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Description
‘Weiblicher Akt’ (‘Female Nude’)
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : 129 x 96 cm, unframed 100 x 70 cm |
| – signed | : right, under. Created 1935 – 1940 |
| – type | : pastel on paper (‘pastellkreide’) |
============================================ § ============================================
BIOGRAPHY: JOSEF PIEPER
Josef Pieper, better than Oskar Kokoschka
‘Family Portrait’, third prize 1937 Carnegie International Exhibition
Josef Pieper, ‘Family portrait’. Depicted in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania), at 15 October 1937. In 1937, Pieper won the great State Prize at the Prussian Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin for ‘Family portrait’. In the same year, and again for his work ‘Family portrait’, he won the third prize at the International Exhibition of the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh; ‘for a remote and cool study of family life, -three children and three adults conventionally grouped’. Artists from 13 nations contributed to the Carnegie-exibition, which had 407 paintings. Oskar Kokoschka, one of the founders of the German impressionistic school, only was awarded ‘second honorable mention’. The text below the photo reads: ‘Third prize (USD 500), ‘Family Portrait’, by Josef Pieper (German)’.
‘Familie’ by Pieper was also displayed at the exhibition ‘Westfalens Beitrag zur Deutschen Kunst der Gegenwart’, organised by the ‘Landesmuseum der Provinz Westfalen für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster’ in Haus Rothenburg, 1937. Depicted in the 1937-exhibition catalogue with the comment: ‘in the possession of the city of Bochum’.
‘Familie’ by Pieper, displayed at the exhibition ‘Sichtbar -die Eigene Sammlung‘, Kunstmuseum Bochum. After WWII it hung in the Wedding Room of the Town Hall of Bochum.
Left: Josef Pieper, postcard, ‘Weiblicher Akt’ (‘Female Nude’). GDK 1942, room 30.
Right: Josef Pieper, ‘Aktkomposition’ (‘Nude composition’). GDK 1944, room 15; depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Josef Pieper, two monumental wall paintings which hung in the Hermann Göring Luftwaffe Hospital in Frankfurt. Size: 3,50 x 1,80 meter each.
The ‘Lazarett der Luftwaffe’ in Frankfurt am Main, designed by architect professor Bonatz, was construed in 1941. After 1945 the building housed for many decades the USA Frankfurt Army Regional Medical Center and the 97th General Hospital. After 2005 the complex serves as the United States Consulate General in Frankfurt (one of the largest American diplomatic missions in the world). The works are in private possession.
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Mädchen bei der Toilette’ (‘Girl making herself up’). Displayed at the ‘Gau Ausstellung Westfalen-Süd, VII Grosse Sauerländische Ausstellung, Hagen 1944’. Nowadays in the possession of the Osthaus Museum, Hagen.
Middle: Josef Pieper, postcard, 1937, ‘Sitzendes Mädchen’ (‘Sitting Girl’).
Right: Josef Pieper, ‘Weiblicher Akt’ (‘Female Nude’), litho, 60 x 40 cm.
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Bildnis Hede’ (Portrait of Hede’, wife of the painter). GDK 1939, room 28. Bought by Joseph Goebbels.
Right: Josef Pieper, ‘Mädchenbildnis‘ (‘Portrait of a Girl‘). Displayed in the exhibition ‘Münchener Kunstausstellung‘, Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, 1932.
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Mädchen am Flussufer’ (‘Girls at River’). GDK 1941, room 24. Bought for 15,000 RM by Professor Clemenz Klotz (architect on the Gottbegnadeten-liste). Depicted in ‘Die Kunst’, September 1941.
Right: ‘Mädchen am Flussufer’ by Pieper, depicted in the ‘Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland’ 22 February 1942′; printed in the ‘Zweite Düsseldorfer Kunstmappe’, published by the Gauleiter Friedrich Karl Florian, 1942.
