Curd LESSIG

Curd Lessig, born on November 22, 1924 in Stuttgart and died on May 23, 2019, was a versatile artist who became known primarily as a painter, graphic artist and designer of church windows and lived in Würzburg.

He began his artistic career by studying painting under Heiner Dikreiter from 1939 to 1940, followed by an apprenticeship as a church painter with the Menna company in Würzburg from 1940 to 1942. He also took evening classes with Dikreiter. Military service interrupted his training from 1942 to August 1944, when he was taken prisoner by the Americans. After his release in 1946, he continued his artistic career.

Lessig was a founding member of the Berufsverband bildender Künstler (BBK) Ober- und Unterfranken in Bamberg in 1947. From 1948 to 1959, he studied painting at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich under Walther Teutsch. In the following years, he worked as a church painter and restorer for the Menna company in many churches in Franconia, Hesse and Westphalia.

From March 1957, Lessig ran his own studio and worked intensively on stained glass window design, painting, graphics and landscape gouaches. He won public commissions and competitions, particularly for mosaics, murals, frescoes and stained glass windows. His catalog raisonné lists over 400 examples, from army barracks to churches.

Lessig traveled extensively throughout Europe as well as to Egypt, Mexico, India, Burma, Thailand, China and Japan and drew inspiration from these places.

He has received numerous prizes and awards, including the Golden Centauro in Italy in 1982. In 1991 he was awarded the Cultural Prize of the City of Würzburg, followed by the Cultural Prize of the Franconian Wine Brotherhood in 2004 and the Cultural Prize of the District of Lower Franconia in 2009.

His works have been presented in various exhibitions, including in galleries and museums such as the Städtische Galerie in Würzburg, the Otto-Richter-Kunsthalle in Würzburg and the Knauf-Museum in Iphofen. Lessig’s artistic legacy is still maintained and honored in various exhibition venues today.