Status: 05.11.2023, 18:13 PM
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Lovers of Alfred Leithäuser's art (from left): Eberhard Robke (Kunst- und Museumsverein Wuppertal), Julia Reich (art historian), Regine Hilpert-Greger (Gautingen archivist) and Deputy Mayor Dr. Jürgen Sklarek. The self-portrait of the painter in a yellow sweater dates from 1951. © Andrea Jaksch
Until 15 December, paintings by Alfred Leithäuser can be seen in the town hall – the municipality owns parts of his estate.
Gauting – On the occasion of Alfred Leithäuser's 125th birthday, the municipality of Gauting is presenting the works of the painter, who was born in 1898 in Barmen near Wuppertal, in a fantastic exhibition. As Deputy Mayor Dr. Jürgen Sklarek said at the vernissage on Thursday in the crowded foyer of the town hall, the "late Gautinger" had bought a house on Unterbrunner Strasse in 1953. As a result, in 1992, a total of 71 paintings and more than 200 drawings were donated by his widow to the municipality. The current exhibition is due to the tenacity of archivist Regine Hilpert-Greger and the negotiating skills of former mayor Dr. Ekkehard Knobloch at the time.
Eberhard Robke, the director of the Kunst- und Museumsverein Wuppertal, explained: "Gauting has the largest contiguous collection of late works by Alfred Leithäuser." He emphasized that the Gautingen archivist had written an elaborate exhibition catalogue together with Leithaus's "discoverer" Julia Reich, who is writing her doctoral thesis on the painter under Professor Christian Fuhrmeister. It contains more than 150 colour illustrations of his paintings and graphics.
Regine Hilpert-Greger reported that throughout his life, painters who worked figuratively felt "more like a Municher". He lived there from the late 1920s, exhibited in renowned galleries and participated in the re-establishment of the Munich Artists' Cooperative. In 1953 he came to the Würmtal community. It is not known whether well-known Gautingen artists such as Leo Putz, Hans Olde, Paul Hey, Lulu Beck or Hans Schellinger played a role in this. In the current show, carefully restored works on paper as well as loans from private collections are presented at the expense of the municipality.
In the foyer of the town hall, for example, there is an alienated painting of the distillery in Pentenried under the title "Föhn am Stadtrand" (Föhn on the outskirts of the city). Early nude drawings or paintings such as the "Young Parisian" can also be admired. Gautingers who are familiar with the area are also likely to be fascinated by a picture from 1960 in which Leithäuser depicted the Christ Church enthroned on the Krapfberg without the villa opposite. Instead, the village of Gauting crouches in the hollow of the unbuilt hill under the title "Autumn in the Würm Valley". The abstracted painting of the Ammersee underpass also has a local reference, as does the "Blue Train" with the barely recognisable railway pedestrian bridge on Königswieser Straße with the Alps on the horizon. The self-portrait of the painter in a yellow sweater from 1951 is also the cover of the catalogue.
"The seeds have sprouted," said former mayor Knobloch happily at the vernissage. At the time, he had also "deliberately" acquired expensive Leo plaster paintings for 100,000 marks for the municipality of Gauting. Today, a Leo Putz is traded for one million euros, said Knobloch to the applause of the guests. The exhibition "Alfred Leithäuser – An Artist of His Own Profile" can be seen in the town hall until 15 December.
CHRISTINE CLESS-WESLE