Josef Pieper, ‘Badende Frauen’ (‘Bathing Women‘). Displayed at the exhibition ‘Deutsche Künstler und die SS’, Breslau, 1944; depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Left: ‘Badende Frauen’ by Pieper. Watercolor, depicted in ‘Die Kunst’, October 1942.
Right: ‘Badende frauen’ by Pieper, depicted in the exhibition catalogue ‘Deutsche Künstler und die SS’, Breslau, 1944. The text right at the page reads: ‘Das von der Bildende Kunst oft als Vorwurf genommene Motiv der badenden Frauen ist von Josef Pieper arkadisch frei abgewandelt und darf als gelungene Bildrhythmik bezeichnet werden, unabhängig von einer thematischen Belastung durch ‘Nymphen‘ oder ‘Musen‘, beglückend durch die ungehemmte Lauterkeit schöpferischer Lust‘ (‘Bathing Women‘, often a motive in the visual arts, is created by Josef Pieper in his own idyllic style. An example of good art, independant of themes like nymphs and muses’.
Deutsche Künstler und die SS (‘German Artists and the SS‘)
‘Deutsche Künstler und die SS’ was an exhibition organized by the Reichsführer SS and the SS Supplementary Office of the Headquarter, held in the first quarter of 1944 in the Museum der Bildende Künste in Breslau. In total 589 works of art were displayed, of which 63 were depicted in the exhibition catalogue, published by Wilhelm Limpert Verlag in Berlin. The 72-pages catalogue had a prologue by SS Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger and a prologue by Heinrich Himmler.
Three months later -from June to July 1944- the exhibition was held in the Alte Residenz in Salzburg (Salzburg Residenz Palace); a separate catalog was issued with 20 depictions.
Josef Pieper, ‘Mädchenbildniss’ (‘Girl-portrait’), displayed at the exhibition ‘Deutsche Künstler und die SS’, Breslau, 1944. Depicted on a postcard; on the back is printed ‘Ausstellung Deutsche Künstler und die SS, – Herausgegeben im Auftrag: der Reichsführer-SS, SS-Hauptambt Berlin (‘Exhibition German Artists and the SS, -Published by order of the Reichsführer-SS, SS-Headquarter Berlin’).
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Halbakt’ (‘Half Nude’). Displayed at the ‘Rheinische Kunstausstellung Wien’, Künstlerhaus, 1941. Depicted in ‘Die Wiener Bühne’, Heft 21, 1941.
Right: ‘Halbakt’ by Pieper, depicted in the exhibition catalogue of the ‘Rheinische Kunstausstellung Wien’.
Left: Josef Pieper, cover of the exhibition katalogue ‘Der Rhein und das Reich’, Düsseldorfer Kunstausstellung, Braunschweig, 1942. Also displayed at the ‘Kunstausstellung für Deutsche Soldaten‘, Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1942; depicted in the exhibition catalog.
Right: Josef Pieper, litho, ‘Akt’.
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Nausikaa am Gestade’ (‘Nausicaa at the shore’). GDK 1940 room 4; depicted in the exhibition catalogue. Bought by Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrob for 12,000 RM. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst im Dritten Reich’, 1976, by Reinhard Müller-Mehlis, and in ‘Zucht und Sitte‘, Folge I, 1941.
Nausicaa is a character in Homer’s Odyssey. She, daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of Phaeacia, was a princess of a race of seafarers. She and her people are beloved of and descended from Posidon/Neptune.
Right: ‘Nausikaa am Gestade’ by Pieper, displayed at the GDK 1940 room 4.
‘Nausikaa am Gestade’ by Pieper. Size 200 x 150 cm. In the possession of the Belvedere Museum, Vienna (previous Kunsthistorisch Museum Wien, -Sammlung Joachim von Ribbentrop).
Josef Pieper, ‘Mars und Venus’. GDK 1944, room 15. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst’, August, 1944.
