Alfred Seidel

Alfred Herbert Georg Seidel was born in Breslau on November 1, 1913. After the tragic loss of his father Otto in the First World War, he moved with his mother Maria and his sister Helene to their Upper Silesian home in Scharley or Deutsch-Piekar. Alfred Seidel spent his childhood there, near the coalfields close to the then border with the Russian Empire.

He was brought up under the care of two aunts and his mother’s occupation. The environment was characterized by petty bourgeois values and deeply rooted Catholicism. Seidel was enrolled at the elementary school in Deutsch-Piekar in 1920 and transferred to the Realgymnasium in Beuthen in 1924. There, an attentive drawing teacher recognized his talent and encouraged it. Seidel felt drawn to artistic creation from an early age.

Shortly before graduating from high school in 1933, he left the Realgymnasium and began training as a theater painter on November 2, 1933. This was followed by engagements as a theater painter at the Upper Silesian Landestheater in Beuthen and later as the first theater painter and studio manager at the Stadttheater in Salzburg.

During the Second World War, Seidel was drafted and wounded twice. Despite the loss of his right eye, his vocation as an artist proved unshakeable. He created numerous prints, drawings, paintings in various techniques as well as stained glass windows and sculptures. His lifelong interest in literature was reflected in his illustrations and literary works.

After his release from American captivity in 1945, Seidel first found a new home in Sillenbuch and from 1954 in Schorndorf. He was a member of the Esslingen Artists’ Guild for many years. Alfred Seidel died in Schorndorf on November 20, 2001, leaving behind his wife Elisabeth and their three children Susanne, Matthias and Christoph. In 2017, his heirs left the majority of his works to the town of Schorndorf.

Alfred Seidel illustrated many fairy tales, especially at the beginning of his career, and the post-war years offered him an ideal field of work with new editions of classic fairy tales. Examples of his illustrations include works by Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, Agnes Sapper and Tamara Ramsay. Later he also devoted himself to illustrating novels, including works by Egon H. Rakette.

In addition, he created graphics on literary themes independently and without specific commissions, which he compiled in so-called “graphic cycles”. These deal with works by Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Molière, William Shakespeare and Friedrich Dürrenmatt as well as graphics for magazines and calendars.

Throughout his creative period, he produced numerous works in various techniques such as oil paintings, linocuts and watercolors. His preferred subjects were religious or mythological motifs as well as portraits from his professional and personal environment. Landscapes tended to be an exception.

From 1957 onwards, Seidel increasingly designed public spaces, in particular the artistic interiors of Catholic churches. He created wall mosaics, altars, tabernacles, cloisters and numerous stained glass windows for the Rottenburg-Stuttgart diocese.

Independently of commissions, Alfred Seidel also wrote a series of dramas and short stories dealing with various themes such as “Christopher Columbus”, “Konradin, the last Hohenstaufen”, “Schwund des Religiösen”, “Erbschaftsbetrug” and “Wege der Selbsterkenntnis”. His stories focus in particular on his childhood and youth in Upper Silesia as well as his family experiences and encounters.

In 1981, Alfred Georg Seidel was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his artistic work.

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