Lycée d’enseignement général et technologique
Docteur Koeberlé, Sélestat [FRANCE]
Alsatian artists: e-mails from the Première S1 (Ms Clad's class) to Anagni pupils (Ms Affinati's class)
Dear Italian friends,
We are three Alsatian pupils who come from Lycée Koeberlé in Sélestat. We are Julien B, Louis P and Julien S and we are 16 years old. We attend a scientific section and are interested in the Comenius programme, which is why we have written these few lines to you about a charismatic and famous Alsatian figure: Jean Jacques Waltz, (a.k.a Hansi).
Jean-Jacques Waltz, most known under the name of Hansi, was born on the 23rd February 1873 in Colmar; a town in the middle of Alsace, which then belonged to Germany. Since his childhood, Hansi had always been fond of drawing. He was not interested in other subjects at school, which proved difficult with his teahcers. When he was 21 years old, his father sent him to the "Ecole des Beaux-Arts" in Lyon in order to follow an industrial design course.
When he came back to Alsace, he worked as a draughtsman in textile industries in Cernay, Mulhouse and Logelbach (three towns situated near Colmar), even though he had preferred to become an engraver.
But parallel to this designer job, he improved his drawing techniques, and he began to be known as a postcard illustrator.
His first postcard was entitled "Colmar and its plain".
At first sight, his postcards typically represent Alsatian scenes, from an idyllic point of view. But in actual fact, these pictures were made in order to transmit anti-German messages through the caricatures.
Above all, he fought against the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine by Germany, after the French-German war in 1870. He ridiculed the Germans through caricatures:
For instance, he liked to represent German tourists wearing Tyrolean hats, rucksacks and sticks.
To sign his caricatures, he used the pseudonym "Hansi", which came from the combination of "Hans" which means "Jean" and phonetic "I" like in "Jakob", which means "Jacques".
Until 1914, he published many artistic works like the very famous book entitled "Professor Knatschke". Then, in 1914, he got involved in the war and published some postcards and books about it, although it was not a success.
In 1923, he became a curator in the "Unterlinden Museum" in Colmar.
At this time he was living on publicity. For example, he made postcards for "les Potasses d'Alsace".
However, he was forced to flee to Agen, in the south of France when the Second World War began in 1939, because he was so anti-Germans.
At the end of his life, Hansi was sick and weak, so he exiled himself to Switzerland.
Afterwards, in 1946, he came back to Colmar and continued to publish several works.
On the 10th of June in 1951, he died aged 78.
To conclude, we may say that Hansi gave a big cultural and artistic treasure to his region, such as ceramic patterns, stained glass windows, posters, postcards, books, engravings, paintings and dolls. To put it in a nutshell, he was a versatile artist.
Dear friends,
We are Lorelei, Marion and Suzanne, three students in Premiere (PS1) in "Lycée KOEBERLE" in Selestat (small town between Strasbourg and Colmar).
We are going to tell you a bit about one of the most well-known sculptor, painter, poet and abstract artist of our region: Jean Arp as known as Hans Arp. When Arp spoke in German he referred to himself as "Hans", and when he spoke in French he referred to himself as "Jean". Many people believe that he was born Hans and later changed his name to Jean, but this is not the case.
He was born in 1886 in Strasbourg and died in Basel in 1966. In 1904, after leaving the École des Arts et Métiers in Strasbourg, he went to Paris where he published his poetry for the first time. From 1905 to 1907, Arp studied at the Kunstschule, in Weimar, Germany and in 1908 went back to Paris, where he attended the Académie Julian. In 1915, he moved to Switzerland, to took advantage of Swiss neutrality in order to avoid being drafted into the army. Arp was a founding member of the Dada movement in Zürich in 1916.
In 1920, as Hans Arp, along with Max Ernst, and the social activist Alfred Grünwald, he set up the Cologne Dada group. However, in 1925 his work also appeared in the first exhibition of the surrealist group at the Galerie Pierre in Paris.
