BIOGRAPHY
Lothar Quinte was born in 1923 in Neisse, Upper Silesia, the second of five children and moved with his family to Leipzig at the age of four, which explains his typical Saxon accent. The father was an accountant, so that for financial reasons there was no possibility of graduating from high school or an extensive course of study. Until his old age, Quinte was a real “rascal” full of funny and sometimes a little malicious ideas, always in the mood for pranks. So it might have been quite right for him to leave school early and start an apprenticeship as a painter, which he hoped would give him more freedom. Lothar Quinte completed an apprenticeship as a painter in Leipzig from 1937 to 1941.
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1941 in the military
At the age of 18 - it was 1941 - he volunteered to join the paratroopers in the face of inevitable military service. The risk of jumping and elegant flying were certainly the ideal distraction from the life of a painter for the young fellow. He was never wounded, but towards the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the English, after having made his way with some comrades from southern France to Holland. Because he could give a contact address in Heidelberg, he was soon released. He initially earned his living doing odd jobs, especially puppet shows. He later became the founder and leader of a small shadow play troupe called the "black eye". In this early phase of creative attempts, non-objective “shadow films” were created, which were underlaid with jazz music.
In 1948 - then 25 years old - Quinte married Herta Schmidhuber. The children Caren (1950), Mirjam (1952) and Thomas were born. Understandably, the artist became more sedentary, but never completely sedentary. From 1946 to 1951 he attended the Bernstein Abbey Art School in the Horb district, where he was also a student of HAP Grieshaber for some time. Quinte emphasized that he had never imitated his teacher: “Grieshaber was too strong, I had to take action against it.” In his early gestural period, there were relationships with the “informal” artists such as Jean Fautrier (1898–1964), Pierre Soulages ( born 1919), Hans Hartung (1904–1989) and Wols (Wolfgang Schulze, 1913–1951), who had created this very free art of irrational formlessness and spontaneous gestures since 1945 - probably as a reaction to the inhuman, precisely working war machine of the Second World War and the Germanizing political commissioned art that paralyzed all creativity. In the succession of the artists mentioned, Lothar Quinte had become one of the protagonists of the “Informel”, similar to Arnulf Rainer (born 1929), Markus Prachensky (1932–2011), Emil Schumacher (1912– 1999).
Lothar Quinte received the Young West Art Prize and the Burda Prize for Painting in 1954, and the Second Youth Art Prize in 1953. With the success there were also public contracts, for example for church windows in Metzingen, Lübeck, Esslingen, Stuttgart, Schifferstadt and Cologne. Murals in Reutlingen, Langen and Bonn were also commissioned. Since 1952 he had his own studio in Reutlingen. In 1959/60 the young artist received a one-year guest professorship at the Werkkunstschule in Krefeld. As an unconventional teacher - he was called the “pike in the carp pond” - he is said to have been very popular. First there was prosperity and a certain order in everyday life. In 1960 painting was also disciplined. In the “veil pictures”, which were to accompany him in a modified form throughout his life, the previously oblique forms were aligned strictly vertically.
1952 in the studio in Reutlingen
In 1959/60, the young artist was awarded a one-year guest lectureship at the Werkkunstschule (Art School) in Krefeld. As an unconventional teacher—he was called the "pike in the carp pond"—he was said to have been very popular. This led to the first signs of prosperity and a certain order in everyday life. In 1960, his painting also became more disciplined. In his "Veil Pictures," which would accompany him in modified form throughout his life, the previously obliquely flowing forms were aligned strictly vertically.
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1968 fishing on the Sauer (Alsace)
The connection between Lothar Quintes and the Grieshaber student and later gallery owner Helgard Rottloff had existed since 1958. She recognized the quality and creativity of the artist early on, made him known in exhibitions from 1961 on and took care of the printing of graphic works. In 1962 Lothar Quinte and Helgard Rottloff married. Times were not easy for Quinte back then, as is often the case with young artists who live exclusively from their art. A letter to Helgard Rottloff said: “I'm broke, I don't know how to go on.” That soon changed when the sale of graphics and major public contracts improved the financial situation significantly. Under the influence of the pop era and hardedge painting, his works became more concrete and more constructive.
It came to the fan, slit and ZET images. They usually contain a distinctive compression zone with prismatic or chromatic fine gradation that seems to vibrate. Folders and series made their way to Japan and the USA, where quinte screen prints can still be seen today in the hall of John F. Kennedy Airport. The artist's popularity peaked as early as the 1960s. In 1964 he made the three-part west window for the Lübeck Cathedral , in the same period he created the main window of approx. 500 m² of St. Maria Queen of the Holy Rosary in Ditzingen. His daughter Katharina was born. In 1965 he designed the mural for the Bonn City Theater. In the same year his son Alexander was born
From 1969 Lothar Quinte worked in Wintzenbach in an old barn that he had converted into a studio. Before that, his center was in Karlsruhe, where he had had a studio at Durlacher Allee 38 since 1960. In 1975 he experienced an artistic crisis and undertook a six-month trip around the world, focusing on India and Egypt , before setting up an annual winter studio in Goa , India, from 1980 onwards. In 1977, based on his design, a rainbow wall was created in the Spectral Hall of the Stuttgart Planetarium. In 1984 the video 40 Years of Painting on Lothar Quinte by Mirjam Quinte was published in the media workshop in Freiburg. In 1987 he married the painter and performance artist Sibylle Wagner . In 1990 his daughter Norina was born.
Lothar Quinte in Goa
In 2000, his last work, he created the windows for the chapel in Champenay (Alsace / France). Lothar Quinte died on the night of July 28th to 29th, 2000 at the age of 77 from two consecutive heart attacks. The funeral in Wintzenbach, Alsace, where he has lived since 1969, will remain unforgettable: the blue coffin under a sea of red roses, framed by two late monochrome pictures, the six children Caren, Miriam, Thomas, Katharina, Alexander and Norina at the age of 10 to 50 years old - partly according to the Indian custom in white clothes - the very secular chansons of Edith Piaf in the church and then classical jazz. Everything was desired in this form by the artist and accordingly realized by the family.
In 2002 the mayor Bernadine Marbach inaugurated the "Place Lothar Quinte". It doesn't happen very often that a village square is named after an artist who made an important contribution to non-representational art. Wintzenbach in Alsace is something of a notable exception: on Sunday, September 30th, the square was opened to the public. Numerous personalities were invited. Among those present were the General Councilors Grandadam and Stolz, District President Gerlinde Hemmerle, Jutta Limbach from the Constitutional Court, Prof Peter Idem from the Culture Department and Bernard Weigel as President of the North Alsace History Circle.