Georg Schrimpf
Encyclopedia
Georg Schrimpf was a German painter and graphic artist. Along with Otto Dix
, George Grosz
and Christian Schad
, Schrimpf is broadly acknowledged as a main representative of the art trend Neue Sachlichkeit (usually translated New Objectivity), which developed in the 1920s as a counter-movement to Expressionism and Abstraction. Schrimpf was listed as a degenerate artist by the German National Socialist
government in the 1930s.
Schrimpf was born in Munich
. His father died before Schrimpf's birth; his stepfather forced him to leave home. In 1902 he apprenticed as a baker in Passau
. From 1905–1914 Schrimpf wandered through Belgium, France, Switzerland and Northern Italy, working as a waiter, baker, and coal shuffler. In 1913 he lived in an anarchist colony in Switzerland, where he formed a friendship with Oskar Maria Graf
, also a baker, but later a famous novelist.
With the outbreak of the First World War, the antimilitaristic Schrimpf "successfully employed every possible trick to avoid military service; in so doing, however, he ruined his health". From 1915–1918 Schrimpf lived in Berlin, where he worked as a freelance artist.
In his free time he used every minute for drawing, painting, and wood carving. Mostly self-taught as an artist, he learned by copying the Old Masters.
In 1916 the famous publicist and art expert Herwarth Walden
exhibited some paintings and woodcarvings of Schrimpf in his Sturm Gallery. They got much attention. At this time and in this gallery Schrimpf met the painter Maria Uhden, whom he married in 1917, and who died the following year.
In 1925 Schrimpf participated in the Neue Sachlichkeit exhibition at the Mannheim
Kunsthalle. Two years later, he began teaching at the Meisterschule für Dekorationskunst in Munich. Unlike many artists of the New Objectivity movement, Schrimpf was not immediately persecuted when the Nazis took power in 1933, as his work was seen as an acceptable form of German Romanticism by the authorities. He became professor at an art academy in Berlin in 1933, but was fired in 1937 because of his “red past”. He had been a short time member of “Rote Hilfe”, a socialist organization. For the same reason the Nazi regime banned his works from public exhibitions. Schrimpf died in Berlin on 19 April 1938.
1995 Deutsche Bundespost
honored Schrimpf with a special stamp issue, based on his “Still life with cat” from 1923 (seen at right).
Otto Dix
Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix was a German painter and printmaker, noted for his ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of Weimar society and the brutality of war. Along with George Grosz, he is widely considered one of the most important artists of the Neue Sachlichkeit.-Early life and...
, George Grosz
George Grosz
Georg Ehrenfried Groß was a German artist known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s...
and Christian Schad
Christian Schad
Christian Schad was a German painter associated with Dada and the New Objectivity movement. Considered as a group, Schad's portraits form an extraordinary record of life in Vienna and Berlin in the years following World War I.- Life :Schad was born in Miesbach, Upper Bavaria, to a prosperous...
, Schrimpf is broadly acknowledged as a main representative of the art trend Neue Sachlichkeit (usually translated New Objectivity), which developed in the 1920s as a counter-movement to Expressionism and Abstraction. Schrimpf was listed as a degenerate artist by the German National Socialist
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
government in the 1930s.
Schrimpf was born in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. His father died before Schrimpf's birth; his stepfather forced him to leave home. In 1902 he apprenticed as a baker in Passau
Passau
Passau is a town in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the Dreiflüssestadt or "City of Three Rivers," because the Danube is joined at Passau by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north....
. From 1905–1914 Schrimpf wandered through Belgium, France, Switzerland and Northern Italy, working as a waiter, baker, and coal shuffler. In 1913 he lived in an anarchist colony in Switzerland, where he formed a friendship with Oskar Maria Graf
Oskar Maria Graf
Oskar Maria Graf was a German author.He wrote several socialist-anarchist novels and narratives about life in Bavaria, mostly autobiographical.In the beginning Graf wrote under his real name Oskar Graf...
, also a baker, but later a famous novelist.
With the outbreak of the First World War, the antimilitaristic Schrimpf "successfully employed every possible trick to avoid military service; in so doing, however, he ruined his health". From 1915–1918 Schrimpf lived in Berlin, where he worked as a freelance artist.
In his free time he used every minute for drawing, painting, and wood carving. Mostly self-taught as an artist, he learned by copying the Old Masters.
In 1916 the famous publicist and art expert Herwarth Walden
Herwarth Walden
Herwarth Walden was a German Expressionist artist and art expert in many disciplines...
exhibited some paintings and woodcarvings of Schrimpf in his Sturm Gallery. They got much attention. At this time and in this gallery Schrimpf met the painter Maria Uhden, whom he married in 1917, and who died the following year.
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
Kunsthalle. Two years later, he began teaching at the Meisterschule für Dekorationskunst in Munich. Unlike many artists of the New Objectivity movement, Schrimpf was not immediately persecuted when the Nazis took power in 1933, as his work was seen as an acceptable form of German Romanticism by the authorities. He became professor at an art academy in Berlin in 1933, but was fired in 1937 because of his “red past”. He had been a short time member of “Rote Hilfe”, a socialist organization. For the same reason the Nazi regime banned his works from public exhibitions. Schrimpf died in Berlin on 19 April 1938.
1995 Deutsche Bundespost
Deutsche Bundespost
The Deutsche Bundespost was created in 1947 as a successor to the Reichspost . Between 1947 and 1950 the enterprise was called Deutsche Post...
honored Schrimpf with a special stamp issue, based on his “Still life with cat” from 1923 (seen at right).