Route Responsibles : Schwaan city and museum (Heiko Brunner)

Germany

The artist’s colony of Schwaan had been created at the end of the 19th century… In a village situated in Pomerania, south of Rostock…

Very early, in the middle of the century, some artists (Otto Dorr, Eduard Ehrke, Carl Malchin…) had soon discovered the Idyllic nature of this place at the same time when Franz Bunke, who founded later the famous colony, had been born…

Franz Bunke, Rudolf Bartels, Peter Paul Draewing and Alfred Heinsohn, who gathered together regularly in the Drewes hotel, were the pillars of this colony which shone during many decades.

Rudolf Bartels

(1872-1943)

Among the artists who set up in Schwaan, Rudolf Bartels (1872-1943) was fascinated by the light and the colors, the flowering trees and the rainbows… Clever outdoor painter, he was a pupil of Theodor Hagen at Weimar’s school. He realized not only landscapes but also many still lifes and portraits… He had worked many years in Schwaan before setting up in Rostock after the first world war.

Alfred Heinsohn

(1875-1927)

Alfred Heinsohn  had first studied in Karlsruhe and Düsseldorf… He joined The Weimar’s school where he knew the others artists painting in Schwaan where he built an house and where he set up till the end of the first world war. Then he lived in Hambourg. The artist developed a expressive style more and more abstract… He became fond of theory of colors and architecture.

Otto Tarnogrocki

(1875-1949)

Otto Tarnogrocki was born in Poland at Lobsens not far from Szczecin and grew up in Strasbourg, Ulm and Dresden. At first educated in the Royal Berlin School, he joined this one of Weimar before going to Schwaan to work with Franz Bunke… He travelled all over Europa, he liked to paint the Szczecin streets with strong and brignt colors contrasting with his winter landscapes… The “”Art Mill” of Schwaan honors his work to-day.