Left: Josef Pieper, postcard, ‘Europa’. GDK 1943, room 15. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst’, 1943. Depicted in the official catalogue of the exhibition ‘Kunst und Diktatur’, Künstlerhaus Wien, Vienna, 1994.
Right: ‘Europa’ depicted in ‘Duesseldorfer Künstler im Haus der Deutschen Kunst’, 1943.
Josef Pieper working on ‘Europa’.
The pictures are from the movie ‘Art in the Third Reich’, part II (at 6.56)
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Bildnis Hede’ (‘Portrait of Hede’). Depicted in ‘Deutsche Kunst der Gegenwart’, Breslau, 1943.
Right: Josef Pieper, ‘Mädchen mit gelben Tuch’ (‘Girl with yellow Scarf’). Displayed at the ‘Frühjahrs-Ausstellung Düsseldorfer Künstler’, 1944, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf.
Left: Josef Pieper, postcard, ‘Reiter am Meer‘ (‘Horse riders at the beach’). GDK 1942, room 15; depicted in the exhibition catalogue. Bought for 20,000 RM by Robert Ley, Head of the German Labour Front 1933–1945. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst’, October, 1944. A second version of ‘Reiter am Meer’ was displayed at the exhibition ‘Kunst der Rurhmark’, in the Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1942.
Right: ‘Reiter am Meer’by Pieper, depicted in the ‘Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland‘, 21 August 1942.
Joseph Goebels visiting the Grosse Deutsche Kunstrausstellung 1942. Next to Goebbels on his right Prof. Karl Kolb, director of the Haus der Deutschen Kunst, on his left Gerdy Troost and Adolf Ziegler, president of the Reichskammer of the visual arts. ‘Reiter am Meer’ at the background, right (photo: Bayerische StaatsBibliothek).
‘Reiter am Meer‘ by Pieper, depicted in the ‘Der Hoheitsträger, Verkündungsblatt für das Hauptstabsamt, das Hauptpersonalamt und das Hauptschulungsamt der NSDAP‘, Folge 7, 1943.
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Damenbildnis’ (‘Portrait of a Lady’)
Right: Josef Pieper, ‘Badende’ (‘Bathing’).
Both paintings were displayed at the exhibition ‘Rheinische Kunstausstellung’, Danzig, 1941.
‘Giunone’
Josef Pieper, ‘Giunone’ (‘Juno’, the queen of the gods). Displayed at the exhibition ‘Esposizione d’Arte Contemporanea di Duesseldorf’, Florence, 1943. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Illustrations by Pieper, depicted in the exhibition catalogue of the ‘Esposizione d’Arte Contemporanea di Duesseldorf’, Florence, 1943.
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Rückenakt’ (‘Nude from the Back’). Displayed at the exhibition ‘Westfaalsch-Nederrijnsche Kunst’ in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, 1941; depicted in the exhibition catalog.
Right: Josef Pieper, ‘Mädchen mit Kopftuch’ (‘Girl with Scarf’). Displayed at the exhibition ‘Westfaalsch-Nederrijnsche Kunst’ in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, 1941; depicted in the exhibition catalog.
Left: Josef Pieper, likely in his atelier. Photo taken 1942/ 43.
Right: Josef Pieper, unknown exhibition, before 1939. At the background his prize winning works.
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Josef und Hede Pieper’, mixed technique on board, 99 x 68 cm. A very similar ‘Doppelbildniss’ by Pieper was displayed at the ‘Ausstellung rheinischer künstler’, 1940, Berlin, and depicted in ‘Die Pause‘, Heft 1/2, Jahrgang 6, 1941. Sold in 2011 at auctionshouse Karbstein, Düsseldorf.
Right: Josef Pieper, ‘Selbstbildnis mit Modell’ (‘Selfportrait with Model’). Depicted in ‘Westermanns Monatshefte’, 1937.
