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"Willi Geiger in the Bax", Künstlerhaus Geiger - the Bax, Übersee am Chiemsee July 2006. On the basis of paintings and graphics, the second exhibition at the Künstlerhaus Geiger "Willi Geiger in der Bax" illustrated some further relevant aspects of his artistic work. In the residence, a selection of still lifes, which the artist painted mainly at Chiemsee, was complemented by portraits of family members. The large hall in the former threshing floor was dedicated to the processing of the experiences of the Nazi regime, the war period and the post-war years. On display were two portfolios published in 1947, which reproduce some drawings made during the war years: In the 20 collotype prints of the cycle Zwölf Jahre (Twelve Years) Willi Geiger expressed his unrelenting judgment on - as he himself put it - "hell of war"; the twelve politically satirical sheets of the portfolio Die Abrechnung (The Reckoning) demonstrate the hatred against the "monster in human form" and the "anger of the politically persecuted" (Heinrich Graf). In addition, some paintings touching on the same subject matter were shown. Although the "Professor" was warmly welcomed by the local population, the following event describes the fragility and subliminal threat to his free creative space established at Chiemsee: Two men unknown to me entered the barn in which I was about to paint with a jovial "Grüß Gott"; they had heard of me and would like to look at my paintings. They looked at the paintings set up on the wall, asked me if I also had genre paintings in stock. You know, said one of them, such as Grützner and Spitzweg have painted, and also directed the question to me whether I also have graphics, which I denied. Yes then you must excuse that we have disturbed, we could not find anything suitable unfortunately. They raised their arms to the "German greeting" and the informers left me with a loud, jagged "HH". Something suitable would have fallen into their hands if they had looked behind a layer of boards and the lid of a large picture box; in this hiding place were the drawings for two cycles that appeared after the end of the war in the Limes-Verlag ("Zwölf Jahre") and as a private print ("Eine Abrechnung") in the Heinrich-Graf-Presse, as well as the painting "Der Generalstab". |
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Exhibition idea and text: Julia Geiger |