In 1926, Arp moved to the Paris suburb of Meudon. In 1931, he broke with the Surrealism movement to found Abstraction-Création, working with the Paris-based group Abstraction-Création and the periodical, Transition.
Throughout the 1930s and until the end of his life, he wrote and published essays and poetry. In 1942, he fled from his home in Meudon to escape German occupation and lived in Zürich until the war ended.
Arp went to New York City in 1949 for a solo exhibition at the Buchholz Gallery. In 1950, he was invited to execute a mural at the UNESCO in Paris. In 1954, Arp won the Grand Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale.
In 1958, a retrospective of his work was held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, followed by an exhibition at the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris, in 1962. The Musée d'art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg houses many of his paintings and sculptures (as "Constellation", Collage, Jean Arp, 1922).
Constellation, Collage, 1922.
Demeter.
Kaspar.
About Dadaism : It's a cultural movement that began in Zürich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature (poetry, art manifestoes, art theory), theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti war politics through a rejection of the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works. Dada activities included public gatherings, demonstrations, and publication of art/literary journals (poem of Jean ARP).
« Assieds-toi sur mon orteil
Petit ciel blanc et nu
Reste un costume sans regard
Reste blanc et nu
Laisse les ci-devantes réalités
Raccommoder l'eau
Epiler les âmes
Jeter le dernier mot
Derrière le dernier coeur
Laisse les auréoles ronronner
Et tamiser leurs pensées
Laisse les roses se promener
Sur la peau d'un nain
Laisse les membres à quatre voix
Agiter des plumes de chair
Reste blanc et nu. »
Extrait de Jean Arp, Des taches dans le vide, premiers poème publié en français aux Editions Sagesse par la Librairie Tschann, Paris.
About Surrealism : It's is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members. Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur; however many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artifact.
Aubette model.
We hope you have enjoyed our presentation about this famous artist.
Best wishes :)
Lorelei, Marion & Suzanne.
Dear Friends,
We, Theodora, Alexiane and Sylvain, 11th grade scientific students, are pleased and honoured that we have the opportunity to introduce you to one of the very talented Alsatian painters: Camille Claus. Here's a brief look over his life and work.
"We are not born Alsatian, we become", said Camille Claus. Camille Claus was born in Strasbourg on the 30th September 1920. His father (also called Camille Claus) was from Warminster and worked as a butcher. His mother (Caroline Lehmann), whose family were potters, came from Somerton. In 1943 he married Angela Thomann. Two children were born of this union, Louise (1947) and Philippe (1951).
Camille was very affected by the Second World War. In one of his books, he said "The image of desire always interposes itself; it was immediately difficult to paint the appearance of things. Men of 1939 pulled me to my reality in order for me to plunge into theirs. Since then, I try to recreate mine. "(Excerpt from autobiographic essays). After an exile in Vendee, he decided to attend the Art Deco. The Germans cast him away in 1942, for the following reason: "Paints degenerate art"! By refusing to sign his military record, he found himself at Camp Schirmeck, then in Dresden. In this city he discovered contemporary art and was particularly impressed by a German officer, who was a protector of arts and supporter of the resistance... But the war was not over. He was caught by the Russians ... in Tambov. He lived in the camp with other artists and eventually had the opportunity to paint. But again his art didn't please the Russians, who said that "it represented a grave reality and not very agreeable".
After 1945, he could freely return home. There, he painted expressionist paintings - a kind of catharsis that he had lived to suffer.
The discovery of abstract art came from the paintings of Auguste Herbin (1882-1960. This artist, who began with Impressionism, continued in cubism to pursue the style and geometric abstraction. In Kandinsky line he sought the spiritual significance of colours and became inspired by the very same theories of Goethe, the German writer. He decided to go to Paris where he met other painters and writers. However, he decided to go to Ghana afterwards where he felt more at home. He joined the School of Art Deco of Strasbourg in 1960 as a teacher and stayed there until 1985.