Josef Pieper in 1937, when he was awarded the ‘Grossen Staatspreis der Akademie der Künste Berlin für Malerei’
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Description
‘Weiblicher Akt’ (‘Female Nude’)
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : 129 x 96 cm, unframed 100 x 70 cm |
| – signed | : right, under. Created 1935 – 1940 |
| – type | : pastel on paper (‘pastellkreide’) |
============================================ § ============================================
BIOGRAPHY: JOSEF PIEPER
Josef Pieper, better than Oskar Kokoschka
‘Family Portrait’, third prize 1937 Carnegie International Exhibition
Josef Pieper, ‘Family portrait’. Depicted in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania), at 15 October 1937. In 1937, Pieper won the great State Prize at the Prussian Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin for ‘Family portrait’. In the same year, and again for his work ‘Family portrait’, he won the third prize at the International Exhibition of the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh; ‘for a remote and cool study of family life, -three children and three adults conventionally grouped’. Artists from 13 nations contributed to the Carnegie-exibition, which had 407 paintings. Oskar Kokoschka, one of the founders of the German impressionistic school, only was awarded ‘second honorable mention’. The text below the photo reads: ‘Third prize (USD 500), ‘Family Portrait’, by Josef Pieper (German)’.
‘Familie’ by Pieper was also displayed at the exhibition ‘Westfalens Beitrag zur Deutschen Kunst der Gegenwart’, organised by the ‘Landesmuseum der Provinz Westfalen für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster’ in Haus Rothenburg, 1937. Depicted in the 1937-exhibition catalogue with the comment: ‘in the possession of the city of Bochum’.
‘Familie’ by Pieper, displayed at the exhibition ‘Sichtbar -die Eigene Sammlung‘, Kunstmuseum Bochum. After WWII it hung in the Wedding Room of the Town Hall of Bochum.
Left: Josef Pieper, postcard, ‘Weiblicher Akt’ (‘Female Nude’). GDK 1942, room 30.
Right: Josef Pieper, ‘Aktkomposition’ (‘Nude composition’). GDK 1944, room 15; depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Josef Pieper, two monumental wall paintings which hung in the Hermann Göring Luftwaffe Hospital in Frankfurt. Size: 3,50 x 1,80 meter each.
The ‘Lazarett der Luftwaffe’ in Frankfurt am Main, designed by architect professor Bonatz, was construed in 1941. After 1945 the building housed for many decades the USA Frankfurt Army Regional Medical Center and the 97th General Hospital. After 2005 the complex serves as the United States Consulate General in Frankfurt (one of the largest American diplomatic missions in the world). The works are in private possession.
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Mädchen bei der Toilette’ (‘Girl making herself up’). Displayed at the ‘Gau Ausstellung Westfalen-Süd, VII Grosse Sauerländische Ausstellung, Hagen 1944’. Nowadays in the possession of the Osthaus Museum, Hagen.
Middle: Josef Pieper, postcard, 1937, ‘Sitzendes Mädchen’ (‘Sitting Girl’).
Right: Josef Pieper, ‘Weiblicher Akt’ (‘Female Nude’), litho, 60 x 40 cm.
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Bildnis Hede’ (Portrait of Hede’, wife of the painter). GDK 1939, room 28. Bought by Joseph Goebbels.
Right: Josef Pieper, ‘Mädchenbildnis‘ (‘Portrait of a Girl‘). Displayed in the exhibition ‘Münchener Kunstausstellung‘, Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, 1932.
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Mädchen am Flussufer’ (‘Girls at River’). GDK 1941, room 24. Bought for 15,000 RM by Professor Clemenz Klotz (architect on the Gottbegnadeten-liste). Depicted in ‘Die Kunst’, September 1941.
Right: ‘Mädchen am Flussufer’ by Pieper, depicted in the ‘Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland’ 22 February 1942′; printed in the ‘Zweite Düsseldorfer Kunstmappe’, published by the Gauleiter Friedrich Karl Florian, 1942.
