Hy, Karl Otto

Architect, graphic artist, painter

Born: 28.10.1904 in Rüdesheim

Died: 05.04.1992 in Schlangenbad (Georgenborn district)

From 1916-18, Hy attended the private Bouffier painting school in Wiesbaden, trained as a decorative painter from 1919-22 and graduated from the School of Arts and Crafts from 1924-28. He had lessons with Prof. Fritz Gässl, Hans Christiansen and Otto Fischer-Trachau, among others, with whom he was involved in the development of the Rheingauviertel. In his spare time, Hy worked for the architect Willi Lehr. In 1928/29, he studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule Mainz under the graphic artist Prof. Otto Arpke.

In the 1920s, he devoted himself to advertising and painted the gables of buildings such as the Aktienbrauerei in Mainz, the Germania brewery in Wiesbaden, the Hotel Schwarzer Bock and the walls of the Opelbad. He created murals and a company logo design for Dyckerhoff GmbH. In Wiesbaden, Hy joined artists such as Hans Völcker, Ernst Wolff-Malm, Edmund Fabry and Willy Mulot.

The subjects of his paintings were primarily cities, landscapes and personalities. Many of his city portraits and street scenes have a documentary value today thanks to his realistic and objective rendering.

Hy was a soldier during the Second World War and later interned as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union. After the war, he undertook numerous trips to neighboring countries. Before and after the Second World War, Hy worked as an architect restoring and designing the interiors of public buildings. These included the Wiesbaden State Theater, the Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme, the mourning hall at the southern cemetery and the large conference hall of the city council. He also built detached houses in and around Georgenborn.

Hy was chairman of the Nassauischer Kunstverein e.V. and, after the death of Rudolf Haus, chairman of the Ring of Visual Artists since 1978.