Hap Grieshaber Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Helmut Andreas Paul Grieshaber was born on February 15, 1909 in Upper Swabia Rot an der Rot. He went to school from 1915 to 1926 in Nagold and Reutlingen and then began an apprenticeship as a book printer and typographer. Read the full biography

Helmut Andreas Paul Grieshaber was born on February 15, 1909 in Upper Swabia Rot an der Rot. He went to school from 1915 to 1926 in Nagold and Reutlingen and then began an apprenticeship as a book printer and typographer. At the same time Grieshaber began studying calligraphy at the Staatliche Buchgewerbeschule in Stuttgart. The artist spent the years from 1931 to 1933 abroad: working for six months in London as an illustrator and graphic designer for "Vogue" and other magazines; in 1932 he continued via Paris towards Egypt and Greece, where he organized exhibitions of his works in various cities. He published the magazine "Deutsche Zeitung" in Athens, a magazine dealing with cultural politics. This project provoked threats from the German envoy in Athens in 1933 and Grieshaber was forced to return to Germany. The artist began to focus on woodcut techniques in 1932, and the woodcut soon became one of his most important artistic mediums. He discovered his typical graphic style in the so-called 'Reutlinger Drucke', a style that is strongly influenced by medieval woodcut techniques. After being banned from painting and exhibiting in 1933, Grieshaber could only exhibit his works secretly. One of these hidden exhibitions was at the Galerie Valentien in Stuttgart - it had the title "Arabic Folk Books - Greek Folk Painting". He earned his living during this period as an untrained laborer and newspaper delivery boy. Grieshaber joined the army in 1940 and was captured by the Belgians in 1945. After his return to Germany in 1947, Grieshaber lived on the Achalm near Reutlingen. He was offered a teaching position at the Bernsteinschule near Sulz am Neckar in 1951. Further teaching positions followed: at the Akademie Karlsruhe as successor to Erich Heckel in 1955 and at the Akademie der Künste Berlin in 1956. Grieshaber resigned from his teaching position in Karlsruhe in 1960 in protest against the exam regulations. The artist spent the next two years working for the magazine "Labyrinth" together with Walter Warnach and Heinrich Böll. In 1964 he founded and co-published 'Engel der Geschichte', a magazine dealing with current societal issues. He also created works of art for public spaces, such as wooden reliefs, mosaics, murals and stained glass. Grieshaber has been honored with numerous awards and retrospective exhibitions. He exhibited works at the documenta in 1959 and 1964. He was elected a correspondence member of the Akademie der Künste in East Berlin in 1978. Grieshaber died on 12 May 1981.