When Fritz was very young and growing up in Germany, his immediate surroundings likely would not have attracted attention for anything out of the ordinary.
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| Remnants of an 84 year old calendar |
His family owned a house and large workshop in a very small village and Fritz had no great aspirations to become an artist, from what is known. But he did show a lot of interest in sketching his surroundings, and without travel to far away places, he started with the main (and only?) street in his hometown of Miltern.
These early drawings were so well done, especially for a 13 year old, that it became obvious that this should be encouraged. The drawing shown here won in a youth calendar contest: Drawn 'Nach der Natur' in 1927, entered in 1928 and published in 1929. 'Nach der Natur' means drawn out in nature, something that Fritz ended up doing passionately for another 80 years, wherever he went.
