All entries for "Hint"

The original note where our Fritz Neumann confirms that he is Ric, published by Mark Strong of Meibohm Fine Arts included an address:

His address is Gartenfelder Str. 132 h in Berlin Haselhorst.

Since Torsten Steinberg, the author of the ad mentioned in the last post wrote about the old address books of Berlin I tried to do the same. This are the results, the first result was from 1934:

Address book 1934

Address book 1934

Address book 1936

Address book 1936

Address book 1937

Address book 1937

Address book 1943

Address book 1943

Address book 1957

Address book 1957

Address book 1961

Address book 1961

Address book 1970

Address book 1970

Above only random samples, therefore the cut-outs are not continuous. No address books are available after 1970, so here are some extracts from telephone directories.

Phone book 1978

Phone book 1978

Phone book 1984

Phone book 1984

This at least makes it clear that our Fritz Neumann lived and worked in Berlin for around 50 years. And perhaps died in 1984, or at least stopped working as a graphic designer, e.g. because he went into an old people’s home.

Sources

The digital copies of the sources are linked to the respective excerpts. As the URN:NBN resolver of the DNB is used, these can also be cited.

Another clue

After receiving the news that Fritz Neumann (1928-2014) is not our Fritz Neumann, it was time to re-examine possible candidates. An interesting new clue was this offer on classifieds (formerly ‘eBay Kleinanzeigen’). In the ad dated 08.07.2024, 8 paintings (watercolours) by a Fritz Neumann are offered, the signature is very similar to that of the prints by ‘our’ Fritz Neumann. And there also is a known painting of the Charlottenburg Palace by our Fritz Neumann…

Here is the text of the advert:

Fritz Neumanns are a dime a dozen. The Berlin address book for 1964 alone lists 63 of them, including 2 painters, 1 technical draughtsman and 1 graphic artist. It is the latter who painted the watercolours offered here.

Above all, the company Meibohm Fine Arts near Buffalo on Lake Erie traded his works in the USA, sometimes under his real name, sometimes under the pseudonym RIC, then preferably maritime, e.g. sailing boats, but also animal motifs. Behind both signatures is the same Fritz Neumann, who is listed in the Berlin address books as living in Siemensstadt, at Gartenfelder Str. 132 h, until 1979. The motifs of the watercolours offered here are grouped around this place of residence, which in many respects are strongly reminiscent of the works of the well-known Berlin architectural painter Alfred-Karl Dietmann and are in no way inferior to them.

Fritz Neumann’s etchings are usually stamped ‘JCB’ by the Lübeck art publisher Josef Carl Blumenberg, through whom they found their way to the USA. If the works are signed ‘Neumann’, the spelling corresponds to that on the watercolours; if, however, they are signed ‘RIC’, it becomes clear, especially from early examples, that the pseudonym is not a new invention, but a derivation from the peculiar spelling of the first name Fritz, which can also be seen on the watercolours.

I know Fritz Neumann’s biography from Jürgen Derschewsky’s ‘Biography of Oldenburg Artists’. However, this painter seems to have little more to do with Berlin than the fact that he was born there on 27 October 1928. After school and the war, he worked as a trainee stonemason on the restoration of the war damage to Minden Cathedral in 1948/49. From 1949-53 he studied at the Braunschweig School of Art (sculpture department) and from 1954-57 at the Pedagogical College in Oldenburg, including work as an art teacher. In 1971 he joined the Oldenburg regional group of the Association of Visual Artists (BBK). 1972 First participation in an exhibition in Nordenham, which was to be followed by many more in Oldenburg and the surrounding area, most recently a retrospective of drawings, paintings and sculptures in February/March 2001. Fritz Neumann died in Oldenburg on 23 March 2014, and his wife died there five years later.

