Karl Jacob Hirsch
Hanover, 1892 - Munich, 1952
Cafe in Paris, 1912
Original Etching & Drypoint
Artist Name: Karl Jacob Hirsch
Title: Cafe in Paris, 1912
Signature Description: Unsigned (COA will be issued by Yair Art Gallery, Tel Aviv)
Technique:
Etching & drypoint
Image Size: 20 x 17 cm / 7.87" x
6.69" inch
Sheet Size: 43 x 35 cm / 16.93" x 13.78" inch
Frame:
Unframed
Condition: Very good
condition
Artist's
Biography:
Karl Jacob Hirsch (Hanover, 1892 - Munich, 1952)
Karl Jakob Hirsch (1892 in Hanover - 1952 in Munich; pseudonyms: Joe Gassner; Karl Böttner) was a
German painter, artist and writer.
Life
Family
Karl Jakob
Hirsch was the son of the Hanoverian doctor and medical adviser Salomon Hirsch (1866-1916), grandson of the
writer Isaak Hirsch and the great-grandson of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch.
Career
Karl Jakob
Hirsch was born into a Jewish family in Hanover during the founding of the German Empire. The son
of the city-famous ear, nose and throat doctor first grew up on Herschelstrasse before the family moved to Stiftstrasse in 1896 and then to Königstrasse in 1905. The spoiled, constantly
"ailing" child, which his mother sometimes called
"Lieschen", visited the Hanoverian Lyceum II, where
he was particularly noticeable for his "frequent chatter".
After the one with the so-called “November phlegm“Constantly
referred to ailments by means of numerous certificates from his father, he
could often escape the unloved facility, he finally left it without a degree.
In the
meantime, his parents had supported his musical inclination, which was already
pronounced in his early youth, with piano lessons, which had astonishing
success. A possible musical career ended abruptly with a partial
amputation of the right index finger.In 1909 Hirsch
briefly attended the Hanover School of Applied Arts, was then
sent by his parents to his grandmother in Munich, where he - also
from 1909 - attended the Debschitz School founded by Wilhelm von Debschitz and studied painting and
graphics there until 1911.In 1911 Hirsch
first returned to his hometown, then moved to Worpswede in
the artists' colony there. In 1912 and 1913 he stayed
in Paris.In the middle
of World War I, Hirsch moved to Berlin together with Auguste Lotz, known
as Gulo (1889–1947), where the two married in
1916. There, Hirsch made friends with Franz Pfemfert, for
whose magazine Die Aktion he made prints such
as woodcuts and linocuts as well as
drawings.Karl Jakob
Hirsch performed his military service in
an administrative office near Berlin, where he participated in the First
World War from 1916 to 1918.After the November Revolution, Hirsch worked as an “artistic
adviser” at the Berlin Volksbühne in 1918 and in
1918 and 1919 as one of the founders of the “Council of Intellectual Workers”. Also, from 1919 Hirsch published texts and graphics in the style of Expressionism, he was involved in the artist community
"Novembergruppe” which pursued revolutionary and socialist goals.Until the
mid-1920s, Hirsch created not only graphic works, but
also many paintings, which are now lost, that identify him as a representative
of the Expressionist movement. He designed sets and costumes for the Berlin “Volksbühne” and created
the structures for several German films.In 1925 Hirsch
switched from visual arts to literature, initially writing music, art and literary reviews
for various newspapers and magazines. He stayed mainly in Italy and France and
provided features, travel reports and stories for newspapers.In 1929 Karl
Jakob Hirsch married his second wife Wera Carus.He achieved
great success with his major work, the novel Kaiserwetter ,
which was published by S. Fischer Verlag in
Berlin in 1931 at the time of the Weimar Republic, which
brilliantly depicts the atmosphere of the late Empire in a provincial town; However, the pre-written
sequel was after the " seizure " of
the Nazis no longer appear and was lost.
Hirsch emigrated in December 1934. He first went to Denmark,
then to Switzerland and in 1936 to the United
States. In New York he was editor of the
German-language Neue Volkszeitung; from 1942 he
worked as an employee of the state mail censorship. After
having worked for the American military government in Munich for a while after 1945, Hirsch returned
to Germany for good in 1948.
His hope in the writing career from the time of the Weimar Republic be able to continue, however,
failed. Only one book, the autobiography Homecoming to God,
in which he described his 1945 conversion to Protestantism, appeared during his lifetime. Hirsch's
extensive estate, which is now administered by the University Library
of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, has largely been
unpublished to this day. His autobiography Quintessential
My Life was published posthumously.
Works
· The Black Tower - Eight unpublished original
woodcuts printed from the stick and an afterword. November-Verlag 1918, Kiel 1919.
