The Beuel painter Helmut Degenhard and the torches of the Vilich Adelheidis schoolchildren
at the Mayor Stroof House
Adelheidisstr. 3
53225 Bonn-Vilich
Vernissage: Friday, 11.11.2022 at 7.00 p.m.
Introductory lecture: Dr. Sylva Harst
open daily from 5pm - 7pm
Finissage: Sunday, 20.11.2022 at 17.00
Guided tours for school classes are available on request.
Contact: denkmalverein.bonn@t-online.de
Der Beueler Maler und Graphiker Helmut Degenhard (1924 – 2002) war ein Ausnahmekünstler. Von Geburt an durch eine spastische Lähmung schwerstbehindert, nimmt er zunächst Mal- und Zeichenunterricht beim Bonner Privatdozenten Theodor Pape, 1943 – 1946 studiert er u.a. Glasmalerei an der Kunsthochschule Köln. Seinen Durchbruch erzielt er im Jahre 1950, als die „Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Bonner Kunsterzieher“ zwölf Aquarelle von ihm ausstellt, die Kinder in einem (Beueler) Martinszug zeigen. Später wird dieser Zyklus von der Stadt Bonn herausgegeben und als Repräsentationsgeschenk verwendet.
Although he also draws portraits and continues to paint watercolours, his artistic love is for stained glass. In close collaboration with the Derix glass workshop, the church windows of the parishes of St Michael (Weststadt), St Maria-Magdalena (Endenich), St Maria-Königin (St Augustin) and St Benediktus (Düsseldorf-Heerdt) are created according to his strict specifications. He also designed the stained glass windows at the Anne Frank secondary school in Vilich.
Since he is not only dependent on the support and care of his parents as an artist, it is a bitter blow for him when his mother dies in 1970 and his father twelve years later. It meant the end of his artistic career. He died on 4 October 2002.
The exhibition presents his twelve-part Martin cycle in Vilich's Bürgermeister-Stroof-Haus and is accompanied by the torches of Vilich's Adelheidis School children, who are invited to collect them again in a small ceremony on 20 November.