Herbert Fiedler (1891-1962)

Herbert Fiedler (17 September 1891 - 27 February 1962) was a German-Dutch painter. His real name was Otto Herbert Fiedler, but the first name was never used by him. His father was an attorney at law in a publishing house.Study time[]Thanks to the financial support of his brother Wilhelm, who was a city architect in Colmar, Herbert Fiedler was able to study at the K_nigliche Kunstakademie in Dresden around 1910. He studied there from 1910-1912 and got to know Kurt B_chner (1884-ca. 1915) and George Grosz (1893-1959), a start of a lasting friendship. The friendship with B_chner was abruptly ended as B_chner was killed in the First World War. Classes at the Kunstakademie were still in the classical tradition, so Fiedler left for Berlin in March 1912. George Grosz had already settled in this city in January of that year. Berlin was an inspiring environment for both painters. The outskirts of the city, in particular, became the terrain where Fiedler and Grosz sought their subjects. Fiedler was introduced to the Berlin art world by Waldemar R_sler (1882-1916), board member of the Berliner Sezession. In this way Fiedler also became acquainted with Max Beckmann (1884-1950), whom he would later meet again in Amsterdam. Because the lease of his home in Lichtenfelderstrasze expired in April 1913, Fiedler decided to spend the rest of the study time paid by his brother in Paris. Just before his departure, his painting Die Ruhenden Arbeiteiter was accepted for the spring exhibition of the Berliner Sezession. Also in Paris, Fiedler liked to travel to the periphery of the city to find motifs for his paintings. There he befriended the graphic artist Otto Schoff (1888-1938). In the summer of 1913 Grosz also spent a few months in Paris. Fiedler and Grosz signed in the famous Academy Colarossi. Fiedler found Hedwig Jaenichen-Woermann (1867-1960) willing to support him financially for a period of one to two years. She also gave him a studio at his disposal, but the outbreak of the First World War threw a spanner in the works. With only a few of his paintings, Fiedler left Paris on July 31, 1914. He was called up for military service back in Berlin and sent to the Eastern Front. In January 1916 he returned to Berlin wounded.Berlin 1916-1934[edit]With a few interruptions, Fiedler stayed in Berlin from 1916-1934. He kept his head above water with administrative jobs. From 1924-1926 he worked as a decorative painter in the studios of the UFA film company. He continued to paint in his spare time: ?The paintings from that time show a very personal style, with beautiful colors and a clearly visible brushstroke. His subjects came out well, while he deliberately neglected the details? (Beatrice von Bormann, 2001, p. 19). In 1926, he resigned from the UFA. He settled for unemployment benefits to devote himself entirely to painting. He made a study trip to southern Italy, the beginning of a very creative period. In the first months of 1931 he stayed in Paris again, where he met his wife Amrey Balsiger (1909-1999). In 1932 she joined him in Berlin. The Balsiger family's wealth relieved the couple from financial difficulties for the time being. The stay in Paris had been important to Fiedler: ?Paris had given Fiedler the necessary inspiration. Of the numerous paintings he has in his ?catalog? mentioned, only a few can be traced, but it is clear from those few that his style had become free and certain, while experimenting with composition and perspective at the same time? (Beatrice von Bormann, 2001, p. 21). In 1932 he exhibited at Galerie Gurlitt where his ?stone paintings? attracted attention. He had developed stone painting together with the sculptor Kurt Radtke. It can be described as a fresco-like technique of applying colored, crushed marble to a cement base. Herbert Fiedler and his wife Amrey did not wish to remain in Germany when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. Fiedler destroyed his diaries and Amrey, who had a Swiss passport, had the paintings registered in her name. Fiedler went on a ?vacation? to the Netherlands.Laren 1934-1940[edit]After living in Amsterdam for a short period, Fiedler and Amrey Balsiger moved to the artists' village of Laren. They lived off the income from Amrey's Canadian investments. Fiedler painted landscapes, peasants and village scenes. Amrey Balsiger also painted. Their styles differed markedly: ?Fiedler liked large, unbroken areas of color, but Amrey preferred an interplay of many shades of color?? (Beatrice von Bormann, 2001, p. 22). Herbert Fiedler and Amrey Balsiger married in 1938. In 1939 their daughter Sabine was born. Amrey hardly started painting after that. Fiedler drew and painted a large number of portraits of mother and child in that period.Amsterdam 1940-1962[edit]Shortly after the German occupation, the Laren house of the Fiedlers was requisitioned by the pro-German mayor of Laren. The family found a new home in Amsterdam. Unlike in Laren, Fiedler maintained lively contacts with other Dutch painters and emigrants. At the intercession of Jan Wiegers, Fiedler became a member of the artist group De Onvangenen. In 1941 he met Max Beckmann again in Amsterdam. They met regularly, not at home but in caf_s, usually caf_ Americain on Leidseplein. In 1942 Fiedler's financial situation deteriorated dramatically. Canadian involvement in World War II caused Amrey Fiedler's Canadian stock to be forfeited. Fiedler hardly sold paintings, despite the positive reviews. He eventually found work at the Wehrmacht information office in Central Station. In 1944 he was called up for military service and stationed in Rotterdam and Alphen aan den Rijn. Although he was not required to join the Kultuurkamer as a German, his work was criticized by the Germans. His paintings were mocked in the Dutch SS newspaper De Storm. After the liberation, Fiedler was arrested and imprisoned in an internment camp in Hilversum. After petitions from Amsterdam painters, he was released again, but he was banned from exhibiting because he had exhibited as a member of The Independents during the war. This was wrongly interpreted by the Military Authorities as a form of membership of the Kultuurkamer. The first years after the Second World War were difficult in several respects. There was hardly any income (the Canadian shares remained blocked for a long time), so that Fiedler was dependent on material support from third parties, including George Grosz and his brother Heinrich Fiedler. In 1947 Fiedler had another solo exhibition. Herbert and Amrey Fiedler joined the artist group De Realisten, founded by Theo Kurpershoek, Hans van Norden and Nicolaas Wijnberg. This group promoted figurative painting at a time when the experimental abstract movements were very much in the limelight (for example, the work of the Cobra group). Fiedler, incidentally, rejected detailed forms. He liked to use coarse materials (jute, the coarse side of chipboard and coarse brushes). Paintings could be edited endlessly as if they were never finished. He held for himself "painting parades", in which paintings he was currently working on were juxtaposed and updated. He was always looking for the "succinct, shortest and simplest form", as he noted in his diary on May 7, 1942. When Fiedler turned seventy, there was a lot of attention for him in the press. A year later, at the invitation of Willem Sandberg, he was given a major retrospective in the Stedelijk Museum, but during the preparations he suffered a heart attack on 17 February 1962. The planned exhibition thus became a memorial.