Fritz Neumann (1928–2014) is not Ric!
During my vacation I did some research on one of the last posts : I’ve contacted the Freudeskreis Kunst Oldenburg . They forwarded my questions to Andreas Neumann, the son of Fritz Neumann (1928–2014).
He send me the following reply:
Unfortunately, my father - Fritz Neumann - is not identical with the painter ‘Ric’. The handwriting and painting style do not match, and the Berlin address does not fit either. We lived in Ohlenstedt at the time and then moved to Oldenburg.
Original in German:
Mein Vater - Fritz Neumann - ist leider nicht identisch mit dem Maler “Ric”. Schrift und Malstil stimmen nicht überein, und auch die angeführte Berliner Adresse paßt nicht. Wir haben zu der Zeit in Ohlenstedt gewohnt und sind dann nach Oldenburg gezogen.
So we need to restart the search!
But first, let’s start a bit of cleanup:
- Meibohm Fine Arts will update the page on Ric / Fritz Neumann
- A change to the German Wikipedia is awaiting approval
It’s interesting to see how many people and pages have adopted the link between Fritz Neumann (1928–2014) and Ric.
Keep in mind, it’s certain that some Fritz Neumann is Ric, just not the one who was born in 1928.
The page will be updated in the next weeks…
After it turned out that Fritz Neumann (1928-2014) is not Ric , Mark Strong has updated the biographies at Meibohm Fine Arts and AskArt.com .
Many thanks to Mark for this!
Hopefully the false attributions on eBay and other auction sites will now be less…
Short description: Sailing boats, known as Ric 05. This one has a unusual location of the signature - within the print.
Notes: Taken from auctionet.com .
Another hint from Wolfgang Barina , an invoice for a Fritz Neumann watercolour painting called “Regatta” dated 20.10.1938.
Short description: A colourised etching of a hereditary farm by Fritz Neumann.
Notes: There is also a print (certainly from a magazine) of this etching on eBay . Keep in mind, that those aren’t woodcuts!
Short description: Sailing boats (Ric 25) and A latern next to a stair (Ric 14)
Notes: Taken from auctionet.com . This post provides better images then the ones in the work list.
The United States Copyright Office (USCO) is a keeper of differend kind of copyright entries. It used to issue a printed catalogue of those registered copyright claims. Since the USA has been a global market already before world war two, there were copyright registrations by J.C. Blumenberg in the thirties. Some of those, especially in Part 4: Works of Art, these also cover works by our Fritz Neumann. This gives us dates for certain works of our Fritz and is an indicator when they started to work with each other.
The printed copyright catalogs have been digitised and are available at the Internet Archive .
1936
Catalog of Copyright Entries, New Series. Part 4: Works of Art 1936: Vol 31 No 1-4, Page 228
1938
Catalog of Copyright Entries, New Series. Part 4: Works of Art 1938: Vol 33 No 1-4, Page 43
Catalog of Copyright Entries, New Series. Part 4: Works of Art 1938: Vol 33 No 1-4, Page 145
1939
Catalog of Copyright Entries, New Series. Part 4: Works of Art 1939: Vol 34 No 1-4, Page 28
Catalog of Copyright Entries, New Series. Part 4: Works of Art 1939: Vol 34 No 1-4, Page 143
Summary
| Work | Date |
|---|---|
| Bestrafte raufbold | September 1936 |
| Sieger | September 1936 |
| Jagdflieger | January 1937 |
| Ferienerinnerungen (from my window) | May 1938 |
| Cup race | December 1938 |
| Dem endkampf entgegen | July 1937 |
| Ran an den wind | March 1936 |
| Hol an die schooten (Taking it cleverly) | July 1936 |
| Mercurius | March 1937 |
Short description: A postcard by Fritz Neumann - “Naysayers”
Notes: Found on AKPool
Even if Fritz Neumann-Hegenberg could be ruled out as “our” Fritz Neumann from the outset. There is further evidence to support this.
Already on 31 August 2021, three years ago, a work by Fritz Neumann-Hegenberg appeared on the TV programme “Bares für Rahres” . Following the programme, a newspaper article about the consequences was also published (behind a paywall).
His works are also represented in various online collections
Since both the address book entries and some of Fritz Neumann’s works (such as this from August 1935 or this from between 1934 and 1951) date from the time of the ‘3rd Reich’, it is relatively likely that he was a member of the Reichskunstkammer . Membership was compulsory at the time…
And indeed, in the Landesarchiv Berlin (state archive Berlin), which administers the files of the “Reichskammer der bildenden Künste”, Landesleitung Berlin, there is a personal file on Fritz Neumann, born on 18 June 1905, under the archive signature A Rep. 243-04 No. 6261 !
In addition, you can see that there is a Finding aid of the collection . This also contains evidence of several auctions in which a ‘Fritz Neumann’ is mentioned…
And there is also at least one Fritz Neumann in the files of the “Reichschrifttumskammer”, kept at the Bundesarchiv, but we’ll ignore it for now…
The finding aid also reveals a date of birth: 18 June 1905!
And with this date there is even more: Fritz Neumann, born on 18 June 1905, was probably a teacher at the Staatsbauschule Berlin-Neukölln. At least there is a corresponding personnel file in the branch of the Federal Archives in Berlin-Lichterfelde. The school merged into today’s Berlin University of Applied Sciences via several intermediate steps .
But is this ‘our’ Fritz?
