Hiking on his motifs

On the way between Koserow and Lüttenort, the estate of the painter Otto Niemeyer-Holstein (1896-1984), replications of paintings of the artist have been put up in six different locations. They are in close distance to the depicted motifs, in font of which they have been created. A comparison between motif and artwork is desired.
Due to intensive coastal protection measures, the mountainside of the Streckelsberg are today (1)

Groynes and dikes serve to protect the coastal landscape, especially at the narrowest space of the island of Usedom, which is located between Koserow and Zempin. (3, 4 + 6)

Here the Baltic sea and Achterwasser are separated by only 300 meters.
The property, bought by Otto Niemeyer-Holstein in 1933 in this area, was uninhabited wasteland without vegetation before it has been purchased. The quay in the Achterwasser was the anchorage for the legendary two-master “Orion”, on which the artist sailed to Sweden and Denmark. The beach became his ‘great lover’ as Niemeyer-Holstein said. (2)
“Otto Niemeyer-Holstein´s paintings gained such a power in the 1950’s that it was considered, much like the works of Dresdner artists Rosenhauer, Kretzschmar, Wigand, and Glöckner, a cornerstone of humanistic art in the GDR…
A special achievement of Niemeyer-Holstein’s painting is the depiction of the Baltic coast. In these paintings, the artist gave his best. They show Niemeyer-Holstein at the peak of his skill. In these works, the impression of nature is perfectly transformed into art. The motif is spiritualized through the language of colour. Although the observation of nature remains visible, the object loses its direct representational quality in favor of an expression in which a refined interpretation predominates. This painting inspired by the liminal world between land and sea, primarily points to itself and only then the subjects it represents.”  
(Prof. Dr. Lothar Lang in Malerei und Grafik in Ostdeutschland, Leipzig 2002)
 

The (Ablage) quay served as a commercial harbor one hundred years ago to supply the central part of the island’s with building materials. (5)
The danger of flooding was a constant companion. In 1945, an explosion threatened the estate, which was located in the border region of the area of the restricted zone of the Peenemünde Army Research Institution (1937-45). Until his death, the painter created a refuge where art and nature encountered each other directly. Since 1985, Lüttenort has been preserved as a museum in its original state and has been maintained as a place of encounter, kept alive with activities. Otto Niemeyer-Holsteins’s artistic development began in 1917, during his engagement with the movements and styles of the early 20th century. Particularly, Expressionism and New Objectivity had a significant influence on Otto Niemeyer-Holstein – even into his later works. A direct impression on the young painter, who began as a self-taught artist, was made by his encounters with Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin, and Arthur Segal in Ticino in Ascona.

Please download the flyer: Hike on his motifs