Dictionary
Schreiberhau Artist Colony
The small town of Schreiberhau, today called Szklarska Poreba in Poland, is surrounded by the impressive Krkonose (Giant Mountains), which had already inspired romanticist artists, such as Caspar David Friedrich, Carl Gustav Carus, Christian Claussen Dahl and Ludwig Richter.
Adolf Dreßler (1833-81) and Carl Ernst Morgenstern (1847-1928), both obliged to plein air Realism, were active in Schreiberhau. The latter had become particularly renown for his "Künstlerpostkarten" (Artist Post Cards), which already showed notions of Art Nouveau. Just as Dreßler and Morgenstern were painting in Schreiberhau, a literary artists' colony formed as well, and Carl and Gerhart Hauptmann finally settled in the near in 1891, just as Bruno Wille and Wilhelm Bölsche, who were also living in the Giant Mountains. The house of the Hauptmanns attracted many artists, particularly the expressionist Otto Mueller (1874-1930) was a frequent guest in "Haus Wiesenstein" in Agnetendorf.
Hauptmann and the circle around him would have a decisive influence on the Schreiberhau artists; Hermann Hendrich's (1856-1930) "Rübezahl-Wotan-Zyklus" in the Schreiberhauer Sagenhalle (Hall of Legends) is a good example thereof. Hermann Hendrich's work, however, did not have much of an influence on the next generation of Schreiberhau painters - unlike that of Carl Ernst Morgenstern, as many of the later Schreiberhauer painters had started out as his students.
Regardless of that, the artists which had settled in Schreiberhau and other towns in the mountains, were not united by a similar style, but were individually moving between Art Nouveau and Expressionism, Neo Romanticism and folk art. The blind artist Hanns Fechner (1860-1931) made for a strong company between the 14 painters and 2 sculptors, as he initiated the foundation of the "Vereinigung bildender Künstler St. Lukas" (Association of Visual Artists St. Luke) in 1922.
Within the association there was an older generation of artists that had moved to Schreiberhau before World War I, most of them were landscape painters, which continued the realist-plein air ideas of Dreßler and Morgenstern. Arthur Nickisch (1872-1948), Georg Wichmann (1876-1944) and Franz von Jackowski (1885-1974) are representatives thereof.
Hans E. Oberländer's (1885-1945) work marked the transition to an expressive style. With Herbert Martin Hübner (1902-91) and Willi Oltmanns (1905-79) younger artists appeared, who were impressed by the art of Ernst-Ludwig Kirchner and Otto Mueller. The Bauhaus student Werner Fechner (1892-1973), who came to Schreiberhau after his father Hanns Fechner had died in 1931, transferred Lyonel Feininger's kristaline compositional structures to the mountain landscape. Michael Uhlig (1896-1966) also went a step closer to abstraction, whereas Alexander Pfohl (1894-1986) preferred the decorative aspects of the landscape. The artist Arthur Ressel, the graphic artists Erich Fuchs and Paul Aust as well as the sculptors Cirillo del Antonio and Joachim Wichmann, all working in a somewhat surrealist style, count among the younger generation of Schreiberhau artists.
The "Vereinigung bildender Künstler St. Lukas" (Association of Visual Artists St. Luke) in Schreiberhau was in existence until 1944.
The small town of Schreiberhau, today called Szklarska Poreba in Poland, is surrounded by the impressive Krkonose (Giant Mountains), which had already inspired romanticist artists, such as Caspar David Friedrich, Carl Gustav Carus, Christian Claussen Dahl and Ludwig Richter.
Adolf Dreßler (1833-81) and Carl Ernst Morgenstern (1847-1928), both obliged to plein air Realism, were active in Schreiberhau. The latter had become particularly renown for his "Künstlerpostkarten" (Artist Post Cards), which already showed notions of Art Nouveau. Just as Dreßler and Morgenstern were painting in Schreiberhau, a literary artists' colony formed as well, and Carl and Gerhart Hauptmann finally settled in the near in 1891, just as Bruno Wille and Wilhelm Bölsche, who were also living in the Giant Mountains. The house of the Hauptmanns attracted many artists, particularly the expressionist Otto Mueller (1874-1930) was a frequent guest in "Haus Wiesenstein" in Agnetendorf.
Hauptmann and the circle around him would have a decisive influence on the Schreiberhau artists; Hermann Hendrich's (1856-1930) "Rübezahl-Wotan-Zyklus" in the Schreiberhauer Sagenhalle (Hall of Legends) is a good example thereof. Hermann Hendrich's work, however, did not have much of an influence on the next generation of Schreiberhau painters - unlike that of Carl Ernst Morgenstern, as many of the later Schreiberhauer painters had started out as his students.
Regardless of that, the artists which had settled in Schreiberhau and other towns in the mountains, were not united by a similar style, but were individually moving between Art Nouveau and Expressionism, Neo Romanticism and folk art. The blind artist Hanns Fechner (1860-1931) made for a strong company between the 14 painters and 2 sculptors, as he initiated the foundation of the "Vereinigung bildender Künstler St. Lukas" (Association of Visual Artists St. Luke) in 1922.
Within the association there was an older generation of artists that had moved to Schreiberhau before World War I, most of them were landscape painters, which continued the realist-plein air ideas of Dreßler and Morgenstern. Arthur Nickisch (1872-1948), Georg Wichmann (1876-1944) and Franz von Jackowski (1885-1974) are representatives thereof.
Hans E. Oberländer's (1885-1945) work marked the transition to an expressive style. With Herbert Martin Hübner (1902-91) and Willi Oltmanns (1905-79) younger artists appeared, who were impressed by the art of Ernst-Ludwig Kirchner and Otto Mueller. The Bauhaus student Werner Fechner (1892-1973), who came to Schreiberhau after his father Hanns Fechner had died in 1931, transferred Lyonel Feininger's kristaline compositional structures to the mountain landscape. Michael Uhlig (1896-1966) also went a step closer to abstraction, whereas Alexander Pfohl (1894-1986) preferred the decorative aspects of the landscape. The artist Arthur Ressel, the graphic artists Erich Fuchs and Paul Aust as well as the sculptors Cirillo del Antonio and Joachim Wichmann, all working in a somewhat surrealist style, count among the younger generation of Schreiberhau artists.
The "Vereinigung bildender Künstler St. Lukas" (Association of Visual Artists St. Luke) in Schreiberhau was in existence until 1944.
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