Frédéric SCHEIBE (Berlin, 1910–Paris, 2000) - Lot 0

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Frédéric SCHEIBE (Berlin, 1910–Paris, 2000) - Lot 0
Frédéric SCHEIBE (Berlin, 1910–Paris, 2000) Frédéric SCHEIBE (1910–2000) The Great Divide Frédéric Scheibe was born in 1910 in Berlin, the capital of the last German Empire, where industrial expansion often masked the poverty of everyday life. It was the year that Wassily Kandinsky’s improvisations gave rise to abstract art and the “Blaue Reiter” art group. Twenty-two years later, fate would bring Scheibe and Kandinsky together. Frédéric Scheibe was born to a father who was a painter of all genres and an excellent copyist in his spare time, and a mother whose family was involved in the railroad industry; and he also had a brother three years his senior, for whom his parents financed a more advanced education, as was customary at the time. Frédéric then worked as a foreman, supervising the apprentices and workers at the small family business. Uninterested in uncreative work, he moved at a very young age into a small studio in Berlin-Charlottenburg, at 14 Sybelstrasse, where he took drawing classes under the watchful eye of a certain Max Kans and applied arts classes with Professor Willi Breest. Early Years at the BAUHAUS: October 1932 – July 1933 The highly renowned School of Arts and Crafts, “Das Bauhaus,” founded in 1919 by the architect Gropius, had just moved in 1932 from Dessau to Berlin, following its dissolution in Saxony by factions of the rising Radical Right. The Bauhaus was an unparalleled center for artistic education. Its leading professors were none other than prominent painters: Paul Klee, who taught theory, glass painting, and tapestry art. Lyonel Feininger, Oskar Schlemmer, and Moholy-Nagy revitalized, in the spirit of the Bauhaus, the work with metals and plastics, as well as the arts of theater, ballet, photography, and advertising. Frédéric Scheibe was drawn to the innovative spirit of this institution and enrolled in mid-October 1932 for the winter semester. The inventive curriculum of this new educational program combined knowledge of materials and the arts and crafts with drawing and form, all while maintaining architectural purity. The final period of the Bauhaus was difficult and turbulent. The magnificent buildings in Dessau—designed in the Bauhaus spirit and tailored to each department—were no longer available. As a replacement, the twelve rooms of a former telephone factory in Berlin-Steglitz were renovated to serve as classrooms under the direction of Professor Mies van der Rohe. The new operation was primarily sustained by the production of objects under the Bauhaus license. Wallpaper production and the work of the weaving workshops also contributed to keeping the enterprise running. Former students Ludwig Hilberseimer, Herbert Bayer, Marcel Breuer, and Josef Albers took their turn teaching. Even the highly sought-after Wassily Kandinsky taught there, focusing on abstract composition, mural painting, and the theory of constructive aesthetics. Particular attention was paid to experimentation and the development of prototypes—in terms of style, form, and choice of materials—for industrial production. Many everyday objects used today trace their origins to the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus’s relocation to Berlin appeared to be a success. In February 1933, a grand celebration, attended by distinguished guests, marked with great fanfare the new surge of tremendous creativity. But this momentum was short-lived, for once again the Berlin school (which did not conform to the Germanic ideal) was forced to cease operations in July 1933, by order of the newly appointed Minister of Culture: Goebbels. The ban on so-called “degenerate” art was proclaimed. On Opera Square, thousands of books by unwelcome authors and works of unwelcome expression were burned. The golden age of the 1920s was thus drawing to a close. With it also disappeared the scantily clad “Lolas” from the feudal-style revues at the Wintergarten Theater, as well as the variety shows featuring satirical dialogue and ironic songs at the Métropol. Theater and Film Sets: 1934–1940 In the wake of these changes and the rapid dispersal of all his connections, Frédéric Scheibe became a member of the Cultural Chamber of Applied Arts in 1934, through which he carried out various small-scale projects for the government. But the often restrictive nature of the work—which was subject to approval and offered little pay—led him to change direction. He then turned to film, and was hired as a set designer at “Terra Filmkunst Produktion” in Babelsberg, a sort of Berlin “Cinecittà.” To the production company’s great satisfaction, he spent several years designing all kinds of film sets for various r
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