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Description
‘Mother and Child’ (‘Mutter und Kind’)
Painting in fresco style.
An early work, as the artist signed the work with ‘O. Martin’. Later he would add ‘Amorbach’ to his name and signature (in the exhibition catalogue of the Münchener Kunstausstellung 1923 im Glaspalast, the artist was registered as ‘Martin-Amorbach, Oskar’).
Amorbach has created this Madonna and Child image revealing his admiration for the 15th Century Old Masters. The artist has prepared his canvas using a hardened, sandy, ground layer to simulate an actual wall while his paint application has beautifully re-created the sensitivity and reverence of this iconic Italianesque image.
Madonna-like depictions of a mother and child, traditionally appreciated by the Church, also became a favourite genre for the Nazis.
‘The woman has her own battlefield. With every child she brings to the world, she fights her battle for the nation. The man stands up for the People, exactly as the woman stands up for her family, proclaimed Hitler in a speech to the National Socialist Women’s Congress in 1935.
‘She is a woman who, above all, is able to be a mother… She becomes a mother not merely because the State wants it, or because her husband wants it, but because she is proud to bring healthy children into the world, and to bring them up for the nation,’ Reichsminister Rudolf Hess, at a meeting of the Women’s Association in 1936. (Peter Adam, ‘The Arts of the Third Reich’)
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : 80 x 69 cm, unframed 62 x 51 cm |
| – signed | : right, under |
| – type | : mixed techniques on canvas |
| – misc. | : professional cleaned and reframed |
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BIOGRAPHY: OSKAR MARTIN-AMORBACH
Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Modanna with Jesus Child’. In possession of the Städtische Galerie Rosenheim. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue ‘Vermacht, Verfallen, Verdrängt, -Kunst und Nationalsozialismus’, 2017.
Left: Oskar Martin-Amorbach,’Madonna’, displayed at the exhibition ‘Staatliche Kunst- Ausstellung München’, 1933, in the Neue Pinakothek. Size 65 x 50 cm. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Right: a very similar painting by Martin-Amorbach (but not identical), depicted in the exhibition catalogue ‘Vermacht, Verfallen, Verdrängt, -Kunst und Nationalsozialismus’, 2017. In possession of the Städtische Galerie Rosenheim. Also depicted in ‘Münchner Maler im 19./20. Jahrhundert’, 1994.
Left: Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Der Sämann’ (‘The Sower’). GDK 1937, room 8. Depicted in ‘Westermanns Monatshefte’, 1938.
In 1989 ‘Der Sämann’ was shown in Paris at the exhibition ‘Munich 1937, l’art diffamé, l’art acclamé, organised by the Goethe Institute at Paris. The painting is in the possession of the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin. Size: 257 x 177 cm.
Right: ‘Der Sämann displayed in 1977 at the Exhibition ‘Deutschland 1930-1939, Verbot, Anpassung, Exil’ in Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland. Again displayed at the exhibition ‘The Romantic Spirit in German Art 1790 – 1990’, organised by the Royal Scottish Academy, Edingburgh/ London, 1994/95; again displayed at the exhibition ‘Aufstieg und Fall der Moderne‘, Weimar, 1999.
‘Der Sämann’ can be seen in detail in this documentary about the exhibition ‘Deutschland 1930 -1939, Verbot, Anpassung, Exil’ in Kunsthaus Zürich, Switserland: Der Archivar – Nazi-Kunst – ist das Kunst oder muss das weg? – Kultur – SRF 
Oskar Martin-Amorbach, second version of ‘Der Sämann’ which hung in the ‘Haus der Deutschen Erziehung zu Bayreuth (‘House of German Eduaction in Bayreuth’). Depicted in ‘Westermann Montashefte’, 1939, in ‘Das Bild’, 1937, and in ‘Das Bauerliche Jahr’, Karlsruhe, 1939.
Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Flandern 1940’ (‘Flanders 1940’). GDK 1941, room 27; depicted in the exhibition catalogue. Bought for 12.000 RM by Theo Memmel, mayor of Würzburg. Displayed in 1943 at the exhibition ‘Neuerwerbungen der Stadt Würzburg’ organized by the ‘Mainfränkische Kunstverein’. Also displayed at the exhibition ‘Maler an der Front’ (‘Painters at the Front’), organized by the ‘Oberkommando des Heeres‘ (Supreme High Command of the German Army) in combination with the ‘Hauptstelle Bildende Kunst in der Dienstelle des Reichsleiters Rosenberg’ (‘Amt Rosenberg‘) and the ‘Reichsminsterium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda‘, April 1941, Berlin. Depicted in ‘die Kunst im Deutschen Reich’, 1941. The painting is lost.
Left: ‘Flandern 1940’ by Martin-Amorbach, depicted in the ’Salzburger Volksblatt’, 26/27 July 1941.
Right: ‘Flandern’ by Martin-Amorbach, depicted in the ‘Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland‘, 9 October 1941.
Left: Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Erntetag’ (‘Harvest’). GDK 1938, room 15. Bought by Hitler for 12.000 Reichsmark. Depicted on the cover of the magazine ‘Frauen Warte’, 1938/39.
Right: ‘Erntetag’ by Martin-Amorbach, depicted in the ‘Salzburger Volksblatt‘, 6 October 1938.
‘Ernterast, displayed during the ‘German Culture Festival’, 1992, Washington. Depicted in the ‘Chicago Tribune’, 14 June 1992.
Left: Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Madonna’, 1933. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst’, November 1933.
Right: Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Muttertag‘ (‘Blessing for Mother’s Day). Postcard, stamped on the back ‘8.5.1936‘.
Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Resi’, GDK 1941 room 35.
Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Sie fahren den Tod’ (‘Driving towards Death’). GDK 1942, room 15. Bought by Hitler for 22.000 Reichsmark. In the possession of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin. Size: 422 x 272 cm.
‘Sie fahren den Tod’ by Martin-Amorbach, depicted in the ‘Deutsche Zeitung in Ostland’, 16 October 1942.
Joseph Goebels visiting the Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung 1942. Next to Goebbels on his right Prof. Karl Kolb, director of the Haus der Deutschen Kunst, on his left Gerdy Troost. ‘Sie fahren den Tod’ at the background.
‘Wir fahren den Tod’ (‘Driving towards Death’)
Thor Goote, pseudonym for Werner Schultze von Langsdorff (1899 -1940), German writer and aircraft engineer, was the son of an aristocratic Hession Officer. Goote wrote the trilogy ‘Wir fahren den Tod‘ (1930), ‘Wir tragen das Leben‘ (1932) and ‘Die Fahne hoch!‘ (1933). The autobiographical books describe the road from the WWI trenches to the Freikorps-battles and then to the NSDAP movement.
‘Wir fahren den Tod’ deals with German soldiers responsible for the amunition supply on the Western Front. Depicted on the cover is ‘Deutsche Munitionskolonne im Feuer’ (‘German ammunition platoon under fire’) by Alfred Roloff.
Goebbels giving a speech at the opening of the GDK, July 1940. At the background, first floor, room 29 with in the middle ‘Bauerngrazie’ by Martin-Amorbach, flanked by 6 gobelin designs by Werner Peiner.
Oskar Martin-Amorberg, ‘Abendfriede‘ (‘Evening-peace‘). GDK 1944, room 15. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst in Deutschen Reich, 1944. 
Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Heimkehr’ (‘Returning Home’). GDK 1941, room 15. Bought for 12.000 Reichsmark by Theo Memmel, Mayor of Würzburg. Depicted on the cover of ‘Westermanns Monatshefte’, August 1942.
Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Im Tagewerk’ (‘Daily Life’). GDK 1941, room 16. Bought by Hitler for 5.500 Reichsmark. In the possession of Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin. Size: 219 x 124 cm. Displayed at the exhibition ‘Aufstieg und Fall der Moderne‘, Weimar, 1999.
Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Im Tagewerk’ displayed in 1977 at the Exhibition ‘Deutschland 1930-1939, Verbot, Anpassung, Exil’ in Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland: Der Archivar – Nazi-Kunst – ist das Kunst oder muss das weg? – Kultur – SRF 
Left: Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Im Atelier‘ (‘The Artist Studio‘). Displayed at the ‘Ausstellung Deutscher Künstler und die SS‘, 1944. Also displayed under the name ‘Das Modell‘ (’The Model’) at the GDK 1944 room 21. Martin-Amorbach depicted himself in the background, in his own house in Samerberg.
Left: ‘Im Atelier’ by Martin-Amorbach, 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’).
Right: ‘Im Atelier’, sold in 2009 by a German auction house. Size 206 x 150 cm.
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.
Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Pflügende Wehrbauer’ (‘Ploughing Defensive Peasant’). Amorbach was represented with multiple gobelin-kartons (source: ‘Deutsche Zeitung in den Niederlanden, 18 Januar 1944‘) at the exhibition ‘Deutsche Künstler und die SS’, 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; three months later -from June to July 1944- the exhibition was again held in the Alte Residenz in Salzburg. One gobelin-karton (below) with a motive of a ploughing ‘Wehrbauer’ was depicted in the Breslau-exhibition catalogue.
‘Wehrbauer’
‘Wehrbauer’ (‘Defensive Peasant’) is a German term for settlers living on the borders of a realm, who were tasked with holding back foreign invaders until the arrival of proper military reinforcements. In turn they were granted special liberties. Wehrbauern were mainly used on the eastern fringes of the Holy Roman Empire and later Austria-Hungary in order to slow down attacks by the Ottoman Empire.
In the 20th century, the term re-emerged and was used by the Nazi SS to refer to soldiers designated as settlers for the lands conquered during the German invasions of Poland and the Soviet Union. The Nazi goal of colonizing the conquered East in accordance with Hitler’s Lebensraum ideology was to be achieved through these soldier peasants, who were planned to act both as colonists and also as soldiers defending the new German colonies from the surrounding Slavic population in the cases of insurgency.
Left: Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Der Abend‘ (‘The Evening‘), 1937. GDK 1939, room 15; depicted in the exhibition catalogue. Bought by Hitler for 15.000 Reichmark. In the possession of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin. Depicted in ‘The Arts of the Third Reich’, by Peter Adam, 1992, in ‘Kunst im Deutschen Reich’, 1939, in ‘Jugend’, 1939, in ‘Deutsche Kunst der Gegenwart’, Breslau, 1943, and in ‘Nationalsozialistische Monatshefte’, 1939, Heft 114. Size: 342 x 320 cm.
Right: ‘Der Abend’ by Martin-Amorbach, depicted in ‘Das Interessante Blatt‘, Wien, 20 July 1939.
Oskar Martin-Amorbach, fresco’s in the Aussegnungshalle (Benediction Hall) at the graveyard Westfriedhof in Ingolstadt. Created 1933 – 1935. The wall at the end of the Hall depicts the Resurrection of Jesus. The broad frescos at both side-walls show a Dance Macabre. The Hall measures 200 square meters with a ceiling of 14 meters high. A text on a clock at the exit of the Hall reads ‘Eine dieser Stunden wird deine letzte sein’ (‘One of these hours will be your last’).
Left: Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Ausschnitt aus den Ingolstädter Totentanz’, displayed at the ‘Münchener Kunst Sonder Ausstellungen, in der neuen Pinakothek, 1935.
Right: detail of the Dance Macabre fresco’s.
Oskar Martin-Amorbach, three fresco‘s (‘Deckengemälde‘) on the ceiling of the Dreifaltigkeitskirche (The Holy Trinity Chapel) in Kappl near Waldassen, Bavaria. Created in Baroque style in the period 1934-1940.
