Herda-Vogel, Richard (1900-1965), St. Kilian's Church in Heilbronn as a War Ruin in Winter, around 1945
Richard Herda-Vogel(1900 Königszelt - 1965 Großgartach), St. Kilian's Church in Heilbronn as a War Ruin in Winter , around 1945. Watercolour over pencil, 52 x 43.5 cm (sheet), 70.5 x 61.5 cm (frame), signed "R.[ichard] H[erda]=Vogel" at lower right, framed behind glass.
- in excellent condition, frame with a smaller bumped spot
- After the Apocalypse -
St. Kilian's Church is destroyed. It is a ruin and stands as a landmark of Heilbronn for the city and ultimately for the world as such. Like the remaining skeleton from a time of past life, its remains rise into the sky while the world seems frozen in eternal winter and covered by a blanket of snow. A darkly clad figure makes its way through the snowy rubble, a heavy sack slung over its shoulders. A symbol of the burden of a life now without shelter. The figure seems to come directly from the ruins, moving away with the remaining belongings, just like Richard Herda-Vogl himself, who was bombed out of Heilbronn in 1944.
The place of worship, too, seems to have been abandoned by God, and yet it still rises high into the sky, showing - like the snow - the blue tonality of the sky, while the horizon is filled with a newly rising light that spreads the hope of overcoming destruction and despair.
In addition to the content of the painting, which is characteristic of the immediate post-war period, the technically virtuoso large-format watercolor is also a testimony to the history of the city of Heilbronn and the condition of St. Kilian's Church after the bombing.
About the artist
After training as a lithographer, Richard Herda-Vogel attended the private Reimann School of Arts and Crafts in Berlin and then the Flensburg School of Arts and Crafts. He also took painting lessons from Oscar Woite in Schweidnitz and Egon Tirsch in Rostock. In 1926 he went to Heilbronn to take over the management of the lithographic department of the H. Volk printing company.
During the air raids on Heilbronn in 1944, the apartment of Richard and his wife Thekla Herda-Vogel, who was also an artist, was destroyed. In 1945, the couple settled in Großgartach, where Richard Herda-Vogel worked as a freelance artist, focusing on watercolor painting.
Richard Herda-Vogel was a member of the Heilbronn Artists' Association.
Exhibitions
1976 Gedächtnisausstellung Richard Herda-Vogel, Leingarten.
2020 Unbekanntes aus dem Atelier des Künstlers R. Herda-Vogel, Museum Leingarten.