His first work became more abstract and figurative but with very sleek lines. He believed a lot in the evolution and freedom of the artist and this thus gave name to a typical art called "clausien".
He particularly appreciated Eastern thought; we found this appeal in his latest works. It revealed a quest of harmony, spirituality.
Camille Claus was Honorary President and active member of AIDA (independent artists of Alsace) for more than fifty years. His record speaks for itself: He was promoted to 'Knight of Arts and Letters' in 1979; he received the Oberreinischer Kulturpreis from the Goethe Foundation (Basel) in 1980 and he won the Golden Grand Bretzel (supreme award of the Institute of Arts and Traditions of Alsace) in 2003. At that ceremony, he said: "Painting does not explain the meaning of life, but it is a vital necessity for me." Camille Claus also took the pen daily. Adrien Finck of the Steering Committee for the Review of Literature Alsatian stated: "We find the writer in the purity of the Latin emotion associated with the Germanic". "Friends say you're happy in your workshop. Happy? This word has no meaning. I am far from good and evil. I paint. At most we could call it: living" (excerpt from "Mirror").
Watercolours, inks, (for the book Inks Piers), 1966.
We hope you have enjoyed reading this short statement of ours & are looking forward for more communication between us. Enjoy!
Special Regards from us all,
Theodora, Alexiane and Sylvain.
Dear friends,
Hello, we are three pupils, Cécile, Baptiste and Delphine, aged between 15 and 16 years old and we come from Dr Koeberlé High School in Sélestat. As you certainly know, we are French, and furthermore, we are lucky to live in Alsace; a land rich in art, history and culture from German and French origins. Our beautiful and attractive region is an interface between these two countries, and an original and unique place to stay. Therefore, we advise you to come and visit us. You will definitely not regret it!
As we are very interested in this region's culture, we rejoiced when our English teacher asked us to do research about our most famous Alsatian personalities. So, we have decided to tell you about Jean-Paul de Dadelsen, who was a poet from a village close to ours. Unfortunately, he is not as well-known by other Alsatians as we would like him to be, but he is one of our best poets all the same.
Let's talk about him…
Jean-Paul de Dadelsen was born in 1913 in Strasbourg. His family and himself were protestant. Jean-Paul de Dadelsen grew up in Muttersholtz, close to the German border, and so he learnt German. He studied in the same high school as us but he failed his A-levels. Afterwards, he went to Colmar to repeat his last high school year. His teachers said that he was really intelligent but much too distant and uncommunicative. After his studies in philosophy, he got a university degree in German and passed the competitive examination to become a German teacher in 1936. The shy teenager had become a communicative person. He taught in Marseille and made translations and adaptations from the German philosopher Herman von Keyserberg and from poets.
The most interesting event in his life happened during the Second World War. During this period he was an interpreter. But shortly after, he became a paratrooper for the FFL (Forces Françaises Libres: a French resistant movement which helped to liberate France in the Second World War). Then, he was transferred in the information troops of General de Gaulle.
After the liberation of France, he came back to Paris and joined the department of information. That's the beginning of his international career, all the more as he became the director of the information ministry in Berlin in 1946. Like his friend, Albert Camus, he was a journalist. He also was a speaker for the BBC. Finally Jean-Paul de Dadelsen died of a cancer in Switzerland in 1957. His poems were published in one book entitled "Jonas" in 1962, dedicated to his best friend, Camus.
Judging by his life, we could say that he had three cultures, but in his poems we can feel a real attachment to his "original country", Alsace. He wrote his own poems inspired by Goethe, the Good Book and Shakespeare. His poems deal with all subjects, from the most pessimistic to the most optimistic with lots of strange metaphors and many different rhythms. The critics and the poets speak about him as "the manifestation of the Alsatian genius" or as "a blend of seduction and extreme intelligence"
We are looking forward to hearing from you!
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
Bye bye!
Delphine, Baptiste, Cécile
A little poem from Jean Paul de Dadelsen: "invocation luminaire".