Reprint: Ed. Joseph Hierling, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-925435-10-7.
· Revolutionary art. The action, Berlin-Wilmersdorf 1919.
· Eight etchings on songs by Gustav Mahler. Dresdner Verlag H. Schilling, Klotzsche
near Dresden 1921.
· Imperial weather. S. Fischer, Berlin 1931. (jmb Verlag,
Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-940970-98-5).
· Felix and Felicia. A summer story. S. Fischer, Berlin 1933 (under the pseudonym Karl Böttner). (jmb Verlag, Hannover
2011, ISBN 978-3-940970-90-9).
· Diary from the "Third Reich". New York 1941. (jmb Verlag, Hannover
2009, ISBN 978-3-940970-97-8).
· Return to God. Desch, Munich 1946.
· Wedding march in minor. Oberon, Bad Homburg 1986, ISBN 3-925844-01-5.
· Quintessence of my life. v. Hase and Koehler, Mainz
1990, ISBN 3-7758-1211-3.
· The old doctor. Hauschild Verlag, Bremen 1994, ISBN 3-929902-18-4.
· The graphic work. Worpsweder Verlag, Lilienthal
1994, ISBN 3-89299-175-8.
· Karl Jakob Hirsch - the posters. Poster Concepts, Hanover 1998.
· Manhattan Serenade. Lang, Bern a. a. 2001, ISBN 3-906766-22-5 (= series of exile documents, vol. 4).
· Karl Jakob Hirsch's last novel “Someone has to do it”. A post-war manuscript. Ed.: Helmut Stelljes. VDG, Weimar 2003, ISBN 3-89739-375-1.
Literature
· Paul Raabe: Hirsch, Karl Jakob. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker
& Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7, pp.
208 f. (Digitized version).
· Walter Huder and Ilse Brauer: Karl Jakob Hirsch: 1892-1952. Academy of Arts
u. a., Berlin a. a. 1967 (Catalog for the exhibition on the
occasion of the opening of the Karl Jakob Hirsch Archive at the Academy of
Arts, Berlin).
· Congratulations Karl Jakob Hirsch on his 100th
birthday. An exhibition of the Munich University Library. University Library, Munich 1992.
· Anne Mahn (Ed.): Karl Jakob Hirsch. Expressionist graphics. Stations in
the life of a German-Jewish artist. Altonaer Museum, Hamburg
2002, ISBN 3-927637-43-2 (for the exhibition from October 3
to December 1, 2002 in the Heine Haus, branch of the Altona Museum).
· Wolfgang Maier-Preusker: Book and portfolio works with graphics of German
Expressionism. Maier-Preusker, Vienna 2006, ISBN 978-3-900208-37-0 (= catalog accompanying the
exhibition in the Hanseatic city of Wismar 2006).
· Armin Strohmeyr: Lost Generation. Thirty forgotten
poets from the “Other Germany”. Zurich: Atrium, 2008, ISBN 978-3-85535-721-5, pp. 64–76
· Volker Weidermann: The book of burned books. Cologne:
Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2008; ISBN 978-3-462-03962-7. (On
Hirsch pp. 224–226)
· Anne Mahn: Karl Jakob Hirsch (1892–1952):
"I almost became something ...". Life and work of the writer and
visual artist VDG, Weimar 2011, ISBN 978-3-89739-693-7.
· Helmut Stelljes: Karl Jakob Hirsch
(1892–1952). In: Heimat-Rundblick. History, culture,
nature. No. 101, 2/2012 (summer 2012). Druckerpresse-Verlag, ISSN 2191-4257,
p. 17.
· Gerhard Müller: Mourning
the lost time. Karl Jakob Hirsch: "Quintessence of my life". www.muellers-lesezelt.de/rezensions/hirsch-quintessenz.pdf
· Helmut E. Pfanner: Hirsch, Karl Jakob. In: Andreas B. Kilcher (ed.): Metzler Lexicon of German-Jewish Literature. Jewish authors
of the German language from the Enlightenment to the present. 2nd,
updated and expanded edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02457-2, pp. 230-232.
Payment
Methods:
In case that the frame includes a glass, the
item will be shipped without the glass in order to prevent any damage to the
artwork caused by broken glass: be aware that such kind of a damage is not
covered by the insurance!
Terms of Auction: All sales are final, please
only bid if you intend to pay. Refunds will be accepted only if the item is not
as described in the auction. ISRAELI BUYERS MUST ADD 18% V.A.T. TO THE FINAL
PRICE.
Artshik provides
full assurance that all items sold are exactly as described! We guarantee all
items we sell are 100% authentic!