Josef Pieper, ‘Badende Frauen’ (‘Bathing Women‘). Displayed at the exhibition ‘Deutsche Künstler und die SS’, Breslau, 1944; depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Left: ‘Badende Frauen’ by Pieper. Watercolor, depicted in ‘Die Kunst’, October 1942.
Right: ‘Badende frauen’ by Pieper, depicted in the exhibition catalogue ‘Deutsche Künstler und die SS’, Breslau, 1944. The text right at the page reads: ‘Das von der Bildende Kunst oft als Vorwurf genommene Motiv der badenden Frauen ist von Josef Pieper arkadisch frei abgewandelt und darf als gelungene Bildrhythmik bezeichnet werden, unabhängig von einer thematischen Belastung durch ‘Nymphen‘ oder ‘Musen‘, beglückend durch die ungehemmte Lauterkeit schöpferischer Lust‘ (‘Bathing Women‘, often a motive in the visual arts, is created by Josef Pieper in his own idyllic style. An example of good art, independant of themes like nymphs and muses’.
Deutsche Künstler und die SS (‘German Artists and the SS‘)
‘Deutsche Künstler und die SS’ was an exhibition organized by the Reichsführer SS and the SS Supplementary Office of the Headquarter, held in the first quarter of 1944 in the Museum der Bildende Künste in Breslau. In total 589 works of art were displayed, of which 63 were depicted in the exhibition catalogue, published by Wilhelm Limpert Verlag in Berlin. The 72-pages catalogue had a prologue by SS Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger and a prologue by Heinrich Himmler.
Three months later -from June to July 1944- the exhibition was held in the Alte Residenz in Salzburg (Salzburg Residenz Palace); a separate catalog was issued with 20 depictions.
Josef Pieper, ‘Mädchenbildniss’ (‘Girl-portrait’), displayed at the exhibition ‘Deutsche Künstler und die SS’, Breslau, 1944. Depicted on a postcard; on the back is printed ‘Ausstellung Deutsche Künstler und die SS, – Herausgegeben im Auftrag: der Reichsführer-SS, SS-Hauptambt Berlin (‘Exhibition German Artists and the SS, -Published by order of the Reichsführer-SS, SS-Headquarter Berlin’).
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Halbakt’ (‘Half Nude’). Displayed at the ‘Rheinische Kunstausstellung Wien’, Künstlerhaus, 1941. Depicted in ‘Die Wiener Bühne’, Heft 21, 1941.
Right: ‘Halbakt’ by Pieper, depicted in the exhibition catalogue of the ‘Rheinische Kunstausstellung Wien’.
Left: Josef Pieper, cover of the exhibition katalogue ‘Der Rhein und das Reich’, Düsseldorfer Kunstausstellung, Braunschweig, 1942. Also displayed at the ‘Kunstausstellung für Deutsche Soldaten‘, Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1942; depicted in the exhibition catalog.
Right: Josef Pieper, litho, ‘Akt’.
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Nausikaa am Gestade’ (‘Nausicaa at the shore’). GDK 1940 room 4; depicted in the exhibition catalogue. Bought by Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrob for 12,000 RM. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst im Dritten Reich’, 1976, by Reinhard Müller-Mehlis, and in ‘Zucht und Sitte‘, Folge I, 1941.
Nausicaa is a character in Homer’s Odyssey. She, daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of Phaeacia, was a princess of a race of seafarers. She and her people are beloved of and descended from Posidon/Neptune.
Right: ‘Nausikaa am Gestade’ by Pieper, displayed at the GDK 1940 room 4.
‘Nausikaa am Gestade’ by Pieper. Size 200 x 150 cm. In the possession of the Belvedere Museum, Vienna (previous Kunsthistorisch Museum Wien, -Sammlung Joachim von Ribbentrop).
Josef Pieper, ‘Mars und Venus’. GDK 1944, room 15. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst’, August, 1944.
Left: Josef Pieper, postcard, ‘Europa’. GDK 1943, room 15. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst’, 1943. Depicted in the official catalogue of the exhibition ‘Kunst und Diktatur’, Künstlerhaus Wien, Vienna, 1994.
