Fritz Kohlstädt

Fritz Kohlstädt’s career started in earnest after World War II on becoming acquainted with German Expressionist works. Hitler had labelled these works, and other German Modernist pieces, as Degenerate and so they were removed and banned from Museums and collections  - some were sold out of Germany and others were destroyed.  Kohlstädt had a deep respect and admiration for several of the Expressionists, some of his works show a deep affinity with Gabriele Münter and Franz Marc, the present work however shows more the influence of the watercolours of Emil Nolde.  Their focus and drive was based on the primal power of nature and also the importance of human instinct and impulse. Moreover Marc felt that colours had something inherently expressive about them and they could relate to and spark particular emotions and feelings. Their belief of spirituality existing in nature is evident here in the bright yellow sky. He is also asking questions of humanity’ role within it, in the form of the house. Kohlstädt’s perspective was not simply a homage to these domineering figures of German art but further and a continuation of their approach, which had been halted. He saw himself as an Expressionist himself and was bidding to continue where they had been disrupted. There is therefore a moralising element to his artistic approach.

‍Kohlstädt artistic training came in his studying of drawing in Stuttgart from 1946 to 1948 under the painter and urban graphic artist Walter Romberg and with Rudolf Müller. He became a member of the Stuttgart Artists' Association,  he went on to initiate the separation of a group of twelve artists in 1958 to form the Sindelfingen Secession. A great figure in the local area, the city of Sindelfingen honoured him in 1971 and 1981 with special exhibitions in the municipal gallery, as did the city of Leinfelden-Echterdingen in 1991. In 1981 he received Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

‍