After the First World War, economic constraints caused many artists to leave the cities and seek their fortune in the countryside. Building on the tradition of the artists’ colony there, the idea of organizing exhibitions also matured on the Fraueninsel in Lake Chiemsee in 1920. It was a new attempt at marketing at the time. Local art lovers, but also an upscale tourist audience should be won as customers.
The idea came from the painters Hiasl Maier-Erding, Thomas Baumgartner and Constantin Gerhardinger. Other exhibitors joined later, such as Clara von Bayern, Hermann Groeber, Alfred Haushofer, Anton Müller-Wischin and Josef Wopfner, to name just a few. The loose group of “Frauenwörther”, as the artists were called, existed until the early 1960s.
An exhibition about this group of artists is currently taking place in the local history museum in Prien. On the one hand, it brings together the work of the main representatives, but on the other hand it also raises oppressive questions. “Most of the Frauenwörthers were extremely conservative, both in their view of art and in their political orientation,” says Karl J. Aß, the culture officer of the Prien market. Initially monarchist in orientation, a large part of the group identified with National Socialist art policy. One of its early main representatives, Hermann Groeber, professor at the Munich Art Academy, became a member of the NSDAP as early as 1922/23.
“An art and local history of the Frauenwörther is still a desideratum today,” says Aß. The fact is that members of this loose association succeeded in the years after 1933 and curry favor with the Nazis. Hiasl Maier-Erding, who, along with his friend Baumgartner, was one of the outstanding representatives of the group, died in 1933, which saved him from being apprehended by the National Socialists. Baumgartner exhibited in the Haus der Kunst until 1944 and was appointed professor in 1943, as was Gerhardinger, who fell out of favor in 1943. In 1944, Müller-Wischin was included in the Nazi Propaganda Ministry’s list of God-gifted people.
The history of Frauenwörther requires differentiation and discussion. There were also artists in the group who refused to accept National Socialism. Of course Clara von Bayern from Wittelsbach, along with Hermann Euler, Daisy Campi and Heinrich Heidner. Karl Casper’s paintings were shown in the “Degenerate Art” exhibition.
“The Prien retrospective is an attempt to initiate a critical, scientific debate,” says Aß. The retrospective can be seen until October 30 (every day except Monday from 1 to 5 p.m.).