Ils ont habité avec nous dans la gueule de la baleine.
La baleine les a crachés sur l'autre rivage :
Les timides.
Les gauchers.
Celui qui était albinos et bègue.
Les myopes. Les méfiants, les malins.
Et ce grand garçon qui avait toujours soif,
toujours sommeil.
Regardent-ils parfois par-dessus notre épaule ?
Depuis qu'ils sont partis, nous n'avons vu personne.
Sommes-nous aveugles ? Ou bien
"spiritisme, religions de nègres", écrit,
dans quelque périodique exquis, un Révérend Père.
Pourtant,
s'ils regardaient, parfois, par-dessus notre épaule ?
Ou bien quittant le rivage de la mer intermédiaire,
se sont-ils avancés depuis longtemps
dans l'intérieur des terres spirituelles ?
Le sorcier noir sait appeler, sait, quand elles voudraient
s'en aller, retenir, ramener les ombres, les âmes.
Qui de nous saurait appeler
saurait ramener
l'ombre de John,
de Bernard,
de Maurice ?
Jean-Paul de Dadelsen, Aux ombres, in Jonas, Jonas, suivi de Les ponts de Budapest et autres poèmes, Poésie/Gallimard, n°405, 2005, p. 87 et 88
Introduction.
Jean-Thomas Ungerer, also called Tomi, was born in Strasbourg on the 28th of November 1931. He's the son of a producer of astronomic clocks, artist and historian, and of Alice Essler. After the death of her husband, Alice Ungerer moved with her four children to Logelbach near Colmar.
His life.
In 1940, Alsace was taken over by the Germans. Tomi is confronted by Nazi indoctrination in his school in Colmar. His drawings at the time testify to this war period.
Later, from 1946 to 1948, Tomi became a scout and recounted in his notebook the many journeys which he made by bicycle through France. After this period and failing the second part of his high school diploma, he travelled all around the globe, for example, Russia, Algeria, and many European countries.
He finally left for New York in the United States where he wrote his first book for children, "The Mellops go flying" in which he tells the story of a family of little pigs. He was awarded the "Spring Book Festival" prize.
Afterwards, he branched out his activities by directing an advertising campaign for the machines Burroughs, and also drew for reviews such as Esquire, Life, Holiday, Harpers, and The New York Times and also for television. In addition, he continued to complete his series of children's' tales by writing stories such as Crictor, Adélaïde, Emile, the Three Bandits and Rufus. These stories were awarded many prizes, as well as his satiric books like Horrible and The Underground Sketchbook.
In 1960, he began working for Diogenes Verlag, a publishing house of Zurich, which became the publisher for the majority of his books. He became an engaged author; involving himself with racial segregation and the Vietnam War. Later, he became involved in other domains, like in 1966, when he expressed his hatred of the New York society in another book, "The party", or in 1972, when Tomi drew for the SPD's electoral campaign, the party of Willy Brandt.
However, almost 10 years later, (and 4 years after his marriage with Yvonne Wright in New York), in 1975, Tomi Ungerer thought of Alsace by donating his work and his collection of toys to the museums of Strasbourg, which have dedicated exhibition to him.
He the went on to have children, to lead his normal life, involve himself in works concerning integration between Germany and France, earn numerous prices, and help the development of the city of Strasbourg.
His most important books.
Les trois brigands is a book for children. There were once three naughty boys whose life totally changed when they met Tiffany, the small orphan. She made them benefactors of humanity.
Jean de la Lune. Jean of the Moon feels alone. He dreams of making a small journey to Earth.
Un chapeau volant. Benito Badoglio was an invalid ex-warrior who had no money in his pocket. One day, a hat, which had flown over from somewhere, landed on his bald skull. Benito soon noticed that this hat was alive.
Le géant de Zeralda. What can you do to make an ogre stop eating children? Prepare him delicious meals every day. It is what made the girl Zéralda.
As said before, Tomi didn't just make children's tales, he also made advertisements, erotic drawings, caricatures, and wrote biographies.
