freiburg i.Br. 1961 * ''Echter und falscher Zauber'', Freiburg i. Br. 1963 * ''Kleine mongolische Heimlichkeiten'', Bottinghofen am Bodensee 1992 * ''Fremde auf dem Pfad der Nachdenklichkeit'', Lengwil am Bodensee 1992 * ''In geheimer Mission durch die Wüste Gobi'', Lengwil am Bodensee 1993 (ungekürzte Neuauflage) * ''Malerei'', Lengwil 1999 * ''Mongolische Heimlichkeiten'', Lengwil 2002 * ''Drei Mal Mongolei: Dampignak und andere Erzählungen; Reisetagebücher und Briefe aus der Sven-Hedin-Expedition durch die Innere Mongolei'', Hrsg. Ekkehard Faude und Regina Mühlenweg, Lengwil 2006

As editor

* Magdalena Steinerin: ''Clara und Franciscus von Assisi'', Konstanz 1959

Translations

Dino Buzzati Dino Buzzati-Traverso (; 14 October 1906 – 28 January 1972) was an Italian novelist, short story writer, painter and poet, as well as a journalist for ''Corriere della Sera''. His worldwide fame is mostly due to his novel '' The Tartar St ...

: ''Das Königreich der Bären'', Freiburg i. Br. 1962 * Louise Fatio: ''Der glückliche Löwe'', Freiburg 1955 * Louise Fatio: ''Der glückliche Löwe in Afrika'', Freiburg 1956 * Louise Fatio: ''Das glückliche Löwenkind'', Freiburg i.Br. 1960 * Louise Fatio: ''Eine Puppe für Marie'', Freiburg i. Br. 1959 * Louise Fatio: ''Zwei glückliche Löwen'', Freiburg 1957 * Janice: ''Die Ente Angelina'', Freiburg i. Br. 1961 * Nicholas Kalashnikoff: ''Turgen, der Jäger'', Freiburg 1957 * Nancy Lord: ''Ich und mein Hund'', Freiburg i. Br. .a.1959 * ''Tausendjähriger Bambus'', Hamburg 1946 / Neuauflage, Lengwil 1994

Exhibition catalogue

* Ausstellungskatalog ''Das Land des Blauen Himmels – Fritz Mühlenweg in der Mongolei.'' Libelle Verlag Lengwil am Bodensee 2005. .

References

*Methos
Fritz Muhlenweg - Author
at

H2G2 The h2g2 website is a British-based collaborative online encyclopedia project. It describes itself as "an unconventional guide to life, the universe, and everything", in the spirit of the fictional publication ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhlenweg, Fritz 1898 births 1961 deaths Academy of Fine Arts Vienna alumni Lufthansa people