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Description
‘The Leader’ (‘Der Führer’)
Biography: Conrad Hommel
Profile Drawing of Hitler (‘Profielzeignung’) by Conrad Hommel, signed 1941.
As far as we know there are only two authentic profile drawings by Hommel existing; one is in the possession of the US Army Centre of Military History, Washington D.C.
It is known that Hitler posed for the -almost identical- drawing in the US Army’s possession.
According to professor Gregory Maertz (‘Die Sammlung deutscher Kriegskunst der US-Armee’, in ‘Kunst und Propaganda in der Wehrmacht’, 2005, page 14) Hitler posed for Hommel’s drawing. In addition to Conrad Hommel, only the painters Ferdinand Staeger and Heinrich Knirr are also said to have received the privilege of a personal portrait sitting (‘Das Bild des Herrschers in Malerie und Grafik des Nationalsozialismus’, Ronge, 2009, and Brigitte Schütz, ‘Hitler-Kult-Visualisierung’ in ‘Kunst und Propaganda’, 2007).
‘The cult of the face of Hitler reached a peak with this drawing’
‘Hitlers face depicted in profile, the mystical lighting from the right side gives it a religious aura’
(‘Das Bild des Herrschers in Malerei und Grafik des Nationalsozialismus’, Tobias Ronge, 2009)
The US Army owned profile drawing version was displayed at the Great German Art Exhibition and bought by Hitler. It was found back in 1945 in the Altaussee-mine* and brought on 29 October 1945 to the Central Collecting Point Munich. In December 1946 it was displayed at the German War Art Exhibition in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt.
Left: the US Army owned profile drawing depicted in ‘Das Bild des Herrschers in Malerei und Grafik des Nationalsozialismus’, Tobias Ronge, 2009.
Right: the US Army owned profile drawing, size 79 cm x 71 cm. Photo Archives, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. 
*Conrad Hommel in the Führermuseum
The Führermuseum, also referred to as the ‘Linz Art Gallery’, was an unrealized art museum planned by Adolf Hitler for his hometown, the Austrian city of Linz, near his birthplace of Braunau. Its purpose was to display a selection of the art bought, confiscated or stolen by the Nazis from throughout Europe during World War II.
Hitler personally favored German and Austrian paintings from the 19th century, but the Linz-collection also contained many early German, Dutch, French, and Italian paintings. The collection, when it was whole, included 4,731 pieces, not just paintings but also tapestries, sculpture, furniture and porcelain.
The overall plan was to turn Linz into a cultural capital of Nazi Germany and one of the greatest art centers of Europe, overshadowing Vienna, for which Hitler had a personal distaste. The expected completion date for the project was 1950, however the Führermuseum was never build.
Beginning February 1944, the artworks destinated for Linz (‘Sonderauftrag Linz’) were relocated to the 14th-century Steinberg salt mines above the village of Altaussee, in which the holdings of various Viennese museums had earlier been transferred.
The profile drawing of Hitler by Conrad Hommel was part of the collection of the Führermuseum, which was quite extraordinary, as the collection contained very few works of contemporary art. This painting is currently in the possession of the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin.
Left: ‘Der Führer’ by Hommel, displayed at the GDK 1941 room 30. Rötelzeichnung (red chalk drawing). Purchased for 2,500 Reichsmark by Martin Bormann, on behalf of Hitler.
Right: ‘The Führer’ by Hommel, depicted in ‘NS-Frauen-Warte’, December 1942. 
‘The Führer’ by Hommel, depicted on the cover of the ‘Illustrierter Beobachter’, April 20, 1942.
‘The cult of the face of Hitler reached a peak with this drawing’
‘Hitlers face depicted in profile, the mystical lighting from the right side gives it a religious aura’
‘Hitlers Titanenhaupt hat auch Conrad Hommel zu einem Bild inspiriert. Im Jahre 1941 malte er eine Nahansicht von Hitlers Gesicht in Profil, das durch seine überlebensgrosse Darstellung und die mystische Beleuchtung von der rechten Bildseite eine religiöse Aura bekommt. Aufgrund der penetranten Nähe von HItlers Gesicht, der in der Realität selten einen Menschen so dicht an sich heran liess, wirkt diese Darstellung auf den Betrachter zugleich faszinierend wie verstörend. Der Betrachter steht vor dem Bild wie vor einem Gebirgsmassiv, das von der aufgehenden Sonne erleuchtet wird. Dabei werden die Höhen und Tiefen dieser Gesichtslandshaft durch Licht und Schatten hart akzentuiert. Der Kult um das Gesicht Hitlers ist mit dieser Darstellung auf die letzte Spitze getrieben.’ From: ‘Das Bild des Herrschers in Malerei und Grafik des Nationalsozialismus’, by Tobias Ronge, page 80.
