Hans-Ulrich Buchwald (December 20, 1925
- February 18, 2009) was a German painter, graphic artist, ceramist, stage designer and mask maker. His oeuvre includes about 10,000 drawings, woodcuts and linocuts, paintings, ceramics, wooden sculptures and masks. It is characterized by a variety of artistic forms of expression. Buchwald felt committed to classical modernism, which he only became acquainted with after the war. He was inspired by George Grosz, Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch, August Macke, Franz Marc, Oskar Schlemmer, Fernand Léger, but searched for his own style in various fields.
Buchwald met Hella Feyeraband when she noticed his watercolors and asked him to teach her about them. Buchwald married her in 1955 in a union that produced three daughters. However, he began having clandestine encounters with men—and the secret nature of these experiences was expressed in his art. It was not until his wife's death in 1993 that Buchwald—at age 72—announced his homosexuality. He decided to wait until then because, in his words, he 'did not want to hurt his wife or his daughters.' However, Buchwald also does not believe in labels; to him, sexuality is very fluid.
Buchwald's grandfather was a painter, as was his uncle Alfred Ferdinand Buchwald. His father was also fond of the visual arts, but for financial reasons he took up the "bread profession" of cooking, opened a gourmet restaurant in Breslau at the beginning of the twenties, where artists, writers, theater people and their admirers frequented. Some painters even frequented the Buchwald house, such as Otto Mueller ("Zigeunermüller"). When Hans-Ulrich was born, the father had to close the restaurant, but supported the son in every possible way in the development of his early recognizable artistic talent. He sent him to the Waldorf School. When the Weltanschauungsschule was closed by the Nazis in 1940, the father applied for a special permit to attend the Werkkunstschule for the 15-year-old and the young Buchwald received a place in the class for commercial graphics at Rump. Two years later he was drafted into the labor service, a short time later into the military. He was taken prisoner of war by the Americans and was released in 1947. During this time he continued to work on painting and drawing.
After his release from captivity and a short stay in Cologne, he settled in Hameln. Everything he had painted and drawn in his youth had been lost. The 22-year-old received free painting lessons from Josef Apportin and got to know the founders of the Hamelner Kunstkreis, Rolf and Charlotte Flemes as well as Hans Seutemann. The Hameln Art Circle provided him with travel grants to Morocco and Sweden, which he used extensively for exercises in watercolor and drawing. From 1950 to 1952 he had "the finishing touches" by Erich Rhein at the Werkkunstschule Hannover. When in 1952 the Hamelner Kunstkreis became the Kunstverein "Arche", Buchwald was also invited to become a member. Then he moved to Hildesheim and worked for four years (1952–1956) as a stage designer at the Stadttheater. The experiences of this time later benefited his "hinge theatre", but they were also reflected in his graphics. In 1956 he married the art teacher Hella Feyerabend, whom he had met with Erich Rhein. Then he accepted a position as a draughtsman in the paleontological department at the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover and remained there until his early retirement in 1980. The couple rented an apartment in Hanover, where both stayed until the end of their lives. Hella Feyerabend brought her daughter Gundel into the marriage. Hella and Hans-Ulrich Buchwald had two more daughters, Marianne (born 1957) and Luise (born 1959), who also became artistically active.
Over the decades, more than 100 productions with thousands of masks have been created: animals of all kinds, figures based on the Comedia d'elle Arte, mythological figures, caricatures. Since the mask growth did not subside, the city of Hanover repeatedly provided new rooms: in the Lister Tower, in the basement of the Brothers Grimm School, offices in Bornum and finally (in spring 2015) some of the masks found shelter in the attic of the puppet theater house Theatrio. The foundation of the association "Hinniertheater Hannover e.V." (1998) proved to be particularly helpful after the deaths of Hella and Hans Ulrich Buchwald. In this way, continuity could be maintained, which is personified in a special way by Ralf-Peter Post, Buchwald's master student and current artistic director of the Hinniertheater. He has staged many of the pieces for the Kleine Fest im Herrenhäuser Garten together with Buchwald and developed new generations of masks. Swiss Post continued the tradition in regional and international walkacts. Similarly, Buchwald's daughters continued the tradition of hinge theatre: Gundel Zschau-Buchwald in and around Hamburg and Marianna in Chicago, but also in Germany.
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