The Wiesn as a place of drudgery

Created: 09/20/2022, 2:00 p.m

By: Hans Moritz

Vernissage at the airport: Artist Harry S. (l.) welcomed the guests, including Social Affairs Minister Ulrike Scharf, Erding's Deputy Mayor Petra Bauernfeind, Freising District Administrator Helmut Petz and Jochen Flinner, FMG's environment officer.

© private

At the airport, artist Harry S. is exhibiting pictures of Oktoberfest in the past, showing that not everything was better in the past.

Erding/Flughafen – The style of Harry S.'s pictures is unmistakable: three-dimensional paintings with the characteristic splashes of paint that appear to run randomly across the canvas in all directions.

The fact that the Munich Oktoberfest is taking place again this year after two cancellations is an occasion for the Erdinger to present a special exhibition.

"So nice was the time (!?)" is the name of his motifs, which are dedicated to the largest folk festival in the world.

The exhibition was opened at Munich Airport on Friday.

It can be seen at least until the end of the Wiesn.

All motifs have a historical background.

Harry S., whose real name is Seeholzer, dedicated himself to the black-and-white photos by photographer Philipp Kester, which are now owned by the Munich City Museum.

He reinterpreted them in color.

The photos were taken between 1990 and 1960. They show an Oktoberfest that you only know at second glance, because Kester looked behind the scenes.

There are, for example, the "paper women" who ran through the mud of the Theresienwiese to collect the rubbish - really not a nice job.

You can also see the fishwives who cleaned the fish before they were hung over the fire, or the jug washers.

"That's why I deliberately added a question mark and an exclamation mark to the title 'The time was so beautiful'," says the artist.

In addition, many other motifs from the Wiesn of yesteryear can be admired.

And because Harry S. is always a bit rogue, there is also a picture of Richard Süssmeier, the legendary restaurateur who became known as the "Napoleon host" because of his small size, and for many years also spokesman for the Oktoberfest hosts, who aged 2020 of 90 years had passed away.

He had once moved to the Theresienwiese with donkeys instead of with a horse-drawn carriage.

The authorities urged him to come with horses next time.

And what did Süssmeier do?

He came with a rocking horse.

Also worth seeing are the pictures that hang outside the exhibition room, some as foils stuck to the glass facade, such as Skijoring on Schliersee, the Maypole in Altenerding.

the regular costumers at Kirta on the Schrannenplatz or the brewery teams entering the Erdinger Herbstfest.

Seeholzer's paintings are available for purchase.

The price is quite simple: 1250 euros per square meter.

The largest exhibits cost around 2700 euros.

Harry S. has been exhibiting at the airport for a good 20 years, in changing rooms.

"It's a good cooperation," reports he, who has an international audience here.

HANS MORITZ

The exhibition

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by Harry S. is located in the central area of ​​the airport in the transition to Terminal 1 between the bookshop and the Deutsche Bahn counter.

It is accessible around the clock and entry is free.