Left: Central Collecting Point registration photo of Conrad Hommel’s ‘Der Führer’ (the GDK version), spring 1945. Depicted in ‘Nostalgia for the Future’, Gregory Maertz, 2019.
Right: registration card of the Central Collecting Point Munich. Arrival date: 29 October 1945. Exit: 2 October 1946. Destination: the German War Art Exhibition in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt. History and Ownership: the Altaussee-mine. 
Exhibition of ‘German War Art’ at the Städel Museum, Frankfurt, 7 – 15 December 1946.
At the ‘Gertman War Art’ exhibition in the Städelmuseum, organized by U.S. Army Captain Gordon W. Gilkey (Headquarters United States Forces European Theater Historical Division) 103 German war art works were shown (catalogue in the possession of German Art Gallery). These 103 works were selected by Gilkey from the art collection he had found in:
– Schloss Ringberg near Tegernsee (works from the Luftgaukommando VI in Münster);
– the Salt plant in Bad Aussee (and St. Agatha, Austria);
– Schloss Oberfrauenau (in basement and in woodcutters hut);
– the Haus der Deutschen Kunst;
– the Führerbau basement;
– the Kelmheim Befreiungshalle (works from the exhibition ‘Deutsche Künstler und die SS’):
– the Reichs Chancellery.
General Joseph T. McNarney (together with Colonel Harold E. Potter, Chief Historical Division, European Theater) previewing the exhibition of German War Art at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt on 6 December 1946. McNarney standing in front of Bergen’s work: ‘Battle of the Denmark Strait, 24 May 1941’ (GDK 1944).
Left: ‘Nach einer Rötelzeichnung von Prof. Conrad Hommel’, on the cover of the book ‘Der Führer’, by Karl Hederich, 1942.
Right: Conrad Hommel, ‘The Leader’, depicted in Soldatenblätter für Feier und Feizeit’, 1942, Heft 4, published by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht. The text reads: ‘Treue, Opferwilligkeit und Verschwiegenheit sind Tugenden die ein grosses Volk nötig braucht, Adolf Hitler’ (‘Faithfulness, Self-sacrifice, Discretion, are virtues, that a great people needs, Adolf Hitler’).
Left: Conrad Hommel, ‘Der Fühhrer’, depicted on the cover of ‘Der grossdeutsche Freiheitskampf’, by Phillip Bouhler, published in 1943.
Right: ‘Wir folgen Dir’ (‘We folow You’). Conrad Hommel’s depiction of Hitler on a propaganda poster in a sewing facility in Berlin, July 1942.
Left: ‘Der Führer’ by Hommel, depicted full-page in ‘Velhagen & Klasing Monatshefte’, April 1943. Also depicted in ‘Das Bild’, 1941.
Right: depicted in ‘Münchener Mosaik, Kulturelle Monatsschrift der Haupstadt der Bewegung’, Heft 1 and 2, page 160, 1941, with the text: ‘Eine weit überlebensgrosse Zeichnung Hommels vom Kopf des Führers in Rechtsprofil geben wir als Beispiele einer festgefühlten, mit sicherstem Wissen um das Wesentliche durchgearbeiteten Grafik’. 
‘Der Führer’ by Hommel. The GDK- work depicted in ‘German War Art, 1939-1945’, by William P. Yenne and Dr. Keith W. Dills, New York, 1983. Size 79 cm x 71 cm.
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : 51 x 42 cm, excluding passe-partout 33 x 25 cm |
| – signed | : right, below: ‘C. Hommel 1941’ and again signed below the depiction |
| – type | : watercolor |
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