Left: ‘Gott Vater‘ (‘Godfather‘).
Right: ‘Gott Sohn’ (‘God-Son’).
Below: ‘Heiliger Geist’ (‘The Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles’)
Details of the fresco ‘The Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles’ (an allegory of mercy).
On top: apparently a German soldier is sharing water with an Italian, Spanish, and French soldier;
Below: two Wehrmacht soldiers bury their dead comrade.
Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Mutter’. Fresco, depicted in ‘Die Kunst im Dritten Reich’, 1937.
Left: Oskar Martin-Amorbach, ‘Feierabend an der Pferdetränke’ (‘Quitting time at the Drinking Trough’). Signed 1948, size 130 x 110 cm.
Right: Feierabend an der Pferdetränke’ displayed at the exhibition ‘Ingolstädter Maler und Bildhauer im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, 2009/2010, Stadtmuseum Ingolstadt. Depicted in ‘Ingolstädter Maler und Bildhauer im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert’, 2009.
Left: Oskar Martin-Amorbach, self-portrait. Date of creation unknown.
Right: Oskar Martin-Amorbach, self-portrait, signed 1941. Bought in 1943 by the Städtische Galerie Würzburg. Depicted in the exhibition catalog ‘Tradition & Propaganda’, Museum im Kulturspeicher, 2013.
Oskar Martin-Amorbach in his atelier in the 60s.
Oskar Martin-Amorbach
Oskar Martin-Amorbach (1897–1987), son of an auditor, went at the age of 14 to the Arts and Crafts School in Bensheim. Three years later, in 1914, he became a student of the Royal Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich, under history-painter Karl Whaler. His studies were interrupted by the First World War. From 1916–1919 he was a dispatch rider and took part in the battles of Flanders, where he was seriously wounded. The impressions he garnered in the First Word War can be found later in some of his paintings, for example in ‘Sie fahren in den Tod’ (‘Driving toward Death’) and in ‘Flandern 1940’ (‘Flanders 1940’).
In 1919 he continued his studies in Munich where he became a pupil of Professor Carl Johann Becker-Gundal and Meisterschüler of Professor Franz von Stuck. Martin-Amorbach was represented for the first time at the exhibitions in the Munich Glaspalast in 1923 (recorded as ‘Martin-Amorbach, Oskar). In the same year he was awarded the Rom Price, which enabled him to study for a certain period in Italy.
Martin-Amorbach bought a house with an atelier in 1923 in Rossholzen/Samerberg, near Chiemsee. He, his wife and four children lived there for many decades, but he was not often at home. His son Jo wrote in 2010, that his father most of the time stayed in Italie, Berlin, Munich and finally 40 years in Würzburg (he had ateliers in the last three cities). Martin-Amorbach became famous with his large crucifixion group, a fresco of 25 m2, displayed in 1929 in the Munich Glaspalast. Several orders from churches for frescos and paintings followed (i.a. in the Stadtpfarrkirche Lohr am Main, in Waldassen, Pullach and in Pirmasens). From 1933 to 1935 Martin-Amorbach created the monumental fresco’s -still existing- in the Aussegnungshalle (Benediction Hall) at the graveyard Westfriedhof in Ingolstadt: the wall at the end of the Hall depicts the Resurrection of Jesus, the broad frescos at both side-walls show a Dance Macabre. Besides church frescos and -paintings, and Madonna-motives, Martin-Amorbach painted country and farmer sceneries in the Realistic style of Wilhelm Leibl and Franz von Defregger, as well as war themes. The farmer- and war motives were of great importance in the National Socialist Ideology.
On 16 July 1939, at the ‘Day of German Art’, the Professor title was granted to him by the Nazis. Martin-Amorbach, member of the NSDAP since 1937, was appointed Professor for History painting at the Akademie für bildende Künste in Berlin in 1943.
