Georg Philipp Wörlen (5 May 1886, Dillingen an der Donau, Bavarian Swabia – 18 April 1954) was a German painter, particularly associated with

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, Germany.

Life

Wörlen was born in Dillingen an der Donau. After completing his ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

'' he attended the art college in Nuremberg and subsequently worked as a restorer in the Atelier Altheimer in

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

. In 1914, after marrying Margarete Neunhöfer, he moved to Marnheim to work as a teacher in a technical secondary school. While he was fighting at the front in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in Romania and France, among other places, his son Hanns Egon was born. During the war Wörlen was twice buried and seriously injured. Shortly before the end of the war he was captured by the British and was held as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

for 15 months, in a camp near

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. During this time he changed his artistic direction and committed himself to

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

and

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

. After his repatriation in 1920 Wörlen moved with his family to

and became an art teacher in the Gymnasium Leopoldinum. Along with Franz Bronstert and Fritz Fuhrken, who had been detained in the same POW camp in England, and a number of other artists including the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n Carry Hauser, he founded the Expressionist artists' group Der Fels (1920/21-1927), which held over 30 exhibitions featuring his work. in addition he was for a short time (1923/1924) a member of the '' Gruppe der 6'', and between 1927 and 1938 he was a member of the

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. ...

-based group Der Hagenbund. In 1947 he was a founder member of the Donau-Wald-Gruppe. He died in

, where there is a street named after him. The holdings of the Museum of Modern Art in Passau consist largely of his works.

Selected works

* ''Liebespaar'' ("Lovers"), tempera on cardboard, 1920 * ''Gasse'' ("Lane"), oil on linen, nd * ''Passauer Häuser'' ("Passau Houses"), oil on linen, 1920 * ''Passauer Gasse'' ("Passau Lane"), watercolour, 1923 * ''Kreuzigung'' ("Crucifixion"), watercolour, 1919

References

* Wiener Secession (publ.): ''Georg Philipp Wörlen'', Vienna 1971 * Museum Moderne Kunst Passau (publ:) ''Philipp Wörlen 1886-1954'', Passau 1990

External links

Website of the Museum Moderner Kunst Wörlen Passau

1886 births 1954 deaths People from Dillingen an der Donau Artists from the Kingdom of Bavaria 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters German Expressionist painters German Army personnel of World War I People from Passau Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg alumni {{Germany-artist-stub