Illies, Arthur (1870-1952), Blooming Bush, 1896

Arthur Illies(1870 Hamburg – 1952 Lüneburg), Blooming Bush , 1896 (GWV no. 31 a). Etching and zinc etching in the chiaroscuro manner, 35.7 x 25.1 cm (image), 59 x 47 cm (frame), unsigned, framed in a passepartout behind glass.

- minimally browned, otherwise very good condition and attractively framed

Exposé as PDF

- Dynamic inversions -

Arthur Illies turned his back on the art academy in 1892, after realizing that nature itself was the artist's real academy and that the landscape to be explored in open-air painting should be the focus of his studies. During this phase of Illies' artistic career, Justus Brinkmann, the director of the Hamburg Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, introduced him to East Asian printmaking. Immediately inspired, Illies appropriated the artistic means of expression of printmaking. In this way he was able to combine the aesthetics of Far Eastern printmaking, characterized by a flatness, with his studies of nature. Illies was so taken with this synthesis that he began to experiment with printmaking himself.

"Illies not only created numerous sheets in the known graphic processes [...] but also invented his own techniques".

- H. Schröder

One result of these experiments is presented here: zinc relief etching produces an embossed print in which the surface of the sheet acquires a relief structure that can be experienced haptically. This effect is accompanied by a light-dark inversion. The graphic has a dark background zone at the bottom and a light one at the top. The leaves appear light in front of the dark area, but dark in front of the light area. This light-dark inversion, combined with the relief effect, gives the leaf a dynamic that is represented in the plants themselves. The leaves and blossoms grow into the picture from several sides, rising to a crescendo in the center of the picture. Against the flat background, the blossoms seem to unfold in real space. The individual blossoms, however, do not stand on their own, but are almost indistinguishable from one another, thus focusing the viewer's attention on the overall event, which in turn intensifies the dynamic.

Arthur Illies creates a spectacle of nature that is carried by a vital tension down to the smallest detail. A lively ornamentation that constantly transforms itself without solidifying into a final form.

About the artist

After training as a decorative painter in Hamburg, Arthur Illies began to study at the Munich Art Academy under Johann Caspar Heterich in 1890. Less than two years later, however, he had a key experience that led him to leave the academy:

"At Easter 1892, during a stay in Hamburg, I stood in front of a Lower Saxon farm in Langenhorn, and there it fell like scales from my eyes that here I saw something that was closer to me inwardly than anything the Academy and Munich could at best give me.

- Arthur Illies

With the support of Alfred Lichtwark, the director of the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Illies returned to Hamburg and in the following years, together with Ernst Eitner, Paul Schroeter, and Thomas Herbst, devoted himself to open-air painting, first in the Hamburg countryside and later, with Paul Kayser and Alfred Mohrbutter, also in the heath landscape. In addition to Alfred Lichtwark, Justus Brinkmann, the director of the Hamburg Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, was a mentor to Illies and introduced him to East Asian prints.

In 1897, Illies was a founding member of the Hamburgische Künsterclub , which brought together "young Hamburgers" who were interested in new art. In addition to Arthur Illies, these artists included Julius von Ehren, Thomas Herbst, Ernst Eitner, Paul Kayser, Alfred Mohrbutter, Friedrich Schaper, and Arthur Siebelist.

Starting in 1899, Illies had his residence in Huuskoppel built according to his own designs.

In 1907, together with Ernst Eitner, the artist accepted Georg Burmester's invitation to Heikendorf on the Kiel Fjord, where he took up the theme of the sea.

Also in 1907, the major commission to furnish the villa of the entrepreneur and art collector Henry B. Simms in Hamburg, demolished in 1970, with 14 murals testifies to his artistic reputation. In 1914 Illies was awarded a studio at the School of Arts and Crafts, and in the same year he participated in the groundbreaking Cologne Werkbund exhibition.

In 1916 Illies traveled to the Eastern Front on behalf of the Hamburg Museum of History. After his harrowing war experiences, he turned to religious painting. In 1928 he painted the old Church of the Redeemer in Hamburg-Borgfelde, which was destroyed in 1943, and in 1930 he created an altar painting for the Church of St. Philip in Hamburg-Eimsbüttel.

As for Illies' teaching activities, he was a teacher at Valesca Röver's painting school for ladies from 1895 to 1908 and a lecturer at the Staatliche Kunstgewerbeschule in Hamburg from 1908. In 1926 he was finally appointed professor there.

Illies was a member of the Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur and joined the NSDAP in 1933, but was dismissed as professor in the same year. Nevertheless, he participated in the Great German Art Exhibitions from 1941 to 1944 and sold a painting to Joseph Goebbels in 1943.

Illies, who had lived in Lüneburg since 1937, lost his apartment in 1945 and moved into a studio in the Altes Kaufhaus. Also in 1945, he began to suffer from visual problems. In the last period of his life he devoted himself almost exclusively to still life painting. Arthur Illies died in his studio apartment in 1952.

Selected Bibliograhy

Gustav Schiefler: Arthur Illies. In: Verzeichnis des graphischen Werks neuerer hamburgischer Künstler bis 1904. Hrsg. v. Alfred Lichtwark, Hamburg 1905, S. 65–110.

Gustav Schiefler: Das graphische Werk von Arthur Illies. 1894 – 1904. Hrsg. v. Gerhard Schack, Hamburg 1970.

Kurt Illies (Hrsg.): Arthur Illies. 1870–1952. Aus Tagebuch und Werk, Hamburg 1981.

Kurt Illies (Hrsg.): Arthur Illies. Graphik und Zeit. 1894–1952, Hamburg 1983.

Kurt Illies (Hrsg.): Arthur Illies. Zeichnungen - Briefe - Lüneburg, Hamburg 1985.