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Description
‘Ein Einsamer Gast’ (‘Lonely Guest’).
Displayed at the GDK 1941, room 37.
With original GDK-Medal.
This painting hung in the Great German Art Exhibition in 1941, room 37.
‘Ein einsamer Gast’ (‘Lonely Guest’) was one of the staggering 48 works of Peter Philippi that were displayed in the GDKs from 1938 to 1944. The original Great German Art Exhibition-Medal is attached to the back. The frame is also the original from the GDK 1941.
At the back: medal and sticker of the Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung 1941.
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : 72 x 69, unframed 49 x 47 cm |
| – signed | : left, under (‘P. Philipi, 1941’) |
| – type | : oil on canvas |
| – misc. I | : with original GDK-Medal and GDK-sticker at the back |
| – misc. II | : professional cleaned; frame restored |
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BIOGRAPHY: PETER PHILIPPI
Left: Peter Philippi, ‘Gemeindesorgen’. Displayed in the Sonderschau at the GDK 1943, room 37; depicted in the exhibition catalogue. Also displayed at the Münchener Jahresausstellung 1908 im Glaspalast. Depicted in ‘Kunst dem Volk’, 1943 and in the book ‘P. Philippi, Die kleine Stadt und ihre Menschen’, 1949.
Right: Peter Philippi, ‘Der Junggeselle’ (‘The Bachelor’), 1929. Displayed at the exhibition ‘Staatliche Kunst-Ausstellung München, 1933, Neue Pinakothek, and in the Sonderschau at the GDK 1943, room 37. Depicted in ‘Kunst im Deutschen Reich‘, 1941, in ‘Kunst dem Volk, 1943, and in the book ‘P. Philippi, Die kleine Stadt und ihre Menschen’, 1949. The painting is in the possession of the Reichsstadtmuseum Rothenburg.
Left: Peter Philippi, ‘In der Sommerfrische’ (‘Frehsness of the Summer’). Displayed in the Sonderschau at the GDK 1943, room 37; depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Right: ‘In der Sommerfrische‘, displayed at the ‘Sonderausstellung anlässlich des 150. Geburtsjahres des Künstlers’ (‘Exhibiting on the occasion of the 150 Birthday of Peter Philippi’), 2016, Reichsstadtmuseum Rothenburg.
Peter Philippi, ’Amüsante Lektüre‘ (‘Amusing reading matter’). GDK 1942, room 3. Bought by the Reichspostministerium in Berlin for 6.500 Reichsmark. Depicted in ‘Kunst dem Volk’, 1942. Depicted in the book ‘P. Philippi, Die kleine Stadt und ihre Menschen’, 1949.
Left: Peter Philippi, ‘Arbeitspause’ (‘Workingbreak’), displayed in the Sonderschau at the GDK 1943, room 37. Depicted in the book ‘P. Philippi, Die kleine Stadt und ihre Menschen’, 1949.
Right: Peter Philippi, ‘Lesender Mann’ (‘Reading Man’), displayed in the Sonderschau at the GDK 1943, room 37. Depicted in the book ‘P. Philippi, Die kleine Stadt und ihre Menschen’, 1949.
Left: Peter Philippi, ‘Studienkopf II’ (‘Study of a Head II’), signed 1917. GDK 1943 room 37.
Right: Peter Philippi, ‘Studienkopf I’ (‘Study of a Head I’), signed 1914. GDK 1943 room 37.
Both works, displayed in the ‘Sonderschau’ of the GDK, were sold in 2017 by a German auction house.
Peter Philippi, ‘Der Student’ (‘The Student’), created 1897. Displayed in the Sonderschau at the GDK 1943, room 37. Depicted in the book ‘P. Philippi, Die kleine Stadt und ihre Menschen’, 1949.
Left: Peter Philippi, ‘Winkelweisheit’. Displayed at the ‘Deutsch-Nationale Kunstausttellung zu Düsseldorf‘, 1902. Depicted in ‘Kunst für alle’, 1902.
Right: Peter Philippi, ‘Winkelweisheit’, displayed at the GDK 1943, room 37. Depicted in the book ‘P. Philippi, Die kleine Stadt und ihre Menschen’, 1949.
Left: Peter Philippi, ‘Amüsante Lekture’ (‘Amusing reading matter’), displayed in the Sonderschau at the GDK 1943, room 37.
Right: Peter Philippi, ‘Am Stammtisch’, displayed in the Sonderschau at the GDK 1943, room 37. Depicted in the book ‘P. Philippi, Die kleine Stadt und ihre Menschen’, 1949.
Left: Peter Philippi, ‘Ännchen von Tharau’. ‘Ännchen von Tharau’ is a historical German song by Simon Dach, from the year 1642 or before. Depicted in P. Philippi, ‘Die kleine Stadt und ihre menschen’, 1949. An Amercan gallery sold it in 2105 at a German auction house. Now in the possession of the ‘Reichsstadtmuseum Rothenburg’. Size: 20 x 18 cm.
Right: ‘Ännchen von Tharau’, displayed at the ‘Sonderausstellung anlässlich des 150. Geburtsjahres des Künstlers’ (‘Exhibiting on the occasion of the 150 Birthday of Peter Philippi’), 2016, Reichsstadtmuseum Rothenburg.
Left: Peter Philippi, ‘Der Landwirt‘ (‘The Ranger‘). Displayed at the Münchener Jahresausstellung 1912 im königlichen Glaspalast and in the Sonderschau at the GDK 1943, room 37. Nowadays in the possession of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. Depicted in ‘Das Bild’, July-September 1943, and in the book ‘P. Philippi, Die kleine Stadt und ihre Menschen’, 1949.
Right: Peter Philippi, ‘Morningstunde’ (‘Morning Hour’). Depicted in ‘Das Bild’, 1934.
GDK-map with 16 artprints of the paintings by Philippi in the Sonderschau.
Size: 50 x 40 cm.
Left: Peter Philippi, ‘Sonderausstellung anlässlich des 150. Geburtsjahres des Künstlers’ (‘Exhibiting on the occasion of the 150 Birthday of Peter Philippi’), 2016, Reichsstadtmuseum Rothenburg.
Right: the haus at Marktplatz 10 in Rothenburg were Philippi lived from 1906 until his death in 1945 (above the pharmacy, second floor with the bay-window).
Peter Philippi, ‘Sebstbildnis’ (‘Self-portrait’). Displayed at the GDK 1943, room 37. Depicted in ‘Kunst dem Volk, 1943.
Peter Philippi, the Spitzweg from Rothenburg
Peter Philippi (1866–1945), son of a bookseller in Trier, studied between 1885 and 1902 (with interruptions) at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Art. Between 1895 and 1902 Meisterschüler Philippi was taught at the Academy by Professor Eduard von Gebhardts.
Philippi, member of the Düsseldorfer Art Society ‘Malkasten’, took part in the exhibition ‘Deutsch-Nationale Kunstausttellung zu Düsseldorf‘ in 1902. Upon completion of his studies -around 1906- Philippi settled in Rothenburg ob der Tauber (Bavaria), where he lived for almost 40 years in the same house, the second floor of the Biedermeier-style Ratsapotheke (pharmacy) at the market. From there he regularly sent his paintings to various art exhibitions. In 1908 he was represented at the Grosse Münchener Kunstausstellung in the Glaspalast and in 1909 at the Grosse Kunstausstellung zu Düsseldorf (and in 1924 again with four works); in 1911 in the ‘International Kunstaustellung in Rom’ and in 1912 he was again represented at the Grosse Münchener Kunstausstellung in the Glaspalast.
In 1910 he won the Golden State Medal of Prussia and in the same year he became extraordinary-member of the Düsseldorfer Kunstacademie. In 1923 he co-founded the ‘Rothenburger Künstlerbund, three years later Phillipi was appointed Professor of Art in Bavaria. In 1931 Philippi became a member of the paramilitary organisation ‘Stahlhelm’. A year later he took part in the Düsseldorf-Münchener Kunstausstellung in the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf and in 1937 in the Münchener Jahres Ausstellung, Neue Pinakothek.
Philippi’s style, unchanged and executed for more than four decades, was that of genre scenes, interiors, figures, portraits and landscape and townscape scenes. His subjects were often depicted with a dry sense of humour. His work is realistic, without any trace of romanticism. The people he depicted showed meekness and resignation. He never painted a Nazi-propaganda work.
From 1937 to 1943 Peter Philippe had no less than 48 works displayed at the Great German Art Exhibition; his paintings were sold for prices of up to 6.500 Reichsmarks (Göring bought ‘Fränkische Bäuerin’ for 2.000 RM). In 1941 Philippi was awarded with the prestigious ‘Goethe-Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft’.
The ‘Goethe-Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft’
The ‘Goethe-Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft’ (Goethe Medal for Art and Science) was authorized by Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg to commemorate the centenary of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s death on March 22, 1932. The Medal was in Hindenburg’s name given to Goethe scholars, artists, scientists, government officials and politicians. Among the recipients of the Medal were Chancellor Brüning, Max Planck, and the Nobel Prize winners Gerhart Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Nicholas Murray Butler, André Gide, Knut Hamsun, Verner von Heidenstam, Guglielmo Marconi, Albert Schweitzer, Fritz Haber and Richard Willstätter. Other recipients were Benito Mussolini, José Ortega y Gasset, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Otto Klemperer, Carl Goerdeler, Paul Ernst, Hans Grimm and E.G. Kolbenheyer. About one quarter of the honorees of the Goethe Medal before July 1934 were non-Germans. Women were rarely considered.
Beginning in November 1934, Adolf Hitler, in his position as German Head of State, took over the awarding of the ‘Goethe-Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft’. Among them are the Nobel Prize winners Hans von Euler-Chelpin, Johannes Stark, Heinrich Wieland and Adolf Windaus, as well as five women: Anna Bahr-Mildenburg, Hedwig Bleibtreu, Agnes Bluhm, Isolde Kurz, and Lulu von Strauß und Torney. Under Hitler the Medal was generally awarded only on high birthdays or other important anniversaries. Many of the recipients were followers of National Socialism.
Hitler liked Philippi’s style so much that on his instructions the GDK mounted a special display of paintings by Peter Philippi in 1943: the Sonderschau (this was a special exhibition that gathered the works of one highly valued artist each year in one room). It is from that time that Philippi got the nickname ‘The Spitzweg from Rothenburg’. Philippi was, together with Adolf Reich and Franz Xavier Wolf, one of the three most important genre painters of the first half of the 20th century.
Philippi, who died in Rothenburg, created his last work ‘Der Spaziergang’ (‘Short-walk’) in 1945.
Nowadays works by Peter Philippi’s are in the possession of the Berlin National Gallery, the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, the Stadtmuseum Simeonstift Trier and the Reichsstadtmuseum Rothenburg. The work ‘Der Landwirt’ which was displayed at the GDK 1943 room 37, is in the possession of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen.
In 2016 a special exhibition took place in the Reichsstadtmuseum of Rothenburg: 53 works by Peter Philippi were shown, of which 13 were in the possession of the Reichsstadtmuseum. The heirs of Peter Philippi (i.a. dr. Christoph Krapp) estimate the total number of paintings produced by Philippi at maximum 100.