The clear focus on Oldenburg raises doubts as to whether this biography actually matches the Fritz Neumann who, at least until 1979, still had a suitcase in Berlin and to whom we owe the Berlin motifs offered here. J. Derschewsky apparently only analysed local sources when reconstructing the biography, which is why he probably missed the artist’s two-track career with a foothold in Berlin. There is a gap of more than a decade in his biography, especially around the 1960s, when I would date the Berlin watercolours, but the etching of two fishing boats as an otherwise missing link is a sure indication that the very Fritz Neumann who painted the Berlin motifs offered here also fished in Oldenburg.

Torsten Steinberg

After his holiday, Torsten Steinberg, the provider of the pictures, contacted me and agreed to take over his text and pictures.

Doubts

The remarkable thing is that there are clear doubts in the text that the Fritz Neumann who painted and signed the watercolours (and is therefore very probably ‘our’ Fritz Neumann) and Fritz Neumann (1928-2014) are identical. The text also offers some interesting clues as to how the seller came to these doubts. He did some research in old address books…

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.
Andreas Neumann

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.
Andreas Neumann

So we need to restart the search!

But first, let’s start a bit of cleanup:

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…

View more images

A few day ago I bought an interesting book at my favorite rare book book seller : A catalog of deliverable prints of the “Kunstverlag Hanfstaengl” for the year 1961. The woman at the counter told me that the book has been sitting around on the shelf for ages and offered me to look up the price again, just in case the value dropped. Thy have tho policy to offer books at a lower price then the one on the web. It turned out, that the price increased in the last years, but in that case they stick with the original offer.

Prints made by “Kunstverlag Hanfstaengl” are quite common in Germany, you can find them often on flea markets, the quality is good, and many people are confused by the fact, that they can be very old and try to sell those as originals.

Anyways, I bought the book, since i’ve discovered a print in it, that I own. It’s the one of the Kingfisher on page 168. I never managed to read the whole signature and now I know the name, I learned that I was actually searching with a few wrong fragments. The etching is by the artist Kurt Meyer-Eberhardt from Munich.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to claim the Fritz Neumann and Kurt Meyer-Eberhardt are somehow related, even if there are some similarities in the motives. That might be just be the Zeitgeist between the 50ies and 70ies.

But maybe there are more similar catalogs out there by other art publishers that may contain works by Ric or Fritz Neumann.

A while a ago I’ve added a post showing a painted tile painted by Fritz Neumann and produced by Rosenthal . Since the company has quite a history they also offer a archive research service. In spring 2019 I’ve send them an inquiry about the history of this particular product and the artist, Today I got an answer. Since I don’t have their permission I don’t quote the reply here. The raw facts:

  • Produced by Rosenthal Handmalerei in Munich between 1934 and 1951, since the mark was only used in this time span - especially for export goods to the USA.
  • A painting by the German painter Fritz Neumann (1881-1919) was used as a template.

Every regular reader will be surprised now and notice that the dates of life and the theme do not go together: The second statement is wrong with a probability bordering on certainty, but so far there has been no answer.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Finally it’s the time in year to eat cookies and do some personal research. I found the following comment on the original blog by Simon .

I have over 30 different lithographs of the unknown artist RIC. Likewise I have in my collection 15 lithographs, which are signed with Fritz Neumann. The lithographs of both artists not only have the same embossing stamp “JCB” but show too clear similarities in motifs (boats, birds, lanes) as well as in brushstrokes. The only artist I know who also uses the stamp “JCB” is Han van Meegeren. In addition, I recognize in his lithograph “deer with fawn” left in the background a boat, as we know it in the style of Fritz Neumann and RIC. For several years I have been searching unsuccessfully for the artist RIC. On the back of some frames I recognized 8 stickers of art houses. I contacted each of them. Nobody can remember the artist RIC. My collection consists of more than 1000 works. None of these lithographs of other artits shows an embossing stamp “JCB”. Therefore the way to identify RIC leads over the embossing stamp of the printer. Does anyone know the embossing stamp and/or the printer? This would be very helpful in identifying the artist RIC. All information is highly appreciated.

The link to the Blogger.com profile page might work if you have a Blogger.com account

I’m still not sure how to follow this clue, but I’ll add a page for it.

And i’ve also found some more images for this blog. Stay tuned!

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