The Ungerer's museum.
The Tomi Ungerer Museum - international Centre of Illustration, located in the Villa Greiner, groups together many of his works, which include drawings (7000 originals), engravings, archives, 3500 toys and games and magazines. All of which were given by Tomi Ungerer from his personal collections.
Conclusion.
To conclude, we can say that Tomi is a world-known, talented artist and an avid traveller, who has been involved in the fights of his time. If you want to know more about him, we fervently suggest that you to go to the museum that we previously talked about.
Antoine, Xavier, Hugo.
Hello!
Our names are Pauline, François and Léa. We have been attending the Koeberlé High School since we are fifteen years old. We live in Sélestat or in little villages around the city; in Alsace, near Strasbourg. We are sixteen years old. We have chosen to speak about Albert Strickler because he is a contemporary poet and thus we could interview him; recently he even won the « Prix Maurice-Betz » created by Mme Betz, which is given each year to an Alsatian writer for his work. We have chosen to ask him some questions about his life and his work.
When did you start writing poems and did you think when you were young that you were going to be an artist ?
I wrote my first poems at school. Encouraged by my different teachers including Jean-Claude Walter, one of my high school teachers, I continued to be active in this field and really understood at an early age that poetry would be my life passion.
What about your professional career ?
I met people such as Maurice Regnaut or René Char and decided to teach for a period of ten years before changing my professional orientation. At the beginning I was chief of staff with Gilbert Estève, a former mayor in Sélestat, then I was in charge of the cultural matters of the city. Today, as head of an association for the mentally and physically handicapped, I have founded an artistic and cultural centre which aims to integrate the disabled.
Where are you from and does it have any importance when you write ?
I come from Sessenheim a little village near the Rhine. Of course, Alsace inspired me a lot since there are a lot of wonderful landscapes! Since the beginning of the 80's, I have become more sensitive to the beauty of its forests and mountains and such landscapes have rapidly become my favourite, so much different from the banks of the Rhine where I was born. That's why 5 years ago, I moved to La Vancelle, a small village in the mountains where I wrote a book entitled "Le Tourneciel" (in collaboration with Colette Ottmann). Through this work I wanted to pay a fervent tribute to this beautiful village and its people who had warmly welcomed me.
Have you collaborated with others artists ?
Of course, for me, work is always better when it is done in collaboration with others all the more when it is artistic creation. That's why during my career I have always wanted to share my passion with others, even my son worked with me and we published a book together. My collaborative work has mainly been with painters. Among others, Rolf Ball, Sylvie Lander, Gerard Brand, Patrice Thébault… I also worked with a musician, Hans-Georg Renner who put my praise "éloge pour les semaines" in music.
What are your main publications ?
I published several poem collections such as " le brûli du coeur " or " la Voie lactée", pages of my own diary, for example « Il a plu sur les cerises » ; and books of art, illustrated by artists such as « Le souffle de l'ange » with Sylvie Lander. I also collaborated with many magazines.
Which rules do you follow when writing a poem in collaboration with another artist ?
Most of my poems are inspired by paintings, by my friend Rolf Ball. I hang them up in a specific room in my house, and I spend quite a lot of time just looking at them. These paintings really help me to find the right word or expression. The day I found out that there was a relation between painting and writing, I tried to describe all that I could perceive. That's how it was possible for me to make a job out of my passion!
How long does it take you to create a poem ?
It can take you quarter of an hour to write a poem just as you can spend a year trying to put your ideas in words! I think that writing in general and writing poetry is like a pilgrimage. People should realize that constraint and discipline lead to creativity! Too many people think that talent is needed to achieve such works but in reality there is only 1% of talent and 99% of perspiration!
So, thanks to this interview with Albert Strickler, we learned that there is genuine hard work which surrounds the creation of a poem. What's more, It is quite interesting to note that Albert Strickler, not only writes in French but also in Alsatian.
Vegas Deluxe
Académie
Commission Européenne - EEFA