Presber, Adolf

Painter

born: 08.11.1896 in Ramschied (Bad Schwalbach)

died: 26.10.1997 in Wiesbaden

In 1897, the Presber family moved to Biebrich, where his father worked for the Dyckerhoff company. Presber's teachers recognized and encouraged his talent while he was still at primary school. After an apprenticeship with the decorative painter Ludwig Bolz (1910-14), he obtained a diploma from the advanced training school. From March 1916, he was a soldier on the Western Front and took part in the battles of Verdun and the Somme. After 1918, he was able to gain a foothold with poster and sign painting.

From 1919-26, he attended the schools of applied arts in Wiesbaden and Mainz. His teachers included the sculptor Carl Wilhelm Bierbrauer and Franz Böttiger. In 1924/25 he studied at the Städelsches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt am Main. He then honed his drawing skills in particular at the Munich Art Academy under Peter Halm.

His encounters with the works of El Greco and Goya during a study trip to Spain in 1926 were key experiences for his further artistic development. After that, religious themes found their way into his works. Until 1939, he worked on the decoration of over 25 churches in the Middle Rhine region. He also produced nude drawings in the 1920s, which caused a scandal at an exhibition in the Wiesbaden Museum in 1928. He worked as a drawing teacher at private institutes and traveled to Chartres, Brittany and Normandy. During the Nazi era, his paintings were considered "degenerate". Many of his works were destroyed, so that nothing remains of the oeuvre he created before 1939. After his return from the war, he settled down as a freelance painter in 1945.

He became known above all for his cityscapes. Solo exhibitions and participations took place in Wiesbaden, Mainz, Wetzlar, Stuttgart, Austria, Togo and the USA. From 1955-79 he was chairman of the Wiesbaden Artists' Circle, from 1959-79 exhibition director and board member of BBK Wiesbaden e.V. and from 1971-79 teacher at the Volkshochschule Wiesbaden e.V. He remained active as an artist into old age. He was awarded the BVK in 1980. The Adolf Presber Society, founded in 1986, has rendered outstanding services to Presber's work.