The Life and Artistic Journey of Walter Lindgens
Born in Cologne, Germany, Walter Lindgens was a painter and graphic artist. His formal education began in Oxford and continued at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, where he studied under Karl Caspar, Josef Eberz, and Adolf Schinnerer. His academic training took him across Europe, including studies at the Kunstakademie in Rome and the Académie Julian in Paris. During his time in Paris, he worked as a freelance painter until 1936, maintaining studios in Munich and Berlin. His travels also extended to Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon, and Nigeria, which resulted in drawings of women emphasizing the exotic.
Throughout his career, Lindgens exhibited in various international cities, including London, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, and Paris. In the late 1930s, he lived in Berlin, where he married Hildegard Riehmer. Following the end of the Nazi dictatorship, he began experimenting with an abstract language. In his later years, he lived in Rösrath and bequeathed his extensive artistic work and collection to the city of Bergisch Gladbach, which led to the establishment of the Städtische Galerie Villa Zanders.
Selected Works and Exhibitions
The catalog of Walter Lindgens includes several notable works, such as:
His artistic output also encompasses various lithographs, such as works based on texts by Ossip Dymow and Ivan Turgenev, as well as intimate drawings and paintings of women in everyday settings.