Sepp
Hilz, the painter of peasants
by Harm Wulf harmwulf2003@libero.it
English
translation by Prof. Bruna Crolla
Sepp Hilz was born
in Northern Bavaria
on October 22, 1906. His first teachings
came from his father George Hilz, a painter and notable restorer of
churches (amongst which were the churches of St. Sebastian, Berbling,
Willing, Weihenlinden, Tuntenhausen and Bacherting).
After finishing studying at the Volksschule, his father
sent him to a school for apprentice painters in Rosenheim where he learnt to copy the
works of great German painters, especially those of Dürer,Cranach
and Altdorfer. Hilz soon left the school and
continued working in his father’s workshop as an
apprentice. This experience gave Sepp
great manual dexterity which was of fundamental importance for his
artistic career. He studied in Munich from 1921
to 1927 and attended the Kunstgewerbeschule for three semesters, then
he attended Prof. Moritz Heymann’s private
school of graphic arts and later on went to work as an apprentice for
the
well known painter of churches: Xaver Dietrich. Sepp
began his work as a painter in his studio in Munich working mainly for regional
exhibitions and displays and continued to copy the works of the great
Flemish painters like Rembrandt, Vermeer, van Delft and Brouwer. Until the end of the 1920's Sepp dedicated
himself to his studies and paintings of churches in the Upper Bavarian
country. In 1928, he went back to his
native town to work for his father again. He
married Erika von Satzenhoven who, after a year, presented him with a
son they called Benno. Together with other
artists, he
became the inspirer of the cultural life of Bad Aibling.
They all would regularly meet at the Cafe Rupp to
discuss and organize local cultural events and art exhibitions. Starting in 1930 Hilz painted many rural
scenes in
the style of Wilhelm Leibl (a German painter 1844-1900) which not only
earned him the name “Bauernmaler” (the
painter of peasants) but also gave him
great notoriety in the region. The rural world of his homeland in Bavaria was a
favourite theme throughout his paintings: scenes of their rustic lives,
the simple
expressions of country peoples faces, resting after a hard days work
and then of course the
lovely village girls - his artist’s eyes
enchanted
by the simplicity and spontaneity of their rural life.
A
world without time which steadily repeated the cycle, season after
season - of ritual actions like the hard
work in the fields, moments of relaxation
after work and the official days of rest. A
world
besieged by urbanism, by the progressive depopulation of the country
towns and villages, by unceasing
industrialization which criticised the existence of the same peasant
class. By now Sepp Hilz was an affirmed
portrait-painter, a painter of
churches, rural life and landscapes From
1938 to 1944 he presented twenty-two works at the Haus der Deutschen
Kunst and at the Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung , amongst which was
exhibited the famous triptych “Bäuerliche Trilogie” in 1941. The
young painter had become a versatile
artist able to master
diverse working techniques
fully demonstrating his exceptional
talent.: from small portraits to large scale
paintings,
Hilz
is capable of representing the character,
the atmosphere, the poetry and the reality of his themes: He once
mentioned that
“jedes Ding hat seine Seele, musst bloss malen wie es ist.” (everything
has a soul of its own, we must only paint
it for what it is). His painting called
“Nach Feieraband”, which was shown at the
Haus
der Kunst was bought by Adolf Hitler in 1938 for 10.000 RM; Hitler also
bought “Wetterhexe” in 1942. A year later,
Hilz presents the famous “Bäuerliche Venus” ( a country Venus), a
beautiful painting of a nude young
Bavarian
Country Venus that did put the final seal on his status as
one of the most distinguished painters of his time, even if his
paintings do not
bear any explicit political reference. This artwork got
great positive response and also criticism from the public and was
later on bought by the famed politician Joseph Goebbels.
Young people
and soldiers were crazy about the painting as well, which very soon
became a
popular icon: the artist received thousands of letters from admirers
both for the painting and of course his model Annerl. In his many
letters he answered he stated that he was not a matrimonial agency! Hilz
used the same model, Annerl Meierhanser, for his painting the following
year “Die Eitelkeit”. His fascinating
representation of rural scenes in large scale paintings such as
Bauernbraut 1940, Bäuerliche Trilogie 1941 and Wetterhexe 1942,
confirm the technique Hilz so skillfully mastered already as a young
apprentice.
Unfortunately, his choice of representing the rural world as he saw it,
was
not without political implications: these
were the years when the peasant class, who had violently fought hard
for their rights at the end of the 1920's, had finally earned the
regime’s favour and were able to have a law passed which made small and
medium size farmland unsaleable, indivisible and not mortgageable. The
peasant class is seen by National Socialist ideologists as a bulwark of
the common people who, on behalf of tradition, are against the forces of cosmopolitan disruption of the city. As
spokesman of the peasant class and being only 32 years old, the
“Bauernmaler” Sepp Hilz is awarded the prestigious City of Munich Lenbach
prize in 1938 for the portrait of his 1st
wife
Erika von Satzenhoven (today property of the Städtischen Galerie
im Lenbachhaus). In 1939, on
recommendation of the photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler gave Hilz the sum of 1,000.000 Reichsmark (RM)
for the
construction of a new studio, projected by the architect Degano in
Gmund
am Tegernsee. From 1940 on his works were
on display at the exhibition "Künstler in Kriegseinsatz". During World War II, Hilz buys a small
property in Willing, a village next to his home town Bad Aibling. In 1943, at only 36 years old, he receives the
title of
Professor by Reichsminister Joseph Goebbels. In
1944, the city of Rosenheim
awards him the Leibl-Sperl prize.
