Alfred Hanf, Erfurt artist and unknown printmaker

Stumbling over this (very) nice 1911 woodblock roaming the Internet this morning and disregarding the signature I would have instantly have guessed and "attributed" it to Dagmar Hooge (Hamburg 1870 – after 1930). Some, no doubt very rare, prints of nudes by her I only came to know from a book. Having no hopes whatsoever of ever finding, let alone owning, either of them I considered it “safe” revealing these prints and Alfred Hanf in this blog.

Alfred Hanf 1911

Alfred Hanf is one of the many artists who’s life coincided with the troubled era seeing two Great Wars while living and working in Erfurt. He became kind of obscured from history after WW2, behind the Iron Curtain although it is stated he’s always remained a popular artist in Erfurt.     

Hanf, Alfred

(Erfurt 17-11-1890 – 17-05-1974 Erfurt) 

Painter, teacher, muralist and printmaker.  Studied 1908-1910 in Erfurt “Kunstgewerbeschule” (Arts & Crafts school) and to become a teacher at drawing 1910-12 in  Berlin “Zeichenlehrer-Ausbildung“ at the “Staatlichen Kunstschule” and then 1912/13 at Dresden “Königlichen Akademie der Künste” with Carl Bantzer (1857-1941). 1914/15 he worked as a teacher in Erfurt schools, serving as front soldier 1915-18. After WW1 he continued working as a teacher in Eberswalde and Erfurt “Gewerbeschulen”. He co-founded the artist group “Jung-Erfurt” in 1919 and from 1919-1922 worked as a free creating artist also working in several Arts & Crafts schools in Erfurt. Travels in Germany, to France, Switzerland, Spain and Italy. 1942-45 he taught at Erfurt “Meisterschule des Deutschen Handwerks”. Although in 1937 some of his work was declared degenerate by the Nazis it was not destroyed but after WW2 Hanf was banned from working in Erfurt schools and in 1948 suffering from a professional ban. Nevertheless he stayed loyal to his native Erfurt. 

Dagmar Hooge 

But since Dagmar Hooge studied in Munich (and was 20 years Hanf's older) this will probably all be purely co-incidental. But and although and how ever ................. : 

Dagmar Hooge 

A "connecting" artist might be influential painter and printmaker Georg Tappert (1880-1957) who before WW1 was active in Berlin, Dresden and Munich and who with his wife Kathleen Bagot (1880-1925) was a close  friend of Dagmar Hooge. 

 

Georg Tappert and his favorite model Betty ...(who was she ?) 

Kathleen Tappert-Bagot 

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All pictures borrowed freely from the Internet for friendly, educational and non commercial use only.