Wilhelm Kimmich

Wilhelm Kimmich (20 May 1897 in Lauterbach, Baden-Württemberg; 18 September 1986 in Lauterbach), was a German painter and is considered one of the most important Black Forest painters of the 20^th century

The painter Wilhelm Kimmich in 1980

first part (1904 - 1950)

From 1904 to 1911 Wilhelm Kimmich attended primary school in Lauterbach and made first attempts in drawing as early as 1909. He had a business training and was a soldier in World War I from 1916 to 1918 and returned from a POW camp in 1920. From 1926 till his retirement in 1960 he worked for the Lauterbach Volksbank, since 1929 as a member of the executive board.
He took also part in World War II since 1943 and was released from captivity in 1946.
Since 1916 Kimmich had been active as a draughtsman and painter and he took drawing lessons with Hans Lembke in Freiburg in the 1920's and with Hermann Gehri in the 1930's. Since 1934 Kimmich took part in group exhibitions and had his first individual exhibition in 1937.

second part

Since 1956 Wilhelm Kimmich, together with his painter friend Professor Hermann Anselment (1905-1981), travelled to Ticino and to Italy.
Although, as a result of these trips, there are landscapes painted in those southern areas Kimmich soon returned to his proper motifs, i. e. the Black Forest and its people. Since the middle of the 1950's he completely renewed Black Forest painting from a stylistic point of view. This achievement determines Kimmich's standing in the history of art in the southwest of Germany. ^[1]

Seit 1970 wohnte Kimmich in einem Haus mit Atelier auf dem Fohrenbühl. Die Gemeinde Lauterbach verlieh ihm im Jahr 1977 die Ehrenbürgerwürde. Kimmich war seit 1949 in kinderloser Ehe mit Hildegard Lutz aus Munderkingen verheiratet. Nach dem Tod der Ehefrau (1980) lebte der Maler ab 1982 bis zu seinem Tod in einer Lebensgemeinschaft mit Elisabeth Sandfort zusammen.

1. Egon Rieble: Wilhelm Kimmich - der Maler des Schwarzwalds, Rottweil 1982