Right: ‘Europa’ depicted in ‘Duesseldorfer Künstler im Haus der Deutschen Kunst’, 1943.
Josef Pieper working on ‘Europa’.
The pictures are from the movie ‘Art in the Third Reich’, part II (at 6.56)
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Bildnis Hede’ (‘Portrait of Hede’). Depicted in ‘Deutsche Kunst der Gegenwart’, Breslau, 1943.
Right: Josef Pieper, ‘Mädchen mit gelben Tuch’ (‘Girl with yellow Scarf’). Displayed at the ‘Frühjahrs-Ausstellung Düsseldorfer Künstler’, 1944, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf.
Left: Josef Pieper, postcard, ‘Reiter am Meer‘ (‘Horse riders at the beach’). GDK 1942, room 15; depicted in the exhibition catalogue. Bought for 20,000 RM by Robert Ley, Head of the German Labour Front 1933–1945. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst’, October, 1944. A second version of ‘Reiter am Meer’ was displayed at the exhibition ‘Kunst der Rurhmark’, in the Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1942.
Right: ‘Reiter am Meer’by Pieper, depicted in the ‘Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland‘, 21 August 1942.
Joseph Goebels visiting the Grosse Deutsche Kunstrausstellung 1942. Next to Goebbels on his right Prof. Karl Kolb, director of the Haus der Deutschen Kunst, on his left Gerdy Troost and Adolf Ziegler, president of the Reichskammer of the visual arts. ‘Reiter am Meer’ at the background, right (photo: Bayerische StaatsBibliothek).
‘Reiter am Meer‘ by Pieper, depicted in the ‘Der Hoheitsträger, Verkündungsblatt für das Hauptstabsamt, das Hauptpersonalamt und das Hauptschulungsamt der NSDAP‘, Folge 7, 1943.
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Damenbildnis’ (‘Portrait of a Lady’)
Right: Josef Pieper, ‘Badende’ (‘Bathing’).
Both paintings were displayed at the exhibition ‘Rheinische Kunstausstellung’, Danzig, 1941.
‘Giunone’
Josef Pieper, ‘Giunone’ (‘Juno’, the queen of the gods). Displayed at the exhibition ‘Esposizione d’Arte Contemporanea di Duesseldorf’, Florence, 1943. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Illustrations by Pieper, depicted in the exhibition catalogue of the ‘Esposizione d’Arte Contemporanea di Duesseldorf’, Florence, 1943.
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Rückenakt’ (‘Nude from the Back’). Displayed at the exhibition ‘Westfaalsch-Nederrijnsche Kunst’ in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, 1941; depicted in the exhibition catalog.
Right: Josef Pieper, ‘Mädchen mit Kopftuch’ (‘Girl with Scarf’). Displayed at the exhibition ‘Westfaalsch-Nederrijnsche Kunst’ in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, 1941; depicted in the exhibition catalog.
Left: Josef Pieper, likely in his atelier. Photo taken 1942/ 43.
Right: Josef Pieper, unknown exhibition, before 1939. At the background his prize winning works.
Left: Josef Pieper, ‘Josef und Hede Pieper’, mixed technique on board, 99 x 68 cm. A very similar ‘Doppelbildniss’ by Pieper was displayed at the ‘Ausstellung rheinischer künstler’, 1940, Berlin, and depicted in ‘Die Pause‘, Heft 1/2, Jahrgang 6, 1941. Sold in 2011 at auctionshouse Karbstein, Düsseldorf.
Right: Josef Pieper, ‘Selbstbildnis mit Modell’ (‘Selfportrait with Model’). Depicted in ‘Westermanns Monatshefte’, 1937.
