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Oglethorpe University Museum to Exhibit
Paintings of Nobel Prize Winning Author Hermann Hesse
Atlanta - Oglethorpe University Museum (OUM) announces
the exhibition "Hermann Hesse: Novelist, Poet, Painter" featuring 30
watercolors, 10 pen and ink drawings, first edition books,
photographs and a full-color replica of Hesse’s 1946 Nobel Prize for
Literature. The exhibition will open to the public on Sunday,
February 14, 1999 and remain open through Sunday, May 30.
Oglethorpe University Museum has made arrangements with Jean
Olaniszyn, founder of the Hermann Hesse Museum in Montagnola,
Switzerland, to bring this exhibition to an American museum for the
first time. The exhibition is sponsored by Swissair, The Goethe
Institute – Atlanta, The Swiss Center Foundation and Marianne and
Claus Halle.
Hermann Hesse turned to painting in his early 40’s at a time of
emotional stress. Settling in the village of Montagnola in the
Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland, Hesse was
captivated by the landscape. His water colors reveal an
Expressionist fervor, a Fauvist palette and a style that often
touched base with Cubism.
Hermann Hesse was born July 2, 1877 in the small southern German
town of Calw into a very colorful and culturally sophisticated
family. Hesse claimed, "From my thirteenth birthday on, it was clear
that I wanted to be a poet or nothing at all." In 1895, Hesse left
Calw and took a position as an apprentice bookseller where he was
introduced to the writings of Nietzsche and Goethe. In 1899, at age
22, Hesse moved to Basel, Switzerland. His first small edition of
poems, Romantic Songs, was published that year. In 1904, Hesse’s
first novel, Peter Camenzind, was published.
During World War I, Hesse was accused of being a traitor by the
German press because of his pacifist views. His writings were
rejected in Germany and his royalties ceased yet Hesse continued
working for peace and published anti-war documents under the
pseudonym Emil Sinclair. By 1917, the war, family problems and inner
conflicts had taken a toll on Hesse. His physician sent him to a
sanatorium where he met psychologist Dr. Joseph Lang, a pupil of
Carl Jung, who introduced Hesse to the gnostic wisdom of ancient
religions and advised him to paint. Hesse wrote his novel Demien in
1917. The novel reveals the impact of his time in the sanatorium. In
1919, Hesse moved to the small village of Montagnola, Switzerland.
"When I, after forty-one years of searching for a refuge, came to
Montagnola for the first time and rented a small apartment with a
balcony under which bloomed next to a few late Magnolias also a
gigantic Judastree, I was a man in his ‘best years’ and of mind to
start again, although four years of war had left me defeated and
bankrupt," Hesse wrote of Montagnola in Merian magazine in 1960.
Hesse’s collection of three novellas, Klingsor’s Last Summer, was
published shortly after his move to Montagnola. According to Hesse
experts, it is in this work that the author may be seen as "a poet
who wrote with the eyes of a painter." By 1920, Hesse had completed
numerous paintings and exhibitions of his paintings were held that
year in Basel and Lugano, Switzerland. In 1922, his novel Siddhartha
was published followed by Steppenwolf in 1927. Hesse continued to
write and paint through World War II though his writings were again
rejected in his native Germany. During the war, Hesse opened his
home to intellectual emigrants who had to flee Nazi Germany. In
1942, Hesse completed The Glass Bead Game, a work intended as a
struggle of the spirit against the power of barbarism and to
reconcile both spirit and nature. In 1946, Hermann Hesse received
the Nobel Prize for literature and the Goethe Prize. On August 9,
1962, Hermann Hesse had a stroke and died in his home in Montagnola.
At the time of his death, Hesse, in addition to his novels and
collections of poems, had written 3,000 literary reviews and 35,000
personal letters. He had painted about 3,500 watercolors mostly of
the places where he had lived and which were particularly dear to
him. Of his paintings, Hesse wrote: "I have shown my appreciation to
the old houses and stone roofs, the gardenwall, the chestnut trees,
the near and faraway mountains, by painting, using hundreds of good
sheets of drawing paper, many tubes of waterpaints and
drawing-pencils."
Founded as Oglethorpe University Art Gallery in 1984 and expanded
in 1993, Oglethorpe University Museum is a nonprofit university
museum whose mission is to bring meaningful culture to Atlanta
through the exhibition of art that is international,
representational, often figurative and spiritual.
Comprised of two spacious galleries, and occupying some 7,000
square feet on the third floor of Lowry Hall and Philip Weltner
Library of Oglethorpe University, OUM offers an attractive and
pleasant environment for the viewing of elegantly curated exhibits.
Oglethorpe University Museum is easily accessible, offers ample
free parking and admits visitors without charge. The Museum Gift
Shop offers gifts for every occasion.
For further information about OUM events or to schedule a docent
tour, call (404) 364-8555.
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