At this time, Bad Aibling is
tragically defeated. It was now occupied
by
the Americans and full of refugees escaping from Munich and also from the eastern
territories which were invaded by the Russians
-it became also the seat of a huge prison camp called
"Fliegerhorst", located by Mietraching nr Bad Aibling and housed
many German soldier war escapee and American war prisoners but NEVER
was a concentration camp as some poeple erreonously stated.
After the war, Hilz,
notwithstanding the many difficulties, goes back to work and restores
the paintings in the churches of Schäflarn, Schlehdorf am
Kochelsee, Obholting, Baumburg (the cloister of the church Altenmarkt
an der Alz) and the Franciscan church of Bad Tölz. He begins
painting sacred themes, portraits and landscapes of his beloved
Bavarian Heimat. His father George dies
in 1949 and in the autumn of the same year, his much adored son Benno
dies
tragically in a car accident an der Alten Strasse zu Rosenheim and
Oberaudorf bei Brannenburg. This event
causes the break up of his marriage to Erika. In his painting Heilige Drei Könige 1949
(the Three Holy Kings), Hilz dramatically represents his son Benno as
the last of the Three Kings. In 1950, Hilz marries
Christa, Frein von Rehlingen-Haltenberg (1926-1968).
Two much loved children came
out of this marriage: Sibylle and Florian. On
October 26, 1950 at a town hall meeting meeting, which re-establishes
the Kunstverein
of Bad Aibling, it was noted: “after World War II, 1948 and 1949, an extremely difficult period began for painters and
sculpturors. Sepp Hilz asked himself how he could help these artists. He was the strength of the Kunstverein
creation and of its support of the search for many new members . Thanks to Hilz, this association was
able to get work for "poor artists”. On
October 20, 1951 in Munich many art lovers gathered together and tried
to organise exhibitions of these artists
who had also been highly praised during the National
Socialist period, including Joseph Thorak, the sculptor and Hilz
himself. Public protests were immediately
started against these artists who had exhibited their works at the
“Haus der
Deutschen Kunst” and this left Hilz deeply embittered.
The Bavarian Minister of Education, Mr. Schwalber, had to
appeal to the government for democratic tolerance and to the freedom of
art which was already established through the
Constitution: This last principle “could
not be denied, as it already had been accepted by the heads of
the Nationalsocialism group”. Only because
of his influential contacts and undisputed ability as an artist, Hilz was able to increase his activity as a
church
restorer and painter until 1956, when he decided to devote himself
completely to painting. Sepp Hilz died in Bad Aibling on September 30, 1967 - five
months before his second wife’s death. Hilz
too, as all the artists who worked during the national-socialist
period,
were banned after the World War II. Many
of his
great works were stolen, some destroyed, some taken to the USA. Today it is quite impossible to study the
quality of his works because not much does exists, at least not
knowingly.. His work is wrapped
in silence on the pretext of political reasons. The
very few times his work was recalled to memory, even his compatriots
made meaningless protests for his supposed involvement in the regime
but kept in general quiet, definetely not working in his favour. The fact that Hilz had been so successful
during
the years of the national-socialism regime was sufficient enough to
them to deserve perpetual
banishment. Jealousy is a destroying emotion ...
Private admirers guard his
works very carefully because today they are of great value. Apart from
Mortimer G. Davidson’s praiseworthy work (“Kunst
in Deutschland 1933-1945”
Volume I and II Grabert Verlag,1989-1994, Grabert
Verlag, Postfach 1629, D-72006 Tübingen
www.grabert-verlag.de
e-mail: grabert-verlag@t-online.de
there have not been
any monographs, studies or exhibitions about the artist since the end
of
World War II. Antique dealers sell old issues of the art magazines of
those years, which often contain photographic reproductions of Sepp
Hilz's
paintings; however, any art scholar or enthusiast, eager to deepen
their knowledge and technique of
Sepp Hilz’s work can only see a small part at the Galerie Markt
Bruckmühl. (Sonnenwiechser
Strasse 12, D 83052 Bruckmühl,
Tel: 08062-5307, www.galerie-bruckmuehl.de, e-mail: webmaster@galerie-bruckmehl.de ,which
exhibits some of Hilz’s works in the collection “Georg Dorrer” http://www.galerie-bruckmuehl.de/sammlung/sammlung.html
.
