Conrad Felixmüller

Conrad Felixmüller studied at Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. Training under Carl Ludwig Noah Bantzer is recorded. The recorded working language is German. The field of work recorded is visual arts, graphics and painting. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Work by Conrad Felixmüller is recorded in the collections of Minneapolis Institute of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, National Gallery of Canada and Museum of Modern Art.

• Name — Conrad Felixmüller • Birth Name — Conrad Felix Müller • Born — 21 May 1897 • Birthplace — Dresden, German Empire • Died — 24 March 1977 • Place of death — Zehlendorf, West Berlin, West Germany • Education — Dresden Academy of Art • Style — Expressionism • Movement — New Objectivity

• Illustration — A soldier in a lunatic asylum. Lithograph by Conrad Felixmüller, 1918. He attended drawing classes at the Dresden School of Arts and Crafts in 1911–12 before studying under Carl Bantzer at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. In 1917 he performed military service as a medical orderly, and became a founding member of the Dresden Expressionist group Expressionistische Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dresden. He achieved his earliest success as a printmaker. Felixmüller was a member of the Communist Party of Germany from 1918 to 1922. He published many woodcuts and drawings in left-wing magazines, and remained a prolific printmaker throughout his career. He was a close friend of the composer Clemens Braun of whom he produced a number of portraits and a woodcut depicting him on his deathbed. Another subject of Felixmüller's was his friend and German expressionist poet Walter Rheiner. Felixmüller had done illustrations for many of Rheiner's works. In tribute following the news of Rheiner's death, Felixmüller's painting 'Der Tod des Dichters Walter Rheiner'pays homage to his deceased friend. Felixmüller was one of the youngest members of the New Objectivity movement. His paintings often deal with the social realities of Germany's Weimar Republic. He was mentor to the German Expressionist Otto Dix. Felixmüller's work became more objective and restrained after the mid-1920s. He wrote in 1929: It has become increasingly clear to me that the only necessary goal is to depict the direct, simple life which one has lived oneself, also involving the design of colour as painting—in the manner in which it was cultivated by the Old Masters for centuries, until Impressionism and Expressionism, infected by the technical and industrial delusions of grandeur, rejected every affinity for tradition, ability and results, committing harakiri. In the 1930s, many of his works were seized as degenerate art by the Nazis, and destroyed. In 1944, his studio in Berlin was bombed, resulting in more losses of his works. From 1949 to 1962 Felixmüller taught at the University of Halle. He died in the Berlin suburb of Zehlendorf. His 1924 watercolour Couple in a Landscape was found as part of the Munich Art Hoard.

Conrad Felixmüller was recorded at birth as Conrad Felix Müller. He also worked under the name Felixmuller, Conrad. The authorities additionally record the headings Felix Müller, Felix Conrad Müller, Conrad Felixmuller, Conrad Felix Muller and Félix Conrad Müller. His recorded language was German. One child is recorded: Lukas Felix Müller. Other recorded relations include Peter August Böckstiegel.

Conrad Felixmüller is recorded with the occupation graphic artist. Classed in the genre portrait. Recorded as painter, illustrator, printmaker and artist. Associated with Expressionism.