Werner Tübke

Werner Tübke
Tübke (left) presenting a 1:10 version of Early Bourgeois Revolution in Germany to Erich Honecker
Born	(1929-07-30)30 July 1929 Schönebeck, Germany
Died	27 May 2004(2004-05-27) (aged 74) Leipzig, Germany
Nationality	German
Known for	painting
Notable work	Early Bourgeois Revolution in Germany, also known as Peasants' War Panorama
Movement	Leipzig School, Magical Realism

Werner Tübke (30 July 1929 in Schönebeck, Germany – 27 May 2004 in Leipzig, Germany) was a German painter, best known for his monumental Peasants' War Panorama located in Bad Frankenhausen. Associated with the Leipzig School, he is "one of the few East German artists who gained recognition in West Germany."^[1]

Tübke was born in 1929 into a merchant family. At the age of 17, Tübke spent 10 months in Soviet occupation authorities' prison without charge.^[2] He learned the trade of a building painter in Schönebeck (Elbe) and Magdeburg.^[3] After completing his high school education late, Tübke studied from 1948 to 1950 at the Higher School of Graphic Arts and Book Design in Leipzig.^[2]

From 1953 to 1954, he conducted research work at the Central House of Folk Art in Leipzig.^[2] From 1954 to 1956 and 1957 to 1963, he worked as an independent artist. From 1956 to 1957, he was a senior assistant and from 1963 a lecturer at the Higher School of Graphic Arts and Book Design in Leipzig. In 1961–1962, he went on a study trip to the Soviet Union. In 1972, he was appointed professor, and from 1973 to 1976, he served as rector of the same institution, after which he returned to independent creative work.

After the reunification of Germany, he continued his artistic work, also in the former FRG territory. He died and was buried in Leipzig.^[2]

The individual style of Tübke's work refers to the painting of German and Dutch masters of the 16th and 17th centuries, especially Hieronymus Bosch (1450–1516), Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), Albrecht Altdorfer (1480–1538), and Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528). At the same time, Tübke's painting is imbued with the atmosphere of surrealism from the 1920s. The artist's most important works are mannerist paintings of battles and other historical events involving hundreds of figures. These works do not exhibit the characteristics of socialist realism, which were supported by the authorities in the former East Germany. The only exception is the fresco "Working Class and Intelligentsia" in the rectorate building of the university in Leipzig (1971–1973). The artist's works can be found in many German museums, especially in East Germany. The Tübke Foundation is located in Leipzig.

Tübke's main work is located in the Panorama Museum Bauernkriegspanorama - the panorama of the battle of Frankenhausen, the site of the defeat of the peasant uprising led by the popular leader and theologian Thomas Müntzer. In the battle on May 15, 1525, 6,000 insurgents were killed. Müntzer was captured and executed two days later.

Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture of the former East Germany, Tübke painted a panorama of the battle from 1976 to 1987, measuring 14 x 123 m (for comparison, the Racławice Panorama measures 114x15 m and has a diameter of 38 m).^[4] The panorama shows over 3,000 figures on both sides of the battle. Many assistants helped Tübke in his work. The panorama was placed in a rotunda built on the battlefield. The painter worked on it for 11 years, often for 10 hours a day. According to art critics, the work is not a classical battle painting, but rather a philosophical vision of the era. The artist portrayed himself in the painting dressed as Harlequin.

The Bad Frankenhausen panorama differs fundamentally from the Racławice and Moscow panoramas of the battles of Borodino. In those panoramas, the viewer was intended to experience the illusion of observing the events from the center of the battlefield. Tübke adopted a different concept: he divided the entire canvas into separate scenes showing various events more or less related to the peasant war. They feature Martin Luther, Albrecht Dürer, Nicolaus Copernicus, and, of course, Thomas Müntzer multiple times. The panorama is in the style of Hieronymus Bosch, Albrecht Altdorfer, and other painters of the time.

In 1959, Tübke created a cycle called "Five Continents" for the Astoria Hotel in Leipzig. In these paintings, Tübke brought the rules of socialist realism to ironic absurdity, surpassing Soviet masters in the abundance and meticulousness of details. After the hotel was renovated, the paintings were moved to the museum in Bad Frankenhausen.^[5]

From 1990 to 1993, he designed the stage scenery and costumes for Carl Maria von Weber's opera "Der Freischütz" for the opera in Bonn.

From 1993 to 1996, he created an altarpiece triptych for the neo-Gothic church in Clausthal-Zellerfeld.

In addition to the panorama from Bad Frankenhausen, the artist created over 300 easel paintings, thousands of prints, and over 500 watercolors.

The Early Bourgeois Revolution in Germany is a monumental painting with a size of 14 meters (46 ft) by 123 meters (404 ft).^[3] It depicts a scene from the German Peasants' War, which took place from 1524 to 1525. The painting is housed in the Panorama Museum in Bad Frankenhausen, where it has become a major tourist attraction.

Tübke spent over 10 years working on the Early Bourgeois Revolution in Germany, which he considered to be his life's work. The painting is a remarkable feat of artistic skill, featuring over 300 individual figures and intricate details that capture the chaos and violence of the Peasants' War.