Peter Hirsch

Peter Hirsch (1889 – 1978)

Peter Hirsch was born on May 25, 1889, in Munich as the son of a machine worker. Despite their modest means, his parents supported his early passion for art by providing him with private painting lessons. Their hopes were aligned with those of King Ludwig III, who advised the young Hirsch—after he presented a portrait during an audience—to first learn a “proper” profession. A suitable compromise was an apprenticeship at the lithography company Conse in Munich. He later worked as a draftsman for the ironware company Kustermann and eventually became a partner in his brother Franz’s art workshops.

It was his wife, Franziska, who encouraged him to attend the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Since he was over 30 years old, he needed a special permit for gifted students. He studied under professors Peter von Halm and Karl von Marr, while also taking courses in art history and plastic anatomy at the university. Even during his studies, he received permission, much to the annoyance of his teachers, to paint the nocturnal lying in state of the last Bavarian royal couple in St. Ludwig in 1921. This painting, which his wife submitted for exhibition without his knowledge, marked his breakthrough. From then on, his works were exhibited at the Glaspalast, and the lying-in-state painting was displayed at the Army Museum in Munich.

Hirsch always saw himself primarily as a portrait painter, and in the 1920s, he became the sought-after portraitist of many famous personalities, starting with several portraits of Cardinal Faulhaber, one of which is now in the Diocesan Museum in Freising. Among other ecclesiastical dignitaries, he painted four popes: Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, and Paul VI, all in personal audience. Replicas of these portraits hang in the Archbishop’s Ordinariate in Munich. A monumental painting documenting the ratification of the Bavarian Concordat in 1924, featuring the then Nuncio E. von Pacelli, Prime Minister Held, and his cabinet in life-size, went missing after hanging in the Montgelas Hall of the Bavarian Foreign Ministry until the early Third Reich. The painting was evacuated to a salt mine during the war, from where it was stolen.

After Hirsch had already painted President Paul von Hindenburg in Berlin, he later had the opportunity to capture the torchlight procession in honor of the President’s 80th birthday. Many prominent figures, including Prince Bismarck, Crown Prince Rupprecht, and Prince Leopold, sought out Peter Hirsch in his Schwabing studio on Blütenstraße to have their portraits painted. One particularly notable anecdote involves a portrait of composer Prof. Rüdinger, who, as a token of gratitude, composed a “Peter-Hirsch Canon” that premiered on the painter’s 40th birthday at the Munich Odeon.

His portraits were usually completed in just a few sessions, sometimes even in an hour (as with Pius XI). The sessions were informal and lively, often involving discussions and refreshments, usually with the participation of his wife, ensuring a vibrant likeness of the model. His travels to the USA, Canada, France, England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, and Hungary allowed him to gradually focus more on landscape and city painting, despite his extensive work as a portraitist. Although he initially hesitated to cross the ocean, claiming he couldn’t swim, he was compelled in 1934 to portrait Captain Ziegenbein during the 100th crossing of the ocean liner “Bremen.” Surprisingly, he was one of the few not to suffer from seasickness, as he was secured to the command bridge during a wind force of 12 to paint a wave.

In landscape painting, he experimented, evolving from the learned Munich style through bold Impressionism to Pointillism, ultimately creating fantastic, expressionistic forest images later in life. With few exceptions, Peter Hirsch created positive and cheerful images, despite being plagued by fears throughout his life. His almost maniacal diligence stemmed from a constant fear of dying too soon. In his later years, despite growing depression, his oil paintings became increasingly vibrant. His painting style was highly dynamic; he often moved back and forth in front of the easel. A colleague, Reinicke, once counted this distance from a window across the street on Blütenstraße, estimating a total distance of 25 km.

World War II marked a significant low point in his artistic output. Characteristic of these years of despondency was a commission for “designs for diligence pictures.” Even at the beginning of the Third Reich, he was labeled an “ultra-modern painter,” classified among “degenerate artists,” and consistently rejected at exhibitions. Ultimately, both his studio and home were destroyed by bombs.

After the war, the artist found solace in Schliersee. There, and following his return to Munich, he finally received the recognition he deserved—not only in the form of commissions but also through the awarding of the Federal Cross of Merit and the Bavarian Order of Merit. He received the latter especially for his nearly 50 years of service as a lecturer in drawing and painting at the Bavarian Adult Education Association, starting his teaching in the northern tower of the Isartor gate and later at the Volkshochschule.

Peter Hirsch passed away on June 29, 1978, in his apartment, still imagining paintings in the air until nearly the end. He and his wife, the painter Franziska Hirsch, were laid to rest in the artists’ cemetery at Waldfriedhof.