The Composer as Graphic Artist
Manuscript paper, letter envelopes, slips of paper, paper serviettes, menus – all these materials seemed sufficiently suitable for Hindemith to draw on. His talent was already apparent during his childhood, and he was even undecided at the time as to whether he wanted to be a painter or a musician. Drawing was a way for him to relax, but also a means of communication with close friends or his wife. He decorated letters with caricatures and sketches, and spent entire nights playing drawing games with his friends. In later years he made Christmas cards that he copied and sent to friends and acquaintances; he beautified the outer walls of his house in Switzerland with large murals. His drawing utensils were, according to availability, pencils and fountain pens, chalk, felt pens, ballpoint pens or coloured pencils.
Several hundred drawings in various formats are being preserved in the composer’s estate, housed in the Hindemith Institute in Frankfurt. They are rarely dated or provided with a title. Most of them are determined by a background humour that sometimes has absurd or grotesque traits. They are the graphic expression of a musician who also allowed comedy, parody and distortion to express themselves in many of his musical works.
The Gelsenkirchen-Buer Art Museum is now showing a selection of these drawings in the exhibition “Paul Hindemith: Einblick in das zeichnerische Werk” (Paul Hindemith – A Glimpse into His Graphic World).
The exhibition will be opened on 22 October 2017 at 11:30 AM and can be viewed until 3 December 2017.
For further information: Exhibiton: Paul Hindemith – A Glimpse into His Graphic World