Josef Pieper in 1937, when he was awarded the ‘Grossen Staatspreis der Akademie der Künste Berlin für Malerei’
Josef Pieper, better than Oskar Kokoschka
Josef Pieper (1907 – 1977) born in Bochum, studied at the Folkwang School (Kunstgewerbeschule) in Essen from 1920 to 1922. Later he went to the Düsseldorf Academy (1924 – 1929), where he was a pupil (Meisterschüler) of Julius Paul Junghanns. He made study trips to France, Italy and Holland and finally settled in Düsseldorf. Pieper mainly painted landscapes and portraits. In 1935 he received the ‘Cornelius Preis’ from the City of Düsseldorf and in 1936 the ‘Albrecht Dürer Preis’ from the City of Nürnberg. In 1937 he won the ‘Rome Prize’, which enabled him to study from October 1937 to March 1938 at the German Academy in Rom (‘Villa Massimo’).
Also in 1937, he won the great State Prize at the Prussian Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin for his painting ‘Family portrait’. In the same year, and again for his work ‘Family portrait’, he won the third prize at the International Exhibition of the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh: ‘for a remote and cool study of family life, -three children and three adults conventionally grouped’. Artists from 13 nations contributed to the Carnegie-exibition, which had 407 paintings; Oskar Kokoschka, one of the founders of the German impressionistic school, only was awarded ‘second honorable mention’. ‘Family portrait’ and Pieper’s third prize, was reported in detail by the New York Times in 1937. It was also depicted in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania), at 15 October 1937 (photo above). ‘Familie portrait’ was also displayed at the exhibition ‘Westfalens Beitrag zur Deutschen Kunst der Gegenwart’, organised by the ‘Landesmuseum der Provinz Westfalen für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster’ in Haus Rothenburg, 1937. Depicted in the 1937-exhibition catalogue with the comment: ‘in the possession of the city of Bochum’. In 1938 Josef Pieper again participated at the International Exhibition of the Carnegie Institute; that year his fellow-countryman Karl Hofer won the first prize.
Around 1940/41, Pieper created two monumental wall paintings -depicting men with javelins, horses and bathing women- for the Hermann Göring Luftwaffe Hospital in Frankfurt (size: 3,50 x 1,80 meter each). The ‘Lazarett der Luftwaffe’ in Frankfurt am Main, designed by architect professor Bonatz, housed after 1945 for many decades the USA Frankfurt Army Regional Medical Center and the 97th General Hospital; after 2005 the complex serves as the United States Consulate General in Frankfurt. The two huge paintings are still existing.
In 1940 Pieper took part in the exhibition ‘Herbstausstellung Düsseldorfer Künstler’, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; in the same year 5 of his works were displayed at the ‘Frühjahrs-Ausstellung’, Preussische Akademie der Künste, Berlin. In 1941 his works were displayed at the ‘Rheinische Kunstausstellung’, Danzig, in the Herbstausstellung Düsseldorfer Künstler in the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, an at the exhibition ‘Westfaalsch-Nederrijnsche Kunst’ in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
In 1942 he took part in the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung, Nationalgalerie, in the ‘Frühjahrs-Ausstellung’, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, in the ‘Winteraustellung Düsseldorfer Künstler’, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, and in the exhibition ‘Kunst der Rurhmark’, in the Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1942. Also in 1942 Pieper participated in the exhibition ‘Der Rhein und das Reich’, Düsseldorfer Künstler, Braunschweig. A year later he displayed works at the ‘Esposizione d’Arte Contemporanea di Duesseldorf’ in Florence, 1943. In 1944 he took part in the ‘Gau Ausstellung Westfalen-Süd, VII Grosse Sauerländische Ausstellung, City of Hagen. Also in 1944 he participated in the exhibition ‘Deutsche Künstler und die SS’ in Breslau; one of his displayed works was depicted in the exhibition catalogue, another was printed on postcards issued by the SS.
From 1939 to 1944 Pieper displayed 10 works in the GDK for prices of up to 20,000 RM. Buyers included Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebels (2), Head of German Labour Front Robert Ley, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop.