Christiansen, Hans Heinrich

Designer, Painter, Writer

Born: 06.03.1866 in Flensburg

died: 05.01.1945 in Wiesbaden

With an international reputation in the applied arts sector, Christiansen chose Wiesbaden as his home in 1912.

A visit to the World's Fair in Chicago (1893), study visits to Antwerp and Paris (1895-1899) and work on the magazine "Jugend" had provided this reform artist with formative knowledge. Honored with the title of professor in 1899 and first appointed to the Darmstadt artists' colony, to which he belonged until 1902, he, like his colleagues, rebelled against the loss of quality in everyday objects.

His will to form, full of inventiveness and originality, elegance and refinement, marked him out as a master of material aesthetics, which particularly affected his creations in glass and textiles. He set the highest standards in spatial art and in the varieties of arts and crafts.

However, this productivity came to an abrupt end in Wiesbaden. After designing interiors, he devoted himself more to painting, whereby his portraits in the art deco style shone. He sporadically took part in exhibitions here. In 1925, he and his son Olaf were members of the Freie Künstlerschaft Wiesbaden. Christiansen was also involved in the administrative board of the Municipal Craftsmen's and Arts and Crafts School and worked as a lecturer at the Volkshochschule Wiesbaden e.V. He devoted himself most intensively to philosophical questions, on which he produced several publications.

The total ban on painting that the National Socialist cultural barbarism imposed on him in 1933 posed an existential threat. However, despite persistent harassment, Christiansen managed to save his Jewish wife Claire, née Guggenheim (1872-1975), from deportation to a concentration camp. Until her death, she hoped in vain that her husband would be artistically rehabilitated.

It was not until 1999 that Christiansen's grave in the North Cemetery was recognized as an honorary grave by a decision of the Wiesbaden City Council.