At the Great German Art Exhibitions Martin-Amorbach was represented with 12 works, which were farmer sceneries as well as military motives. Hitler bought at the exhibitions ‘Erntetag’ (‘Harvest’, GDK 1938), ‘Abend’ (‘Evening’, GDK 1939), ‘Im Tagewerk’ (‘Daily Life’, GDK 1941) and ‘Sie fahren den Tod’ (‘Driving towards Death’, GDK 1942) for prices of up to 22,000 Reichsmark.
Martin-Amorbach was represented with multiple gobelin-kartons (source: ‘Deutsche Zeitung in den Niederlanden, 18 Januar 1944‘) at the exhibition ‘Deutsche Künstler und die SS’, 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; three months later -from June to July 1944- the exhibition was again held in the Alte Residenz in Salzburg. One gobelin-karton with a motive of a ploughing ‘Wehrbauer’ (‘Defensive Peasant-Settler’), was depicted in the Breslau-exhibition catalogue.
After WWII the city of Würzberg made a studio available for Martin-Amorbach, where he worked from 1946 to 1986. He was commissioned numerous restorations of historical frescoes, wall- and ceiling paintings in war damaged public buildings and churches in Franconia (i.a the frescoes in 1950/51 in the Neumünsterkirche in Würzberg). Martin-Amorbach also created new frescoes and wall paintings (often in the new modern post-war style), for example a fresco in the Foyer of the Industrie und Handels Kammer in Würzburg; wallpaintings in Würzberg at the facades of the Fischerzunft in Mainviertel, at the Haus der Main-Post in the Plattnerstraße and on a ceiling in the Weinhauses ‘Stachel’; a wallpainting in the DRV-Frankenklinik in Bad Kissingen; works in 1957 in the Mozartschule in Würzberg, including the wallpainting ‘Das Abendland’, in 1968 eleven oil paintings for the Golden Room of the City Hall of Ausburg, and in 1980, at the age of 82, a historical wallpainting of 3,7 x 2 meters in the City Hall of Volkach.
Shortly before his death, in Rossholzen, November 6, 1985, Martin-Amorbach confessed in an interview to the Israelian writer Irith Dublon-Knebel: ‘My bad luck was that Hitler liked my paintings, I suffer from that to this day’.
Oskar Martin-Amorsbach died in 1987 in Rossholzen/ Samerberg.
In 1989 ‘Der Sämann’ (‘The Sower’, GDK 1937) was shown in Paris during the exhibit ‘Munich 1937, l’art diffamé, l’art acclamé, organised by the Goethe Institute at Paris.
The Deutches Historisches Museum is in the possession of ‘Abend’, ‘Der Sämann’, ‘Im Tagewerk’ and ‘Sie fahren den Tod’. ‘Der Sämann’ and ‘Im Tagewerk’ were displayed in 1977 at the Exhibition ‘Deutschland 1930-1939, Verbot, Anpassung, Exil’ in Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland; later these two works were displayed at the exhibition ‘Aufstieg und Fall der Moderne‘, Weimar, 1999. ‘Ernterast’ was displayed during the ‘German Culture Festival’, 1992, Washington; depicted in the ‘Chicago Tribune’, 14 June 1992. ‘Der Sämann was also displayed at the exhibition ‘The Romantic Spirit in German Art 1790 – 1990’, organised by the Royal Scottish Academy, Edingburgh/ London, 1994/95. ‘Feierabend an der Pferdetränke’ (‘Quitting time at the Drinking Trough’), signed 1948, was displayed at the exhibition ‘Ingolstädter Maler und Bildhauer im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, 2009/2010, Stadtmuseum Ingolstadt. ‘Madonna with Jesus Child’ and ‘Madonna’, by Martin Amorbach (both in possession of the Städtische Galerie Rosenheim) were displayed at the exhibition ‘Vermacht, Verfallen, Verdrängt, -Kunst und Nationalsozialismus’, 2017.