Max Herrmann Mahlmann
Max Herrmann Mahlmann born April 4, 1912, in Hamburg, Germany, was a German painter of Constructivism, graphic designer and design teacher.
Life and work
Max H. Mahlmann studied with Richard Müller and Wilhelm Rudolph at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden from 1934 to 1938. Initially, he also worked as a stage painter and graphic designer. Among his early influences were Cézanne and Klee.
In World War II, he took part in the Russian campaign and was used as a picture reporter because of his artistic ability. After his return in 1945, he moved into a studio in Hamburg and turned to abstraction, influenced by Kandinsky and Albers. Since the end of the 1940s, his works have shown constructive design tendencies in geometric forms. Other special influences were Vordemberge-Gildewart and De Stijl.
In 1953, he married the artist Gudrun Piper, both exhibited regularly together. He was for some students a most important and revered design educator at Kunstschule Alsterdamm, 1949–1958. He brought artistic content to the otherwise very commercial discussions of Form and Composition.
From 1958 to 1977, he worked as a lecturer for design at the Fachhochschule in Hamburg.
At the beginning of the sixties, the time was ripe for a methodical approach: right-angled basic networks, developed for the often more extensive settlements. Modules were used, grid and series were tested, and in 1970 the decision was made for the network structures, which lasted into the late 1990s. “The starting point of my programs are basic networks, the control panels of my constructions are the result of control from the center coordinate cross.”
Artistic development
1945
From expressive nature-drawing to abstraction
1949
First geometric composition with constructivist tendencies
1963
Developments of geometric-methodical painting
1965
Investigations within programmed design via right-angled ground networks, numerical classifications in predominantly planar design and as relief
1970
Decisions for network structures resulting in the linear reduction; visibility of sign accents, “Form” under the premise of basic networks; program variations by means of permutations. In this way, unforeseen results were generated
1980
Formation of concepts; surface, relief, spatial structures, constructive unit calculations, meaningful voids
1990
The goal of visual and conceptual harmony: to explore new spaces in the tension field of the measurements with differentiated basic network units.
Evolved principle: Constructivist unity, related to the natural and artificial environment as a part of life and spiritual expression
His works can be found in the following museums: Museum of Concrete Art, Ingolstadt Museum of Art-Free Art, Otterndorf Collection of contemporary art of the Federal Republic of Germany
He was a member of the Deutscher Künstlerbund.
Gudrun Piper
l’art concrete artist
Wife of Max Mahlmann, nature and object drawing, composition, l’art concrete constructivist, faculty member of Kunstschule Alsterdamm
Interviewed when Gudrun Piper celebrated her 96th birthday, she sensed her age, of course. Her eyes were no longer what they used to be, and moving around had become harder for her. Nevertheless she continued to paint every day. “What else can I do?!”, she said with a smile. “When painting I feel young.” At that time, Gudrun Piper was the oldest artist in Hamburg!
Since she was ten years old, she had worked with brush and paint—now mainly in abstract mode. “Square, practical, good” could be her motto for them. And indeed: Gudrun Piper has sold some of her paintings to the chocolate baron Alfred T. Ritter, who advertised his wear with this slogan. Meanwhile, her works hang in the Ritter Museums, founded by his sister Marli Hoppe-Ritter as a “homage to the square.”
“I am interested only in ‘l’art concrete,’ the great simplicity, everything else does not affect me.’ Early on, Gudrun Piper was fascinated by clear lines, such as those prevalent in Japanese architecture.
Piper was born in Japan, 1917, in Kobe. Her father was a merchant. Not until ten years later did she came to Germany. “But sometimes I still dream of Japan,” she said. “I love these clear structures. I do not like anything superfluous.” Perhaps Paul Klee, 1879–1940, was one of her favorite painters.
Her husband, Max Hermann Mahlmann, 1912–2000, shared her passion. When Gudrun Piper talked about him, her blue eyes lighted up. “It was a great happiness that I married an artist,” she claimed. “We were able to inspire each other.”
The couple had a daughter, Maria Mahlmann, who took care of her mother. When Gudrun Piper felt too weak, she handed her the painting to craft. Before, she had to be quiet while her mother had worked. She was not allowed to touch anything to touch in the studio. “Later, my mother became much more gentle,” said Maria Mahlmann.
Gudrun Piper’s works were coveted. In 1995, she received the Order of Merit of the German Republic for her work. She had exhibitions all over Germany, Austria, England, Belgium, and France. “I’m painting for the sake of art and not for money,” she said. “For in art I am happiest.”