Alois J. Springer

Alois J. Springer was born on April 9, 1902 in Buchau and died on February 22, 1971 in Erlenmoos. He was a renowned German painter from Upper Swabia, whose artistic work was characterized by the landscape and traditions of his homeland.

Growing up in Bad Buchau, Springer began his artistic career with an apprenticeship as a painter, followed by studies at the Ulm School of Art from 1924 to 1929. After completing his studies, he worked as a graphic artist from 1935 and maintained a studio in Ravensburg, where he realized his artistic projects.

During the Second World War, Springer served in military service and settled in Ravensburg after his release from captivity as a prisoner of war in 1946. He devoted himself to a variety of artistic techniques, including oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, woodcuts, monotypes, sgraffito work and stained glass windows. His works were often characterized by religious motifs or scenes from his homeland, using various techniques such as screen printing and mezzotint.

Although Springer’s works were well received by the public, he did not achieve major sales success. In 1964, he moved to Erlenmoos, the birthplace of his wife Maria. There, his artistic style changed from lyrical, dreamy landscape painting to colorful, cubic motifs.

Springer found a companion and interpreter of his works in the writer Maria Müller-Gögler. His death in 1971 left a gap in the Upper Swabian art scene. Kurt Diemer opened an exhibition in the Fruchtkasten Ochsenhausen in 1990 and paid tribute to Springer’s contribution to the art scene, saying that his work “will be part of Upper Swabia’s artistic heritage”.

Since 2016, parts of Springer’s estate have been housed in the north wing of the Oberes Tor in Rot an der Rot, a building that was originally erected for the guards of the Imperial Abbey of Rot an der Rot in 1714. Alois J. Springer remains unforgotten as an important representative of the Upper Swabian art scene and as an artist who captured the essence of the landscape of his homeland with his heart.

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