Adalbert
Fritz Trilhaz

Adalbert Fritz August Trilhaase; January 7, 1858, Erfurt - May 12, 1936, Niederdollendorf) was a German artist, representative of the direction of naive painting.

Adalbert Trilhaase came from a religious Erfurt merchant family of medium means. After school he completed his commercial apprenticeship. Before 1890 he married Augusta Löhrer, daughter of a wealthy merchant family from Hattingen am Ruhr. Around 1890 he ran a linen factory in Bielefeld. The couple had three children, including their son Siegfried, born in 1892, who became a lawyer and self-taught artist. Trilhaase first settled in Düsseldorf no later than 1894. In 1896 he moved with his family to Stuttgart and a little later to Hagen in Westphalia, where he worked as manager of a steelworks. After his father-in-law's death he inherited a considerable sum of money, so in 1899 he returned to Düsseldorf, invested his fortune in real estate and managed it. He lived temporarily in the Netherlands during the First World War and returned to Düsseldorf in 1919.

He spent his time reading, mostly travel stories and the Bible, especially the Old Testament. It was not until his old age, but no later than 1918, that he began to draw as a self-taught artist. Through his son Siegfried, who also drew, he met Otto Pancock in 1919 and became acquainted with Mother A's circle. Pancock, the protagonist of the artist group Junges Rheinland, encouraged Trilhaas in his creativity. He was portrayed by artists of the Düsseldorf avant-garde who frequently visited his house, such as Otto Dix, who also lived in one of his houses ("The Artist A.T. Family," 1923, Berlin, New National Gallery [1]), or Karl Schwezig (Trilhaase couple, 1924). At the "First International Art Exhibition," organized by Adolf Uzarsky in 1922 at the Tietz Department Store in Düsseldorf, Trilhaase made his exhibition debut with the painting Crucifixion. After further exhibitions, in which he participated until 1932, he was banned by the National Socialists in 1933 from painting as a "degenerate painter." on May 12, 1936, he died quietly in Niederdollendorf.

Trilhaase often painted biblical subjects and left a large number of drawings. Compared with other naive artists, the number of his works is small (about 75 paintings and 250 drawings).

His importance lies in the impartial and refreshingly new presentation and composition of his themes. He translates his childhood religious notions into an individual imaginative world, neither idyllic nor idealistic, and thereby questions the stereotype of naïve art.

The images, which often seem demonic, are interpreted as a struggle with his fears and aggression. Whether or not Trilhaas really had psychological problems and to what extent they influenced his style cannot be verified because of the poor initial situation.

Trilhaase's work is estimated at 75 oil paintings and 250 drawings. His estate is considered incomplete. His daughter Felicitas Haller, née Trilhaase (known as "Cicio," 1894-1955), who for a time was the wife of the sculptor Hermann Haller, transported the paintings to Switzerland.

Source: Wikipedia