The beautiful site http://artroots.com/index.html devoted by Brigitte Gastel Lloyd to
the world of art (past as well as contemporary Bavarian artists)
contain many works by this artist, who can be admired at page: http://artroots.com/art2/sepphilz1906works.htm .
Scandalously, none of Hilz’s works can be found in Munich’s art galleries. At the Heimatmuseum in Bad
Aibling (Wilhelm Leibl Platz 2, 83043 Bad Aibling, Tel. 08061-8724) only one painting by Sepp Hilz, “Müder Alter”,
dated 1943, is kept without any comment.
The publisher
and book-seller of Bad Aibling, J.N. Cortolezis ( Kirchzeile 4, D 83043
Bad
Aibling, Tel. 0861 2572, Fax 0861-30641 http://www.cortolibri.de ) printed in 2004 the lovely
new book by
Christine and Klaus Joerg Schoenmetzler “Kunst und Kuenstler in Bad
Aibling. Ein Bayerischer Bilderbogen”, containing about 20 pages about
this particular artist and the reproduction of some of his works.
 
Sepp Hilz in
1939, while painting the famous “Bäuerliche Venus” with the
model Annerl Meierhanser; who also posed for his painting “ Eitelkeit”
in 1940.
Index of Sepp
Hilz’s works (in brackets the file number) present on the site:
http://artroots.com/art2/sepphilz1906works.htm
In colour from top left : Landschaft bei Bad Aibling
1956
(13) - Am Uferweg auf der Fraueninsel 1943 (15) - Schneetreiben in
Willing 1946 (14) – portrait of Georg Dorrer, 1945 (34) – portrait of
Katharina Dorrer 1942 (11) – portrait of Wolfgang Kolller, 1932 (23) - Bauernmädchen in Tracht, sd (3) - Bauernmädchen,
sd (4) - Eitelkeit 1940 (7) - Bäuerliche Venus, 1939 (1) -
Bauernmädchen, 1940 (16) - Mädchen mit Korallenkette 1942
(12) – portrait of first wife Erika, 1938 (24) - Heilige Drei Könige, 1949 (21) - Die rote Halskette, (portrait
of the young Liselotte Prams), 1942 (6) - Bäuerliche Trilogie ( Die Mägde, Das
Füllhorn, Die Knechte, 1941 (8-9-10) - Michael Gegenfurtner als
Lehrbub, 1930 (36) -Hans Gegenfurtner, 1926 (37) - Inntaler Berge, 1937
(38) – Zauberi im Herbst, 1943 (39) - Das Kellner Marerl, 1947 (33) -
Zwei Frauen, 1946 (30) – portrait of Annerl.
Works presented
at the exhibitions Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung 1937-1943 in the Haus
der Deutschen Kunst in Munich: Meierhanser, 1940 (32) - Der
Feldpostbrief, 1940 (35) – portrait of Josef Koch, 1944 (31) -
Mangfalldamm, 1942 (29) - Spätherbst,
1967 (26) - Heilige Maria, Chiesa di Thann, sd (28) - Der
Hühnerdieb, 1941 (27) - Studie zur Magd III, 1941 (22) -
Walpurgisnacht, 1942 (25) - Die Wetterhexe, 1942 (5) - Bauernbraut,
1940 (17).
In black and
wihite: Joseph und Maria, sd, - Nach Feierabend, 1937 (18) -
Fischermädchen, sd (19) - Spätherbst 1917, 1939 (20) -
Landschaft bei Willing, sd - Wachsjesukind
und Krippenfigur, sd - Betende Hände, sd - Waschbankl,
sd - Nach dem Ball – poster of meeting on the painter
Sepp Hilz 1995.
Works presented
at the exhibition Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung 1937- 1943 in the Haus
der Deutsche Kunst at Munich: Alte mit Kopftuch, 1938 - Bäuerliche
Venus, 1939 - Spätherbst, 1939 - Eitelkeit, 1940 - Die
Bauernbraut, 1940 - Bäuerliche Trilogie (Die Mägde, Das
Füllhorn, Die Knechte), 1941 - Die Wetterhexe, 1942 - Alter Mann
mit Haube, 1942 - Die rote Halskette, 1942 - Zauberei im Herbst, 1943 -
Die Kübelträgerin, 1943 - Müder Alter 1943.
All
the catalogues of Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung 1937-1943 can be
bought at the price of 20 euros each (
catalogue #. 18 of May 2004 Kulturgeschichte from n. 832 to n. 839) at
Antiquariat Schmidt, Postfach 8, D 72402 Bisingen, Germany,
tel.0049 7476 1609, fax.0049 7476 3458.
Issue 24, February
2004 of “ El barco Vikingo. Revista de arte, tradiciòn y
cultura” contains an article devoted to Sepp Hilz. It costs 2 euros,
subscription for 5 issues: 15 euros for Europe,
20 euros for the other countries. Call Javier Nicolàs,
Ap. 14.215 E 08080 Barcelona jnc1960sp@hotmail.com
 
Bäuerliche Venus, 1939
Eitelkeit, 1940
Die rote Halskette, 1942
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