Our War Hero



Self portrait during 'War Christmas' 1942

  

A favorite snapshot, showing the artist
surviving and 'emerging' from the uniform. 

It comes as no surprise, when browsing old photo albums, that Fritz is never seen toting a gun or even proudly wearing his uniform. He was always an artist first, and as most artists, a total pacifist. War and especially bombs and combat were a most abhorrent thing to him. This is consistently reflected in the snapshots and paintings that remain from those 7 long, tumultous years spent in the army.

It isn't well known what his duties were, but he was involved in the production of the newspaper of his Division, doing graphics and reporting on happenings through his paintings. There is also some evidence of a planned publication of 48 of his paintings, that earned him a leave to travel to a publisher in Munich, towards the end of the war. With the chaos and loss of communications, however, it appears that this did not come to pass. There are a number of paintings in the archives, mostly watercolors, that were likely selections for this book.

Sketch of Welikije Luki, presumably the one done in the photo below.




Fritz sketching the town of Welikije Luki, Belarus, 1942



Spirited Memories



Excellent decor throughout!
Is that skeleton evidence of Fritz's good marks
in anatomy class, back at the art academy?



Waltraude's invitation - who could turn it down?



Fritz in his wildly decorated studio, 1978



On finding more rolls of randomly painted packaging paper, it made sense to dig through old family photo albums, to see how it all pieced together back then. Wow, that turns out to be a fun tangent to get onto! Apparently a good two weeks or more went into the preparation (mostly decorating?) of the parties that were hosted by the Stehwiens in their new addition to the house, a nice large studio. The ambience created by dressing up the walls, as well as 'lowering' the ceiling and adding music and mystery made quite an impression on friends and colleagues. Most were wonderfully and amazingly creative in their costumes as well, which really made the parties a success. Especially with the challenge of trying to marry the traditions - Halloween (mostly for children, 40 years ago) and the German carnival, usually at the end of February.

More on this topic in spring...

Karneval


 

Part of a large wall mural, showing the fisherman not
catching any fish, but mermaids instead!



Traditions 'back home' also included much fun for the artist family and their friends - especially around Fasching, the German 'Karneval'. Costumes, dance, traditional food and drink help make for a great ambience, in rooms or halls, every bit as 'dressed up' as the people. Interestingly, November 11th, at 11:11AM, is known to be the start of the carnival season, which typically ends on Ash Wednesday, and is deeply rooted in the culture. The many masquerades and often very large and elaborate parades are mostly held in spring, however. Dates of observation of these traditions have changed over the centuries and do vary somewhat throughout the country.





 

Different medium, same motif with the bright orange pumpkin.



Loving the creativeness that comes along with the disguise, Fritz and Waltraude have some great memories of carnival. Waltraude, having grown up with puppetry and theatre*, was and is, also very good at sketching and organizing ideas. Together they staged extraordinary parties, including fantastic wall decorations, costumes, fun and dance.




 *Waltraude's father, Oskar Barthold was a renowned puppeteer in eastern Germany, although his marionette theatre and career in puppetry were eventually all destroyed by the politics of war and post war.