Willy Kriegel, Die vier Tageszeiten

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				Price: on request

Description

‘Die Vier Tageszeiten’ (‘The Four Parts of the Day’)
Biography: Willy Kriegel

This cyclus of four paintings of daytime beautifully depicts how the atmosphere changes during the day. The four paintings ‘Tageszeiten’ were originally created in a very large format and displayed at the Great German Art Exhibition of 1943 (depicted in detail in the Illustrirten Zeitschrift Leipzig in May 1944). It was Willy Kriegel’s biggest success; Adolf Hitler bought all of them for 100,000 RM. The popular depictions were printed by Heinrich Hoffmann on numerous postcards.

Monastery of Hohenfurt (Vyssi Brod), Czech Republic
In the beginning of 1944, Dr. Hans Reger (architect in charge of the Führerbau, Munich 1938-1945) shipped in several transports 43 paintings and 52 sculptures from Hitler’s private contemporary art collection -and other stolen art collections- to the Monastery of Hohenfurt (Vyssi Brod), near Linz in the Czech Republic.
After the 1945 liberation of Czechoslovakia, valuable art, such as pieces from the Mannheimer- and Rothschild collections, were confiscated by the U.S. Army and taken to the Munich Central Collection Point in an effort to return them to their original owners. Art works then considered as having no value, like contemporary German Nazi-art works, were left behind. They were photographed in August 1945 by the former director of the Czech State Institute of Photometry, Antonín Friedl, along with the photographer Jan Tuháček. ‘Die Vier Tageszeiten’ were among the paintings at the Monastery of Hohenfurt. Later, the art works previously owned by Hitler, ended up scattered across the country.
Since 2012, twenty-three paintings by German artists -that Adolf Hitler personally purchased during WWII- were found back at various Czech institutions. Seven were discovered at the Zákupy Chateau, the site where items from confiscated castles, chateaus and private houses were gathered after the war. Seven other canvases were found at the convent of Premonstratensian Sisters in Doksany, near Prague. One painting was found at the Military Institute in Prague, and four works were found at the Sychrov Castle. Four other paintings were found in the building of the Faculty of Law of the Charles University in Prague.
Three large bronzes were found at the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery: ‘The Rower’ by Hermann Zettlitzer, ‘Aphrodite‘ by Wilhelm Wandschneider, and ‘The Sower‘ by Willi Knapp.
‘Die Vier Tageszeiten’ was found back at the Zákupy Chateau. Unfortunately one of Kriegel’s four paintings -‘The Evening’- was not found and is still missing. All the twenty-three paintings (including the three panels by Kriegel) are now in the possession of the ‘Czech National Institute for the Protection and Conservation of Monuments and Sites’. They will remain in the Czech Republic.

Zákupy Chateau, 2014. ‘Die Vier Tageszeiten’ (left: ‘Die Kübelträgerin’ by Sepp Hilz).

The only complete series
After his success at the Great German Art Exhibition in 1943, Willy Kriegel created the same Tageszeiten again for a private individual (in a smaller size). The paintings offered here (Morning, Afternoon, Evening, Night) were produced in 1943/1944 and are only sold together. This second version of the ‘Tageszeiten-Cycle’ is the only complete series of this masterpiece of German landscape painting that has survived into the 20st century.

Left: Der Morgen (Morning). GDK 1943, room 3.
Right: Der Mittag (Afternoon). GDK 1943, room 3.
  

Left: Der Abend (Evening). GDK 1943, room 3.
Right: Die Nacht (Night). GDK 1943, room 3; depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
   

Illustrierte Zeitung Leipzig, May 1944:  Willy Kriegel working on the painting cyclus ‘Die 4 Tageszeiten’.

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