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Karl Kluth was born in 1898 in Halle and came to Hamburg in 1922 – after serving on the front in France and studying in Karlsruhe. On his initiative and that of some of his colleagues – including Bollmann and Hartmann -, the
"Senatskommission für Kunstpflege" ("Senate Commision for the Care of Art")
gave the order for a number of commissions after 1925 to support artists from Hamburg, including the development of several new buildings by Fritz Schumacher. In 1931 Kluth joined the "Hamburg Secession", was soon
considered one of the cheekiest and obsequious artists, who did not stop at |
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SA and SS soldiers barged into the studios on numerous occasions, intimidating
the artists and questioning them on their styles of painting. In 1937 Kluth went
to Kiel, where a "Kulturbolschewismus" ("Cultural Bolshevism") éclat ensued in
1939, set off by Kluth's set design for a Wilhelm-Tell-realization by director Kurt
Eggers-Kestner. Kluth was prohibited from painting, several of his paintings were confiscated and destroyed throughout the "Entartete Kunst" ("Degenerate Art") campaign in 1937. When the Ohlendorffhaus went up in flames in July 1943, his complete works also burnt almost in their entirety. In 1940 he was again drawn in to serve as a soldier and only returned to Hamburg from Russian captivity in 1949. In 1952 he became professor at the Hochschule für bildende Künste (University of Fine Arts), five years later he received the Edwin-Scharff-Preis. After the death of his first wife he became married again in the early sixties, to his pupil Vera Becker; one son was born. Karl Kluth died in 1972 in Hamburg.. |
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| anything to dupe those in power, which resulted in a number of troubles, including a minor lawsuit; the twelfth "Secession Exhibition" was closed in March 1933, mostly due to his paintings Wegespuren II and Akt auf rotem Sofa. As of 1932 Kluth was employed as chairman in the Ohlendorffhaus, which gave him financial alleviation and a studio on the one hand, but put him in a position between the lines of "adapted" artists and Secessionists. The results were denouncements and reprisals. |
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| Karl Kluth |
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| Self-portrait, 1937 |
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| Warmeriville II, 1936 |
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| Poster |
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| Akt auf dem roten Sofa |
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